Beekeeping

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

I got lucky on mine. Grizzly tools is not too far away and had a parking lot sale. I got the one in the picture above for about $500, it was a showroom display. They had tons of tools for very reasonable, typically 30-40% off. It's got a 6" max height but you can get a 4" extender/spacer to up that to a 10" cut height. I've been looking at blades, when I get some I'll make a similar cut and time it.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I got lucky on mine. Grizzly tools is not too far away and had a parking lot sale. I got the one in the picture above for about $500, it was a showroom display. They had tons of tools for very reasonable, typically 30-40% off. It's got a 6" max height but you can get a 4" extender/spacer to up that to a 10" cut height. I've been looking at blades, when I get some I'll make a similar cut and time it.

Sounds like a heck of a deal. It took me 6 hours in total to make these pieces. About 3.5 of that was shaping them. Not including the time it took to empty my 35 gallon dust collector

My guess is I'd save 2 hours by recutting those pieces in a band saw. Saving me about 30 seconds per slat. Or $.15 in labor per slat

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Resaw blade is ordered. 3/4" 3-TPI.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I love woodworking. I now have about 400 pieces cut for frames, and about 150 to go.
Cutting the top bars for the frames required some saw tuning. I'm using 1x10s (9.25 wide), and cutting (7) 1.5" wide bars from each length. That leaves less than 1/16 of an inch of scrap. Well, if the fence is say .020 out of alignment, that doesn't make much of a difference on a single cut. Stack that over 6 cuts, and now it's a problem when you only have 1/16" to play with.
Did some quick aligning and have it within .005" now. This is the scrap left after cutting (7) top bars from a 9.25" wide board

 

[BackRoad]

I picked up that same table saw when building our house. It's capable and enjoyable to use.

Builder had his table saw, I had mine, plus we each had separate miter saws.

With 56 windows and 20 doors to custom cut the casings, sills and face trim...we could both be cutting and not get in each other's way.

Like you said, woodworking has its own rewards...it is easy to get into flow when working on a project...

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Drilled 300 frame pieces for wiring... That took about 2.5 hours. It's going to take, my estimate, 27 hours to build 150 frames, start to finish. So, about 10 days of tinkering in the shop.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sounds like you have started a new company and you're going to be making a lot of these. Building jigs for things like drilling several at a time will speed up the process

How much time does it take to buy all the materials? That's the silent killer in my line of work. When I bid a remodel, I have to figure out how much of that time will be at the stores, and just driving to the stores to buy stuff eats up time in a job

Will you be selling them from a website?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Sounds like you have started a new company and you're going to be making a lot of these. Building jigs for things like drilling several at a time will speed up the process

How much time does it take to buy all the materials? That's the silent killer in my line of work. When I bid a remodel, I have to figure out how much of that time will be at the stores, and just driving to the stores to buy stuff eats up time in a job

Will you be selling them from a website?

The materials purchase takes half a day, it is my least favorite part.

Eventually we will have a website up, but this is a pretty slow ramp up. This is all word of mouth advertising.

These are for current orders, not even a stock of parts.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Just got orders for a couple more hives. I'll be busy into November.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Needed to move a full sheet of 3/4" MDF to the horses to cut 3/8" plywood sheets on today , and my helper was busy. Used a couple clamps and straps to lift it to the horses with the loader.

 

[Tpondel]

Needed to move a full sheet of 3/4" MDF to the horses to cut 3/8" plywood sheets on today , and my helper was busy. Used a couple clamps and straps to lift it to the horses with the loader.View attachment 1403553

As Tim the Toolman always said … More Power!

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

All pieces cut for 6 hives and 140 frames. Assembly is a little more enjoyable.

 

[BackRoad]

Always liked your set up Mr. CloverKnoll.

Clean, uncluttered, lots of space to work, and safe area to work in.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Always liked your set up Mr. CloverKnoll.

Clean, uncluttered, lots of space to work, and safe area to work in.

I used to do this in a two car garage with one bay full . This is a helluva lot more efficient

 

[ponytug]

Always liked your set up Mr. CloverKnoll.

Clean, uncluttered, lots of space to work, and safe area to work in.

I agree, though my back hurts just looking at everything on the floor.

@CloverKnollFarms do you do most of the build on top of the stand?

All the best,

Peter

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Yes! I have a full 4x8 workbench where several of us can assemble at the same time and not be in the way. Complete with drop cords and air hose reels for pneumatic staplers.

Probably going to move all of those cut components to my racks against the wall.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm looking forward to seeing them come together.

How many frames go into a hive? Is the frame where they make the honey comb?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

I'm looking forward to seeing them come together.

How many frames go into a hive? Is the frame where they make the honey comb?

20 frames per hive. Each frame becomes honey comb, except where they raise their young. Each frame can hold 10 pounds of honey when full.

I've sold 7 of them this fall, and my time to build one start to finish is about 15 hours each, including the frames.

 

[EddieWalker]

That's a lot more then I expected!!!! How long does it take to fill up a frame? Is the honey collected once a year, monthly, or do you just keep checking it until it's full?

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

That's a lot more then I expected!!!! How long does it take to fill up a frame? Is the honey collected once a year, monthly, or do you just keep checking it until it's full?

That all depends on the nectar flow and the strength of the colony. We harvest in October, most harvest in June/July. We did harvest some early this year due to a strong spring flow, but typically we do not.
We look in on the bees about once per month to see if they need more frames to fill

In reality 10 frames are used as brood area, so in practice a hive has room to store up to 100 pounds of extra honey