I have been wanting to learn some basic woodworking- and like most women born in the 60's, my generation of females was not taught how to use power tools and to fix things. Since I have been living off the grid in the coastal jungle of Hawaii for 20 years, I have had to learn basic plumbing, solar equipment issues, and many kinds of fix it problems. I've learned as I've needed to along the way. Woodworking and power tools was on the list, and a friend gave me a cheap set of battery powered circular saw, sawzall, and drill. When I became a bee keeper and bought my first top bar hive for $250, I knew that would not be a sustainable option for me, as the bees reproduce non-stop here and splits or swarms happen every 3 months, lately in only 2 months. So I took it upon myself to learn, asked people questions along the way. Had to go 4 times to get the right size of Carriage bolts! The saw is quite small and I was able to handle it with my small hands, though cutting small pieces seemed a bit dangerous- luckily no lost fingers! I bought tools as needed, and was happy to invest in a Ryobi drill and driver set which are a pleasure to work with.
I know all this is old hat to most of the guys on this site. To me, learning woodworking was like learning to sew on a sewing machine- having to rip things out and start over again, patch up spots, and be happy with less than perfect. In the end the 15 bar small hive (for splits) I made was almost square- the tiny gap is negligible. I gave myself lots of time, and every evening listened to a book on tape while I worked in my workshop. Though I don't plan to go into the hive building biz, I felt quite proud of myself and having the confidence that I can make my own hives lets me know that I can multiply my apiary as much as I want to. Next one will take 1/10th of the time!
For top bars I used 1 1/2" lumber and thats the size of my bars and it works out fine, as I don't have the tools to rip to 1 3/8.
A note on top bar guides. I have done lots of reading on this, and my experience is limited, but dipping in beeswax is ill advised by many because it prevents a strong attachment. Les Crowder only uses wooden guides on the first few and straight bars on the rest. He also suggests using quarter round molding, which is glued and nailed on. I'm trying both and will be interested to find out what works. Straight combs seems a lot more about intense management than comb guides. I went into someones hive that had been ignored for too long and the bees also ignored the comb guides and built willy nilly like they were in a tree!
I encourage women to learn to use power tools- it's empowering!
Shanna Rose
