Warré Woodworking

[Nantom670]

You can go to this site and almost talk to Warre, you can download his book "Beekeeping for All" free. Just go there and click on the book and save it to your computer or just bookmark it. He explains his whole approach.

[Beeophyte]

I spent a little time 'off' grid myself years ago. I respect your independence. Good luck with your Warré Hives.

[Zonker]

I ....

[Zonker]

I only have hand tools so I have to make boxes simple. I make the top bars by ripping 1 x material to width, then using a rasp to sharpen/shape the bottom. Then I just nail the bars into place. I like to think that the bees rough surface. Its really quick and easy (and most importantly really cheap)

[Zonker]

"The box is sealed in linseed oil and beeswax mix." genius!!! That's perfect.

[Beekeeping.IsGood.ca]

The glue I use is Titebond II. It is cheap and waterproof.

I'm curious to know if you did anything to the cedar before applying the glue? I'm hearing various reports of titebond not working on cedar unless you sand or wipe it with acetone first.

[Beeophyte]

I'm curious to know if you did anything to the cedar before applying the glue? I'm hearing various reports of titebond not working on cedar unless you sand or wipe it with acetone first.

I can't say if you should pretreate with acetone first or not. I can say I didn't know about that or bother with it. I usually sand things before I glue them. Otherwise I just glued and screwed.

The boxes are fine. They've been sitting outside for a year completely bare (unpainted). They've come through a wind, rain, snow, and direct sun.

No problems whatsoever.

[SteveBee]

I just glued and screwed also. Seems to be holding up well. Since you don't inspect the hive often, there's not much stress on the joints.

[Zonker]

I have never had a problem (and I do a lot of gluing). I think that acetone will chase your bees away. Cedar is really porous so you have to be careful to use enough glue. I normally apply glue to both pieces and let them sit for a bit

[doc25]

I've heard if you wet wood (dampen it not soak) before you glue the glue will not go in too deep and will make a better joint. I believe this came from Norm Abram (This Old House fame).

[Zonker]

Dampening works with the gorilla glue, but you have to be careful. The gorilla glue expands and can push the joints apart if you use to much. Titebond Type II or Type III is what I use. They are both for exterior use and clean up with water.... and most importantly they're pretty cheap. The joint that is used in bee boxes is end grain to end grain which is the weakest possible joint for glue, so you really need a mechanical connection, i.e. dovetails or screws.

[psfred]

Any hive with non-removable frames is illegal in Indiana, and the bee inspector can burn it immediately. Gums are absolutely forbidden, as are skeps.

There isn't much point in a Warre hive if you have to make removable frames other than it would be easier to work since the frames are lighter (on the order of standard European hives, which typically are square rather than rectangular).

Nice hives for small spaces though.

Peter

[beeman2009]

psfred,

I was of the same line of thought as you until I spoke to Mike Studer, TN State Apiairst. He told me that ALL TBH's, including Warre's were legal. The beekeeper just has to accept the fact that if they need to inspect, comb attachment will be cut. He said he usually lets the beekeeper do this for him, but he doesn't mind it at all. Check in your state. A top bar is a 1 sided frame.

[psfred]

Well, the point of a Warre hive is that you don't remove bars or frames, isn't it? Simple beekeeping, after all.

If you are going to have removable anything, I suggest making frames rather than just a bar, it makes life much easier, but then you just have a Langstroth hive of non-standard dimensions. Not having a bottom bar will lead the bees to make a solid sheet of comb, and hence quite a mess when you have to remove boxes or bars.

Probably a nit-picking thing, but lack of surrounding frames is far more a problem for the beekeeper than the bees. Certainly a smaller box is hardly a problem, it's all I can do to swing around a full deep these days, and I'm quite sure there are many people who would like to have a hive or two of bees for whom full sized Langs are just too much.

Peter

[Zonker]

Its amazing how many things I do to produce food are illegal. Can't drink rain water. Can't plant fruit trees. Can't raise rabbits for food. Can't raise chickens for any reason. Can't raise tilapia except indoors. Can't use bee hives that I can build myself. I guess they'll feed me in prison, so I'll have food one way or another.

Virginia just got around to promulgating bee regulations and its specifies that hive must have removable frames.

[Beekeeping.IsGood.ca]

Thanks everyone for the reassurance. I believe I have eastern white cedar. It seems to have bonded well. I did some test with sanding and without sanding and it didn't make any noticeable difference.

Well, the point of a Warre hive is that you don't remove bars or frames, isn't it? Simple beekeeping, after all.

I think you're oversimplifying the matter a bit. There's a a few details about the warré I find advantageous(quilt box/roof). Some can be applied to a lang. I used no frames last year and still did some comb by comb inspections though it was admittedly trickier. I'm torn about it because it was impressive to see how cozy everything was with combs right to the edge but I am planning to make frames for hives next year.



I'm sticking with the non-standard dimensions for a few reasons: I think the smaller dimensions allow the bees to fill the space better and control climate(I'm actually making them smaller than the warre standard), smaller natural comb is more managable and I'm interested in trying 2" cedar and the bee shops here only sell standard 10 frame pine hives.

so I'll have food one way or another.

You won't have food if you catch foul brood, but hopefully you'll be able to spot that. Besides how often does that really happen?