Extracting frames - plastic?

[Ricko]

I'm coming back into bees again after about 15+ years. I have a large amount of medium supers I used for honey supers which were wood and Duragilt foundation. I'm sure the wax moths and mice have taken their toll by now, even though I thought they were sealed good.
So my options for this winter are to clean-up these supers for next year and replacing the frames/foundation.
I can go back with the original set-up wood and Duragilt or I was considering the Dadant 6 1/8th EZ frames (plastic). I'd even consider warming them in an oven to apply an additional warm wax coating and using HBH when supering. I just wanted to check before spending the money on the wrong thing. What is the vote out there, has plastic pretty much done away with wood/wax foundation combination for honey supers? Again, I'm not talking brood chambers,but honey supers.
Thank you

[tarheit]

I guess it depends on personal preference and labor. Some prefer wood and wax foundation, others wood and plastic, and yet others pure plastic.

For me I've gone to wood frames with plastic foundation. I use the same in both brood and honey supers. Much less labor than wireing and installing wax, it withstands attacks by moth and mouse, mistakes can be scraped off, etc. I prefer it over all plastic because they are stiffer and can be repaired if necessary. Though I can see why outfits use all plastic, no assembly time at all.

[Michael Bush]

I don't think wax coating the smooth plastic core of the Duragilt or DuraComb will work. Certainly people have their preferences. Mine is no foundation at all. But if they were old frames, I'd probably use starter strips. Good, clean, new wax is a wonderful thing.

But it's really a matter of preference. The plastic will stand up better, but weighs more and costs more. The wax will sag in the heat but be better accepted and weigh less.

I've always liked DuraComb. It's cheap enough, doesn't sag and with a couple of split pins stays pretty straight.

But I also run all mediums with no excluder and small cell bees, so I like to try to not put large cell foundation in the hive. In fact I try to put no foundtion in the hive. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif