A Jig in time....

[Perry]

saves a whack of time! 

I have always sort of free-handed the assembly of my boxes, precariously balancing an end piece on top of 2 sides while I glue, pre-drill and screw, often with everything falling onto the floor. I decided recently (yesterday  ) that there had to be an easy and better way. I may have seen something like this before cause I sure never dreamt it up on the spot or even thought of it as an idea, so to whomever came up with this, thanks.
I just took a scrap piece of 3/4" plywood, set a built box on it and screwed 4 pieces of scrap lumber around the base edge to form a ......form, I guess.
I now just set my 4 pieces into the jig, make sure everything lines up the way I want, pull out one end, glue, spread the glue, set the piece back in place, pre-drill and then screw. If anything needs a pry or adjustment, a hive tool quickly slips down any side and acts as a lever. I can do a box in about 5 minutes if everything goes well, with little room for error. Next stop will be handholds once I've got this bunch done.
Don't get too far ahead of yourself when milling your wood. If you cut too much some of it can start to cup if you wait too long to put them together. I have 2,000 feet of pine, enough to do about 280 boxes. I just milled a little over 60, and when this bunch is done I'll mill another batch.

[Jen]

Nice! I would like to take a wood shop class... or I might say that I wished I would have taken wood shop in high school. But those were the days we girls were expected to take Home Ec. That was worth while as well, but I really love power tools and use them a lot. But I don't know how to build stuff. I would like to understand a thread like this, and build my own stuff, for when hubby is not around.

Hubby is a patient man and teacher, but I don't like to bother him too much with trying to teach this kind of stuff, takes me a while to get it... as this forum already knows 

Hmmm, maybe the local junior college 

By the way, those hive boxes you built, with that nice blue streak running thru them would be beautiful stained 

[G3farms]

Perry those boxes are looking good and starting to pile up.
How many hives are you working towards?

Jen that blue streak is just that .........blue mold.

[Perry]

I didn't know that the blue wood was moldy? When you get any it is referred to as paint grade. It's solid as all get out, not punky or anything?

I have decided I will expand some more this year. I have orders for 66 nucs and have basically stopped taking orders. I turned down a request for 30 from someone in Cape Breton (a part of NS). I would not be surprised if I could have sold close to 100.
I am also down to around 6 or 7 hundred pounds of honey, and I have to get through to July before I extract anymore. Expanding to around 80 - 85 colonies makes sense I think. I have most of everything I need except frames and foundation to do it. My extracting set-up is totally geared to do 100 hives anyway, so why not?

[Jen]

Hubby says it could be mold. However, he was a lumber grader back in the day. He said that when this kind of pine came thru the mill, they had to pull it aside because it was valuable to home decorators, much like birdseye. The soil that this tree grew in pulled up bacteria with the nutrients which causes the 'blueing' in the grain.

Maybe mold and bacteria can be used in the same vein in this instance? 

[Perry]

I did a bit of research and you're right Jen, in some instances it is sought after. Technically it is referred to as "spalting" and is caused by a fungus.

[Jen]

Cool!    I am half tempted to make up some hives out of this and put on a clear transparent stain. It makes the 'blueing' a little darker or even black. Would be gorgeous.

[G3farms]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_stain_fungus

[LazyBkpr]

   Dunno if this is where you saw it or not Perry. I use the Jig permanently attached to my table to build boxes..   Reduces the needed hands to two!!
   Expanding to 80+   lots of Fortitude in that mans gizzard!

[tefer2]

We used to use one of these to build boxes.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesboxjig.htm

[Perry]

I think mine is based on the one LzyBkpr has. I don't have the inside pieces to hold the sides and ends in place, don't know if they are even necessary as once stuff is in place it can't go anywhere.
I can't tell you how much quicker I can now assemble boxes using something about as basic as this is.

[LazyBkpr]

You can see while assembling if a cut is not flat, and possibly compensate so your box sits square.  Indispensable little addition.    Looking forward to see those stacks of boxes all finished!

[Perry]

Yup. When you set the pieces in the jig for a dry fit, it gives you the chance to make a couple quick adjustments so everything is much more square and flush than it used to sometimes end up.
I've got 25 mediums stacked and 12 deeps done with another 23 deeps to do before I have to start milling up some more. The only problem I have is that the seemingly small stack of milled stuff is suddenly taking up a whack of space in the basement when it is stacked as boxes.

[LazyBkpr]

LOL Yeah it does.. It ALWAYS amazes me how fast the shed empties when I put supers on.