Frankenhive

Once you get going on a woodworking project, you start to remember all the nuances of your table saw and tape measure, and that the dado blade marks are a little off.  It’s actually been really enjoyable to be working in the garage and making all the pieces I’ve needed.

I started off ripping the 1x’s to the proper width for the hive bodies and supers.  I then ran over to a friend’s house to use his sliding miter saw and cut them to the lengths needed.  I was very pleased that I had very little waste wood.  It became apparent later on, that a Langstroth Hive is purposely designed to fit common lumber dimensions.  A Lot of the “waste” pieces turned out to be the proper width for other parts I needed.

You always need "help" in the garage

I couldn’t get my router jig set up as it’s a Craftsman, and I have to have a special plate for my Porter-Cable router to work with it.  Sears doesn’t seem to know what it is, so I just ended up dadoing a simple rabbet joint.  One thing that made it a lot easier to put the hives and supers together was shooting a few brads into them after I’d glued them.  It was easy to get them square and assembled.  Then I drilled pilot holes and put in a few screws.  They’ll be plenty strong once the glue is dried.

10 Frame Supers and Hive Bodies

I was reminded that I need to push down harder on the dado cuts.  Some of them wandered, and I had some warped lumber too.  So things didn’t fit quite as perfectly as I’d like, but the bees don’t care.

All in all, I was very pleased with my work, and it felt so good to make something.  And I used just about every tool I own, which is always fun.  (and I felt very blessed to have everything I really needed.

Primer on the New Hives