From: "Lucinda Sewell" <lucindajohn@sewellhome.freeserve.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 09:59:00 +0100
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Clingfilm on pressplates

Hi all,

Problem with digest is decent reply...but nice having one package in the
inbox. This one is for Clayton mostly. Cling film is that stretchy plastic
used for sandwich wrapping, sealing food on a plate, wrapping goods on a
pallet, whathaveyou. The large rolls sold for commercial use work out really
cheap. Dee recomends rubbish bags, and I literally ran out on the night.
Well I was too organised to run out...but the new roll stank of perfume. The
cling film stretches over the pressplates (provided your not too messy with
the oil) and the wax sheet is laid on the hinged plates on top of the very
thin plastic. I can't see any difference with my ruler between my sheet size
and the master plate.

An aside here is my cellcheck meter. A strip of clear plastic from some toy
packaging with lines scribed into it 48 49 51 52 54 and 57 mm away from a
start mark. I put 10 dots with a marker pen in the middle of where the 4.9
cells would fall. A bit of a thumbsuck, but handy for quick checks of
comb...

It sounds like you have the ability to do the vat properly...Why not make a
doubleboiler setup complete with a thermostat and element from a slow cooker or electric frypan (buy a new one from spares place) and exactly to size? It would cost a bit, but if you are going to make your own foundation for ever it would be well worth it. I considered comissioning a friendly potter to make me a glazed pot exactly to size for the dipping, and building that
doubleboiler outside from aluminium plate. I ended up going the cheapest
option, if you don't have to then build the super deluxe model!

It sounds like Erik could give better input on sizes, am I right you use
Langstroth Erik?

A few weeks will tell what the local Berkshire bees think of smaller cells.
Anyone on this side of the puddle after foundation should contact
www.thorne.co.uk

My offer of foundation for moulds or starter strips for trials is still
good. It seems the scientific beekeeping community in England don't consider foundation size of any importance. Which will be fairly tragic for their
future credibility if they are wrong. Understandably it costs them a lot to
run a fullscale research project. It will cost you next to nothing to hive a
swarm on starters of 4.9, (in fact it is excellent hygenic practice) and if
enough people demonstrate a natural inclination of bees worldwide to
downsize from commercially available foundation that on its own should
trigger research. If you can call it research retrospectively.

Now Dee, if you can show harvests approaching old (5.4?) levels and an
insignificant level of AHB then there should bee a few people saying they
always 'knew there was something to that small cell stuff'...
;-)

John Sewell
African bees don't get varroa
African cattle recover from foot and mouth
So why is Africa so ravaged?