Okay way late with this reply but carpenters will disagree with you here. Just in case someome reads this and wonders about a fix for something similar.
You can always cut a fitting round piece for the cam hole and fill small gaps or screw tunnels with a mixture of sawdust and wood glue. The first method is normally used to remove branch holes for example
A suggestion from a NOBEE after watching BEEKS fighting with a hive tool to get leverage to split boxes, how about making a slight bevel along the top of the box, on the corners maybe half the width of the lumber. The rain will run off, the bees wont glue them together and you won’t tear up the edge of the box. Disgusted hearing about the fiasco in NC. Maybe the judges are Beeks.
Except that you want them to ‘glue’ them together. It adds stability & helps keep pests out, think seal rather than glue
Yes. The more glue the better. If you make it more difficult for the bees to seal a gap they just add more glue
The bevel is on the outside where you pry with the bar. Bees seal the inside. Capice?
Crikey!
I must mind my Ps and Qs
Hi,
To Beezley’s comcern with the chipping and damaging of cedar boxes (2-3 yrs old).
I seen to think that traditional boxes (non flow) are built somewhat sturdier and heavier than ours. I have four flow hive supers and I have absolutely managed to damage the top edges/rims of a few of them with my hive tool over the years. It seems the Cedar material is not the super hardest, and it’s not painted. My wear and tear chipping has allowed tiny cracks to occurr between boxes, allowing bees to squeeze through, something I had to remedy several times through last year. I actually laid strips of towel between boxes to prevent the cracks from functioning as mini entrances. I’m now in a repair phase, and I’m looking to make it into a precautionary(!) phase too. First and foremost, I need to figure out how to re-level and repair the edges again, can I use wood putty? If hardens literally to cement-grade hardness. I wanna sand it neatly after it hardens to make a smooth and leveled edge again. I’m also debating whether to nail on a thin metal strip of sorts to the edges of my boxes. This would act as a barrier for chipping as my hive tool would touch metal upon prying the boxes apart. (Just for the record, I do crack the box apart all around before I attempt to lift it off .)
I’d be grateful to hear if anyone else resorted to something like this?
Back when I was doing rough carpentry my boss would often say “we’re not building pianos…” It’s a bee hive. As long as it isn’t literally falling apart, just use it. If it IS falling apart then use sheet metal to repair corners, Cut the strip out and replace it with a one by two with a new frame rabbet if you lose a rabbet. I don’t worry about extra entrances. But you can putty them in with plastic wood etc. if you like or cover them over with sheet metal.