How much do you spend per year just on wooden ware?

[BeeGhost]

Just placed an order to ML for:

5 deeps (budget)
100 deep frames (gonna start going foundationless and save some money here)
a pair of economy leather gloves (darn mouse got my other pair sitting in the shed)
40 medium frames
40 medium ritecell foundation

So I dropped a couple hundred bucks tonight!!

Gonna cut costs a bit by making my own medium supers out of 5/8" plywood (can get about 8+ boxes out of an $18 sheet) since they are only on when its sunny, mostly.

Hopefully the girls make some honey this year so I can recoup some of the cost!!LOL

I could only imagine how much commercial/sideliner people spend!!

Anyone make their own deeps out of plywood?? It just seems cheaper, but how long will they last? If I could get a couple years out of them I would be money ahead!!

[Gypsi]

I use a lot of plywood for other stuff, chicken coops, etc., but when I hired someone to make my boxes (didn't have time) I bought pine - 1x10 for deeps I think. Solid wood handles weather SO much better, especially if the cross-cut edge is not painted and is going to see ANY weather.

I dropped what, $300 or $400 on woodenware & tools last summer. Spent $60 on the wood and swapped out the labor for 4 nucs and 2 deeps, slightly imperfect ones, no fancy corners, but better than what my hive came with.

Gypsi

[Charlie B]

I make all my nuc's out of 3/4" plywood, glue and screw with Titebond III and they seem to hold up well with two coats of exterior latex. Then again they don't get as much heavy use as regular boxes. You should be able to get at least two years out of them but why not use 3/4" pine from a lumber yard, (cheaper than Home Depot) and they'll last much much longer.

[spunky]

I just make a yearly budget for the apairy , and its 100$ for wooden ware and frames. I dont add in 1 queen bee and sugar/ bee pro ,per spring season . I am just a small hobby guy though. I make my own tops, and bottoms , feeders

[Andrew Dewey]

I'm using up a big order I made in 2010 before I had a bunch of hives not make it through winter. You don't need honey supers if there aren't hives to put them on! The only boxes I have yet to put together are ones I ordered without handholds so I could cut guides for queen castles. I have 200 or so frames (mostly smalls for honey) to assemble and install foundation in. The boxes I assembled and painted last summer. I don't think I purchased any woodenware in 2011 and certainly none this far in 2012.

[sqkcrk]

Anyone make their own deeps out of plywood?? It just seems cheaper, but how long will they last? If I could get a couple years out of them I would be money ahead!!

When you buy commercially produced woodenware from Bee Supply Companys, you are investing in quality, standard sized equipment which will last for ages and will fit on someone elses hives, thereby making what you own saleable in the future, should you, or your widow, wish to sell some equipment. Who will want to buy you plywood boxes? Not me.

[Adrian Quiney WI]

If I ran several hundred hives I'd buy more boxes from the suppliers for the time savings. With my small operation I watch craigslist closely and pick up lumber from guys who are cleaning out their sheds. I also have a "Wolfcraft" dowelling jig which allows me to glue boards together if they are not wide enough. I am working on 100 feet of 1x10 that cost me $10 - although because I knew the guy was virtually giving it to me I gave him a jar of honey to sweeten the deal.

[Stonefly7]

Mark, I understand the hobby person doing it himself. No, I would not purchase plywood either. Spent 2200 on boxes, and 2560 on frames. I would rather support the person making the product, and spend my valuable time working bees. Just what I do, not saying making your own stuff is bad.

Kind regards

[sqkcrk]

Yes, I go along w/ that too. Nothing wrong w/ doing things in ways one enjoys. It's just a matter of how you like to spend your time. I know plenty of people who think Posting on beesource isn't something for them and don't do it. whether that makes it a waste of time is up to the individual.

[pascopol]

You should be able to get at least two years out of them but why not use 3/4" pine from a lumber yard, (cheaper than Home Depot) and they'll last much much longer.

I risked one sheet of $15.00 plywood to make 8 nucs (using cypress scraps as tops and bottoms) will see how long they last before using plywood on a larger scale.

To me if plywood does not last at least 5 years, it is not worth bothering with, since I can make nucs or boxes from cheap #2 pine or even cheaper cypress seconds & scraps.

My time is a money too, even I never see this money.

[Acebird]

As a hobbyist I think it will decrease as time goes on. If you are going to buy and not make I would say 300 first year, 200 second year and 100 third and maybe 50 from there on. I think plywood can be used in an emergency but not as a permanent hive body. Although ... I laminated scrap pine and made these boxes which I am sure Mark would lower his standards and use these boxes.

http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/v...eBodies014.jpg

As supers these boxes will last because the 1/4 plywood in on the inside. What I don't know is how well they will do in the brood chamber where condensation is more of a problem.

[sqkcrk]

I laminated scrap pine and made these boxes which I am sure Mark would lower his standards and use these boxes.

lol

I'm sure that what I see in the photo is just fine for what you are using it for, but, I have plywood nuc boxes which haven't lasted anywhere near as long as other nuc boxes made from boards.

I am not much of a do it yourselfer and am not a small scale beekeeper, so take what I write w/ that in mind. Making boxes from boards doesn't fit my beekeeping style and plywood boxes even less so.

If you'll notice I used the word "invest" in my first Post on this Thread. That was a word choice intended to show how I view expenditures. If I am going to buy boxes they are going to be like others I have which will last 50 years, not 2 or 5 needing to be replaced and recycled.

