In 32 years I’ve never use eyelets. I’ve been able to get away without using them because I’m able to pull the wires up tight without them. However recently since they started making frames out of hoop pine, I’m having trouble pulling the wires tight because the wires dig into the holes.
I wondered if a tiny dab of cooking oil on the hole would help. I discovered it does help. I’m able to easily pull the wires up tight with the aid of the tiniest dab of cooking oil on the holes, as indicated by my photos.
I would be careful with olive oil @JeffH. Tom Seeley and others have found that a tiny dab of olive oil on a nurse bee makes the undertaker/house bees cart her out of the hive repeatedly. Dead bees emit oleic acid I think, and that is a component of olive oil. You might want to choose sunflower, canola or some other oil…
Hi Dawn & thanks for that info. I wasn’t aware of that issue. I’m not seeing any ill effects, probably because the tiny bit of olive oil soaks into the outside of the frames, well away from the nurse bees. I edited my description to read “cooking oil”
cheers
hi there Jeff, I never use eyelets either- too much fiddling around. But I made a very simple frame wiring jig out of scraps of wood, some cotton bobbins, a few old bolts. The onyl expense was a little door jamb thing from bunnings that only cost $5. It make wiring frames so much easier and faster and you can easily get the wires very tight even without eyelets.
I have a similar wiring board without the door jamb thing. Mine has metal sewing machine bobbins. A bloke gave it to me 32 yrs ago after he upgraded to a better one. He also gave me his old steam knife. Needless to say “I’m still using both”.
