Pallet Bounty

I went grocery shopping today and by "accident" (or destiny LOL) I drove the car the wrong way. This led me to take the next exit ... but then something happened ... as if something was calling to me ... instead of taking left I turned right into a small street. There I saw workers building something, and THERE IT WAS !!! :) Lots of wooden pallets thrown aside of the road. I stopped the car and went to ask the foreman if I could take them and he generously showed me thumbs up :D

The pallet size was odd. Much wider and longer than the "normal" size EUR pallets. There was no way to put them into the car as they were. I checked the IPPC seal and it showed HT which stands for Heat Treated. This made me happy since I dont want to use pallets treated with pesticides.

And because Im always on the lookout for pallets I keep in my car a small sledge hammer and a hand saw. I usually need the sledge hammer to knock away the pallet legs. Without the legs I can put more pallets into the car. This time I even needed the hand saw to cut the pallet lenght.

I have filled the car with pallet wood, as much as I could fit. There are still some left behind. I think I need a bigger car ... or a horse ;)
What a great bounty! This defenetly payed off the grocery shopping :)

Drum Nuc Covered

The Drum Nuc Hive got a new roof today;

Super Nuc

I continued working on the hives today and ripping a few more top bars so to cover them all. This nuc has 8 frames + 2 (the last two are the divider top bar and one empty behind it to give me comb manipulation space). I made two more dividers from hessian cloth. I've been told over at biobees that the bees will chew up and propolise the hessian cloth. I asked an old beek (30+) if he ever saw his bees chewing up the hessian cloth he puts behind his bees in the horizontal swedsih hive and he said NO. Only mice eat the hessian, or rather make a hole in it. But sure the bees will propolise it so to seal any holes which is absolutely fine with me.

This nuc hive got two supers and a metal roof. Cute! 

Drum Top Bar Nucleus Hive

As you already know I have built two round top bar hives from reclaimed cable drum timber. I had some timber left so decided to make one nuc hive. It is made in the same way except the legs are shorter because I used up all the long timber.
I already started ripping top bars for these hives with my newly acquired table saw. Im happy with it.

The Drum Top Bar Hive got a Twin

Even though it was freezing cold outside I enjoyed every minute of making this second Top Bar Hive which is made from a reused cable drum pallet.

I just finished the body and the legs. Soon to rip some top bars, make a divider with a hessian cloth, and make a roof.

Can't wait to introduce colonies next year into these Twin Drum Top Bar Hives :)

I have a few more planks left from this drum pallet but not enough for a big hive, so will make a 10 frame nucleus hive for making splits etc ...

Drum Top Bar Hive

Today I decided to rip the top bars with a hand saw and that is exactly what I did ... hrmhmm ... well I did 3 top bars that way and man its hard and time consuming. One would need a whole day or two to rip all the top bars for this hive. So I pondered what to do ... and after a while I managed to fasten my old circular saw  my new work table and this is what it looks like (BEWARE!!! circular saws are very dangerous tools);

The saw is very old and very liley needs sharpening. It went slow buts still much faster than ripping by hand. I guess its not the fact that I had to invest so much energy to rip the top bars with a hand saw but that the mind knows that there is an easier way. The mind already ripped many top bars this year on a circular table saw and it was a piece of cake. I bet 100 years ago I would not even think about it and would simply carry on ripping the top bar with a hand saw since there was no other way of doing it.

The result is satisfying. All the top bars are 38mm wide and 450mm long

Then it came time to make a follower board ... well in my case its called a follower hessian cloth ;) I have seen a few beeks using this in long hives without solid dividers just a hessian cloth. I decided to nail it to the top bar.

this side is facing the bees ...

and this side is the one opposite to the bees where the feeding station will be. To let bees get to the inverted syrup jar only lift the cloth a bit.

zoom into the conection

I did not cut the cloth to suit the round shape of the hive. Like this I get extra cloth to make it bee tight

The roof is made of some white plastic sheet I have in the garage. The sheet is screwed to the wooden frame. I placed blue insulation under the roof.

Since this hive is oval and bees are known to attach comb to the walls I will need to use a very elastic knife for detaching the brace comb with. I have a perfect one for it ;)

Now its only left to coat the hive with wax and linseed oil and to apply wax guides onto the top bars with a soldering iron. One hive ready for the next season. I will start another one tomorrow. I also need to make a few swarm traps which will also be used as nucs (8-9 frames)

Cable Drum Top Bar Hive

I have recently found a dismantled wooden cable drum in a skip. So I collected it in hope to make another top bar hive. And thats what dark cold days are for ;) building a beehive.

I dont have many tools but so far all i did is the hive body and the legs. Since I have only a hand saw ripping the top bars will be done by hand. Lets see how tough that is. They will all be 38mm wide. I will have no follower board but a follower hessian cloth. The planks are 29mm thick.

DIY Hand Miter Saw

I was looking to buy a miter saw but the price was too high for my self-sufficient householder pocket so I pondered what to do.
An idea came up and I collected a few pieces of materisl from the garage and this was the result :)

hand saw, a tick wooden plank wide enough for the saw blade and a 90' deg metal piece

screw or nail the metal piece to the plank but make sure not to make it too tight for the saw

fasten the whole thing and viola, an inexpensive hand miter saw :) Dont you just LOVE DIY :)

Pallet Timber can be safe if marked HT but not if MB

I acquired some pallet wood and remember reading it was not safe for making beehives with, so I researched a bit further;

Wikipedia writes this about ISPM 15;

Quote:
International Standards For Phytosanitary Measures No. 15 (ISPM 15) is an International Phytosanitary Measure developed by the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) that directly addresses the need to treat wood materials of a thickness greater than 6mm, used to ship products between countries. Its main purpose is to prevent the international transport and spread of disease and insects that could negatively affect plants or ecosystems. ISPM 15 affects all wood packaging material (pallets, crates, dunnages, etc.) requiring that they be debarked and then heat treated or fumigated with methyl bromide and stamped or branded,[1] with a mark of compliance. This mark of compliance is colloquially known as the "wheat stamp". Products exempt from the ISPM 15 are made from alternative material, like paper, plastic or wood panel products (i.e. OSB, hardboard, and plywood).

It seems there are two ways to make sure the pallet is treated;

Quote:
- HT is the code for heat treatment to a minimum of 56°C (133°F) for a minimum of 30 minutes
- MB is the code for methyl bromide fumigation.


I have checked the pallets I got and they have the mark HT which means Heat Treated and is safe to use for building a bee hive in my opinion.

I couldnt find any pallets with MB (Methyl Bromide) so far and it could be Sweden which has regulations about this sort of pesticide. This could be on an EU level too. Check on the wheat stamp before using the pallet timber.

A gorgeous Pallet Wood Top Bar Hive;

How to dismantle a pallet - video