My philosophy also includes the idea of paying someone for what they do best and do what I do best. Changing a board into a hive body isn't one of the things I do best.

If you are a DIYer, go for it. And like Acebird, make what you make as good as you can. Enjoy what you do and that is where the real value is. And you will learn something along the way too.

[Acebird]

Couldn't agree more Mark. If it is an investment you have to go a long way to beat the price of buying wooden ware from those that have geared up for mass production. I think if you were going to use plywood the best grade would be marine. Standard woodenware would be cheaper. Exterior grade would be the bare minimum and end grain still poses a problem.

[dback]

Just thinking out loud here.......

The last place I would try to save is frames. Bees don't much care about the appearance of the hive body....quality and health of the hive is, to a great degree, dependent on the frames. They are one of the most important aspects of the hive. We use quality wooden frames with the best plastic foundation. Frames with wax moth or hive beetle damage on plastic can be cleaned up and reused, last forever and maintain a good degree of resale value. Used (standard) equipment from commercial operations or other sources for hive bodies, tops and bottom boards are often a great value. A coat of paint on used equipment does wonders. I have made my share of woodenware in my day but unless you simply enjoy the activity.......(or get the material very cheap) it is difficult to justify.

Just my 2 cents.

[Gypsi]

lol
My philosophy also includes the idea of paying someone for what they do best and do what I do best. Changing a board into a hive body isn't one of the things I do best.

I am a sort of cost/effective DIYer. $2200 for plumbing when I can do it for $250, I do it. $4000 for house wiring when I can do it for $600 (on the 5 year plan, meanwhile keeping excess load off the old circuits), I do it.

Vent screen boxes I can build for less than $4, no shipping, takes half an hour, I do it.

Frames - I want to try foundationless frames, at least in my bait hives, and when I have a couple of nickels to spare I'll pick up a quantity - was trying to find a local supplier to dodge freight, but apparantly Dadant in Paris, TX is the local supplier.

Boxes - I don't know how critical the finger joints are - anything I want faster than having it shipped, I'll build. I'll use it for something later if it doesn't last. But it takes as long to assemble a prefab box as it takes to assemble a straight cut box, so it is 6/1, half dozen the other. I suspect the prefabs are better, but for now I'm box - rich and bee poor, so I'm not shopping them.

Bottom boards and telescoping covers - and even inner covers - plywood is better than masonite, granted those nice metal caps are VERY nice. So I'm guessing I'll make my bottom boards and inner covers, but maybe buy telescoping ones. Again, the assembly time is virtually the same. Saw cuts are not the lengthy part of the process.

Last summer I was strictly a "buy" sorta gal, at least while I learned how things were put together.

Gypsi

[ralittlefield]

I spend very little. I have made all my wooden ware from rough lumber that I get from a friend that has a saw mill. We treat each other very well. I don't question his price (which is very cheap 35 to 45 cents a board foot) and he often has some scraps that are very usable for me that he throws in for free. It takes ~ 6 lineal feet of 1X10 to make a deep box. That's about 5 board feet, or $1.75 to $2.25 that I pay for material.

I have to plane and cut the pieces, but I have a well equipped wood shop, and woodworking is also a hobby of mine. Add in that I am retired and live is good!

[Charlie B]

Although ... I laminated scrap pine and made these boxes which I am sure Mark would lower his standards and use these boxes.

http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/v...eBodies014.jpg

Those look pretty good, I'll take 50!

[David LaFerney]

When you buy commercially produced woodenware ...making what you own saleable in the future... Who will want to buy you plywood boxes? Not me.

And yet you see it over and over - NEVER buy used equipment because of foulbrood. So who wants to buy used equipment anyway? Especially from a hobbyist. If it is full of standard frames and healthy bees, then replacing the boxes shouldn't be a deal breaker if someone wants to buy them and take the risk.

I have plywood boxes that I put into service in Spring 2009 and they are pretty much like new. Now that isn't a long term torture test, but keeping my equipment costs low is allowing me to determine 2 things - 1)How much bee keeping do I have time for/want? 2)Can I make any money off from it. The answer to 2) greatly affects the answer to 1) But, in the mean time cutting my woodenware cost roughly in half is a big factor for me when I need 30-40 more supers for next year.

I'm not saying you aren't right in one way of looking at it. But if you have limited fundage for your hobby then bootstrapping to positive cash flow and quicker economic sustainability is worth considering.

If I make money off of bees at all (and I'm almost there - broke even last year) my theory is that I can make more off of my 10 hives in junky boxes than I could from 5 hives in nice boxes. Once I establish some income instead of all outlay I'll give more consideration to long term investment.

Just me.

[sqkcrk]

And yet you see it over and over - NEVER buy used equipment because of foulbrood. So who wants to buy used equipment anyway?

Just me.

Well, Commercial Beekeepers. Folks who know disease and how to deal w/ it. If a beekeeper isn't confident about their knowledge of diseases and how to habdle them and also isn't sure about the history of the person selling used equipment stay away and leave them bee. Otherwise, buy the equipment.

[Fuzzy]

"How much do you spend per year just on wooden ware?"

As a hobbiest, ten years into this hobby, the answer is $0.00

There was certainly an initial investment that was substantial. But, I have not had to replace any of the woodenware. So, the answer is still $0.00

And I should also say that the Honey sales from the 2nd year production paid for ALL of the equipment including a motorized extractor. So, now
it is pure profit every year.