Do you glue your boxes

[d.asly]

Curious to find out what the proportion of beeks who glue their box-corner boxes is

[trapperbob]

I definitly glue them but a word of advice make sure that they are square emediatly after assembally because once the glue dries it is to late. Just measure diagnally from corner to corner until the measurements are the same.

[Brenda]

We're new beeks and have only built one hive with 2 mediums, and we used glue.

[WJensen]

I use Gorilla Glue for the boxes. It is waterproof, quite strong, and expands to fill any cracks. Of course, the bees will propolize any cracks as well, but I figured I would save them the trouble. You need to keep after Gorilla Glue, however, as it keeps expanding for up to 15 minutes after it is placed.

BTW, I use Titebond III for frames.

Bding an old structural engineer, I like assembling bee woodenwar, and doing it right

[Michael Bush]

It depends on how busy I am.

[Joseph Clemens]

I once used glue (polyurethane), and then nailed them with hot dip galvanized or ring-shank nails. But, since I started assembling and using 8-frame supers I've been using only coated deck screws for assembly. My main motivation for switching is because in my climate all nails begin to creep out of the wood (in a year or so) and then the glue begins to fail, once the nails have begun to creep out, getting them back in to stay seems impossible and is lots of extra work.

[ekrouse]

I glue all my boxes and frames with Elmer's version of Gorilla glue. I use assembly jigs for both frames and boxes to make sure they are square.

-Eric

[Lucus76]

Gorrilla glue, 2 wood screws per corner then 1 1/2 inch staples 4 per corner. maybe redundant, but it will last as long as possible

[stoweski]

I'm a first year beek. Since we started with poly hives, and they fit together 'like glue' we didn't glue them. I was actually surprised at how well they fit together! One coat of primer and three coats of paint later and they don't even budge when you try to take them apart.

I will be making my own boxes out of wood over the next year. I WILL be gluing and nailing them.

Who knows how it will go? I will let people know if I find that the unglued poly does not work out.

Keith

[GRIMBEE]

I am also a new beek and I use glue and nails and screws on boxes and frames.

[John D.]

Fine Woodworking did a glue test in their August 2007 issue. Titebond III was the strongest with Gorilla glue the weakest of the the six glue types they tested on three types of wood including tropical. Regular yellow (PVA) glue was almost 3 times stronger than polyurethane glue in their loose joint test in ipe' (a tropical hardwood).

[notaclue]

Gorilla Glue and nails or, if I have them, wood screws.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Glue and screw for me! No nails or staples.

[danwyns]

Never had a need to glue frames or boxes. Boxes are rabbet joints with 7 (4+3) 60 mm staples in each corner. Frames get 6 staples-- top, bottom, keeper. Have Something like 25K deep frames out there and I might pull 7-8 frames apart in a year.

Are beeks that build boxes by the 100s and frames by the 1000s gluing on that scale? It seems like a lot of extra cost, labor, and mess for very little gain in performance/lifespan of woodware.

[John Seets]

Glue and Screw. The only way to go.

[HarryVanderpool]

Titebond III
Square 'em in the box-press.
#8 galv nails.
Then use the best paint you can get your hands on!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...oxClamp003.jpg

[ME Beekeeper]

I guess I'm another vote for Titebond III. I glue my boxes and don't bother with the frames.... yet. I tried the Gorilla glue and found it tooooo messsy. It's almost like the Expandable Urethane that's used to winterize your home's crack's with. The Titebond III was better for me. Then I use a 7 penny galvanized ring nail to hold them together. I use the old hand-held pound stick to drive them, not my air gun.

Larry

[WJensen]

I did not realize that titebond III was stronger than gorrilla glue. Since it is also less messy, I will use that on future projects. Do you remember if they noted by how much titebond was stronger than gorilla glue? Clearly, there may be times when you have poorly fitting box joints that you may want to use gorrilla glue on a particular joint.

Regards,

Wade

[hummingberd]

I figure the bees will do a better job than me. Besides, I can barely manage to nail them together. I don't spend much time with hammers and nails...

[Ross]

I still use Titebond II and haven't had a failure.