I spent a good three days ringing timber yards and suppliers all across Australia in search of timber to make my new hives. I found it VERY hard to find any quantity of timber in panels wide enough to make a hive body from a single piece. I could get timber specially milled- but using western red cedar I got prices around $40-55 per meter. Other’ exotic’ woods were similarly cost prohibitive. I ended up finding furniture grade NZ pine in wide planks- although its just radiata it is way above the grades used in the building trade- and is very nice timber indeed- virtually no knots to speak and some nice specked grain patterns. . Plus: (if you buy 140 meters)- it’s only $6.50 a meter!
If ANYONE knows where I could source hoop pine in wide planks I would be interested to know. I couldn’t find any here in SA. But as is I am happy with my clear pine. After bee wax and rosin dipping it looks great- and I feel sure will weather very nicely over the years.
My hoop pine comes from left overs from some of my son Tim’s furniture projects. They are rough sawn, 50mm thick slabs. I break them down to 22mm thick and laminate the width I need. The boards are left rough sawn although sharp carbide tipped saw blades leave a quite reasonable finish. I use polyurethane glue and tightly clamp the work to minimise foaming. I often leave the little oozes of glue because I like the look. As I’ve said before, the bees don’t care.
The hoop pine slabs came from the Old Timber Mill here in Mullumbimby.
yes- I found if I decided to use glued timbers there were a lot more options open to me- I could even get red cedar affordably- but I had my heart set on using solid timber planks- just box joints and screws. I am not painting either- only dipping in beeswax and gum rosin. As I am dipping at 140c I wanted to avoid any glues- So my hives will be pretty much ‘au-natural’.
Welcome to the forum where you will get lots of tips and advice from very helpful people here.
No need to apologize for opening an old thread. I’m sure Bunnings wouldn’t know what glue is used in their panels, after all, they are just a reseller. But some care is needed in your choice as some glues have formaldehyde it and so it will kill bees. I use exterior Selleys Aquadhere PVA glue and have had no issues with it.
Cheers
I think Merbau would have a lot going for it and it is not an overly heavy timber in weight, and that is a big plus. The big problem is being able to get timber that is of the right measurements to make a full depth hive without the hassles of having to laminate it. My local Mitre10 store stocks Hoop Pine that is the right width and thickness and at a reasonable price.
Cheers Adam
Formaldehyde is the big nastie as even the fumes will kill so the warning is basically to never use it.
When I laminate up some timber for a project I clamp and glue with Exterior Aquadhere with no issues. I have used it in making my hives since it has has been made, it has never cracked or let go, it is great stuff to use and dribbles can be wiped off with a wet rag before it dries so you have about 30 minutes working time. After then you need a sander if you are fussy about a smooth finish on joins.
Glues, when they are dry won’t seep into the honey, the fumes are the issue.
Making the LL the thickness and depth are different to the vertical Lang’s. Mine are 290 x 42mm. This allows me to cut rebates for the frames and 30mm thick cover boards.
I’m starting to think twice about building these boxes with hardwood, even when I’m going with 8 frame deep I think they’ll be too heavy when full
I might just go with this, no idea why it’s under “Treated Pine Stair Sets”, I’m pretty sure they’re not treated.
I would certainly go for the pine timber for the simple reason that if you paint the outside AND the edges of the box with a couple of coats of paint it will last a long time to give good service and is value for money. Paint the edges of the box so that when it rains the water that seeps into the edges can’t promote rotting of the timber.
I am not a weight lifter so I can only shudder at the thought of making boxes out of hardwood, when hoop pine is lighter, cheaper. plantation grown and if painted well it ticks all the boxes.
The Bunnings pine isn’t treated, as they claim, it isn’t the first time they have shown they don’t know what they sell.
Cheers
Hiya Rani, another reason for not using hardwood is its thermal resistance or insulation properties. Softwoods have twice the thermal resistance or R value. Hardwoods only have an R value of 0.7 per 25mm.
I would have thought that hardwood would be the better insulator because of it’s density? That was one of the reasons I wanted to use it in the first place
I’m glad that the lighter option is also the best option.
To be honest, I can’t see a way of excluding the queen so I don’t get the brood with in the supers. Don’t particularly like larvea in my honey
I’m probably completely wrong in assuming that I can’t exclude the queen
Plus I like the add on to expand the super if you have a good season where the long lang has a max of 34 frames or so?
As bad as Sydney’s climate is in the world of bees it is still a long way from the extremes of climates that bees find stressful.
I would go for hoop pine as the best option. Two or three coats of paint on the outside and the top and bottom edges and you will be on a winner.
Cheers
The major thing I have against a Long Langstroth is as you say, you only have a hive for a set number of frames. You don’t have the option of adding a super or taking one off.
I guess it is all in how you design and manage the hive. Yes most are 1.2m long and accommodate 30 odd frames. You can however make them longer, I’ve seen some that are up to 1.8m. It is really the use of a follower board that allows you to manage space. Using a follower board to expand or contract is the equivalent of taking off or putting a super on, but in as small increments (frames) as you want. You can also make the roof movable so that you can supers on top.
It might just be the way I manage but I’m not sure that I’ll ever need to have more than the equivalent of 3 x 10f supers for one hive, particularly with flow frames.
QE aren’t an issue they can be moveable like a follower board or fixed, see my photo below for a fixed one.
Having said that what ever you build you will have great satisfaction in using.
