Easy Topbar Frame

[Beev]

Just playing with some ideas. This is split wood cane, soaked and bent around a frame and dried. Its really flexible side to side but sturdy tangentially, so should do well once comb is attached on the sides. Also, should help with attachment to the sides of the box I'm thinking. Think this will work?

topbarframe.jpg

[Adam Foster Collins]

This is awesome, Beev, and I'm glad to see it, as I had discussed this very thing with a friend last winter but never tried it. Can you describe your process a bit more? Is it just pine? Did you make a form that takes necessary bee space around the outside into account?

Thanks for the image. Looks sweet.

Adam

[Beev]

Thanks Adam. I made a form from 3/4" ply, using a follower as a pattern, and then sized it down to allow for bee space. The material is split cane, used for making cane bottomed chairs. I just soaked it in hot water for several minutes, wedged one end, wrapped it around the form then wedged the other end and allowed it to dry overnight. I then just made a saw kerf on either side of the comb guide and slipped in the ends to attach the frame.

The cane is only 1/16" thick and is kinda flimsy. Quartersawn pine 1/8"-3/16" thick would be more ridged, although you would probably need to steam it to get it to bend successfully, and then you would need to over-bend to allow for spring-back.

You could also laminate the thin strips on a form but then it ceases to be "easy", although that might be fun to try.

Keith

[Zonker]

how ridge is it? ridge enough to keep its shape and support the comb? This seems perfect if it is.

[Beev]

Zonker, Tangentially, it's pretty ridged, enough so you could flip the comb over if it was attached well. What I wonder is if empty frames will hold their shape during hot humid weather. I intend to make a few and see how they do this summer.

[Csturges]

Just wondering if you have used any of these yet and how they a working, it's an interesting idea.....

[Beev]

I have some ready but not used yet. The TBH I made them for gets a new package in about two weeks. I will be sure and post a follow up.

[Michael Bush]

I like it. Simple and effective.

[odfrank]

You are disqualified from the topbar movement. Welcome to the frame hive society.

[mrobinson]

It seems to me that the frame piece is unnecessary. But, what the heck ... maybe it's a momentous discovery and you're the inventor. Let us know what the bees think of your brainchild.

[Michael Bush]

It is very nice to have a few frames to tie any errant or fallen combs into.

[mrobinson]

It is very nice to have a few frames to tie any errant or fallen combs into.

... 'tis true, indeed.

[odfrank]

It is very nice to have a few frames to tie any errant or fallen combs into.

You are disqualified from the topbar movement. Welcome to the frame hive society.

[Beev]

You are disqualified from the topbar movement. Welcome to the frame hive society.

But because the strip is just pressed into a saw kerf, it is easily removed if it is not needed. Therefore, it should be classified as a convertible top bar. Can I still be in the movement?

[Bush_84]

odfrank is correct if you use this as standard in your TBHs. At that point it is just a variation of a long hive. If you use this for collapsed comb or cut outs then I'd say that's different. A top bar hive is only a top bar hive if you use top bars. If you alter the top bar into a frame then it's not a top bar anymore, but again if you don't use that standard in you TBH then I'd still classify it as a TBH.

[mrobinson]

Ahh, the beauty of the whole thing is that there's always room for experimentation to see what "the girls" seem to like best. Is this-or-that thing a useful improvement for the bees and/or for the beekeper? If we do give then a top-bar with the addition of a curved wooden board around the outside, what will the bees do with it? Only one way to find out. Maybe it has unforeseen problems of squishing the bees between the edge of the frame and the sides of the box. Or, maybe, it makes the whole thing a lot stronger. I'll be very interested to see how this particular experiment pans out; or doesn't.

TBH most-of-all says to the bees, "you must build your own combs." And it tries to give them a better space to put it in. Everything else ... size of top bar, size of box, how many entrances, where to put them, de dah de dah de dah ... is "blissful experimentation." And everything, in the end, is the product of, "it worked for me."

If it works: tell about it.
If it doesn't: eat the honey anyway.


Peace.

[Michael Bush]

>You are disqualified from the topbar movement. Welcome to the frame hive society.

Hmmm.... I've had hives with frames for the last 38 years and have 200 of them now... I think I'm already in...