Wood Butcher's New Hives.

[jdmidwest]

Been busy trying out my new tools and sawing up some lumber into things that resemble bee hives.cedar hive.jpg

My red cedar came in last week and I planed some down. Spent the afternoon putting things together and came up with my first deep body and hive stand. Things did not work like planned, the cedar was splitting some and cracking along the joints. And, I miscalculated the inside frame rests, they are not wide enough for the frame to drop in. I am going to have to unscrew and re saw the ledges. I will use some tightbond to glue the edges when I screw them back together. My finish coat on this box will be clear exterior polyurethane.

I have built a few nuc boxes out of pine and they turned out alright. nuc1.jpg+nuc2.jpg


I also built another hive stand out of western red cedar. Not as bright and aromatic as my local stuff. stand top.jpg

I need to spend some more time with my saws. The new/old Craftsman has a blade that is not squared to the fence and edges are not real pretty. I have to get a manual and figure how to adjust it. I also need to drill the pilot holes for the screws a little bigger to keep from splitting the local cedar. But I am off to a start.

[EastSideBuzz]

They are too nice.?

[libhart]

I envy beeks that can do this, and woodworkers who know enough to screw things together w/o glue first (I most certainly would have glued it all up prior to realizing the rests were wrong )

[westernbeekeeper]

They look good!

[psfred]

Eastern Red cedar is very rot resistant (at least the heartwood is, the sapwood is only moderately rot resistant), but it cracks and splits easily. Makes wonderful split shakes for that reason, but it's not good for screws without large pilot holes.

Not to be confused with ANY of the western cedars, which are a different family of conifer and behave much differently.

Peter

[jdmidwest]

I am going to use the Red Cedar for the main brood boxes only. I figure it may impart some flavoring into the honey if I use it on a super.

[whiskers]

If the box is going to be hard to disassemble you could trim the ledge with a router and finish the corner with chisel and mallet. In fact doing the whole thing with chisel and mallet wouldn't be too hard.
Bill

[oldiron56]

First adjust the blade parallel to the miter gauge slot, then adjust the fence to the mg slot

[Acebird]

The new/old Craftsman has a blade that is not squared to the fence and edges are not real pretty.

Check to see if your blade runs true then do as instructed above.

[sqkcrk]

Very nice. May I suggest that next time you take the extra step and cut handholds into the boxes. You'll be glad you did, as you may already know.

I like the look of the red cedar hive. Do the bees like it?

[sqkcrk]

Eastern Red cedar is very rot resistant (at least the heartwood is, the sapwood is only moderately rot resistant), but it cracks and splits easily.
Peter

Repels moths too, which is why it is used to line closets and blanket storeage chests. Aromatic red cedar is another term to describe it. If it repels moths, I wonder if bees will care much for it.

[oldiron56]

Check to see if your blade runs true then do as instructed above.

To check that, raise the blade all the way up, measure from mg slot to a tooth in the back of the blade, mark it then rotate it to the front , should bee the same ,if not loosen the trunions and adjust

[Acebird]

I would spin the blade by hand and set a small piece of wood on the side of the blade and see if it hits and misses without moving the piece of wood as it rotates. If it does the blade is warped or the arbor is bent. Once you confirm the blade is not warped clamp a 3/4 piece of straight pine in the miter gage slots. Rip a piece of 1/4 plywood on each side of the blade. Raise the blade all the way up and one piece will drag on the front of the blade and the other will drag on the back of the blade. You are trying to get neither front or back to drag. You can use any piece of milled lumber to align the fence to the blade by carefully sandwiching the board between blade and fence.

[oldiron56]

I would spin the blade by hand and set a small piece of wood on the side of the blade and see if it hits and misses without moving the piece of wood as it rotates. If it does the blade is warped or the arbor is bent. Once you confirm the blade is not warped clamp a 3/4 piece of straight pine in the miter gage slots. Rip a piece of 1/4 plywood on each side of the blade. Raise the blade all the way up and one piece will drag on the front of the blade and the other will drag on the back of the blade. You are trying to get neither front or back to drag. You can use any piece of milled lumber to align the fence to the blade by carefully sandwiching the board between blade and fence.

Ace, I doubt his arbor is bent,and it wont matter if the blade is warped long as he marks the tooth, now what if his fence is not parallel to the blade? You say rip on one side then rip on the other side. It will cut on the front on one side and the back on the other side, what has he learned?But your thinking is correct, if the blade/motor is off by, say 10 degrees of the mg slot and you line up the fence parallel with the blade, it will rip fine. Now try to crosscut with the miter gauge, what have you learned ? The blade needs to be parallel with the slot first, then the fence to the slot. That is how to tune a table saw! Now how do you tune a fish?

[Acebird]

You are trying to get neither front or back to drag.

We are in agreement! You are not using the fence to rip here you are using a board stuck in the slots to rip and determine which way the axis of the blade is off. AFTER YOU ACHIEVE ALIGNMENT you use the blade to align the fence. It is more important to have the fence aligned to the blade then the fence aligned to the slot. Cross cuts will be perfect (assuming the miter is perfect) if you make a light cut and use the side where the front of the blade is closest.

[jdmidwest]

Very nice. May I suggest that next time you take the extra step and cut handholds into the boxes. You'll be glad you did, as you may already know.

I like the look of the red cedar hive. Do the bees like it?

I have some cedar strips for handholds. I actually prefer them to the cutout handholds, better gripping surface. I don't plan to migrate these hives.

I don't know if the bees are going to like it, have to wait for spring to see.

[jdmidwest]

Ace, I doubt his arbor is bent,and it wont matter if the blade is warped long as he marks the tooth, now what if his fence is not parallel to the blade? You say rip on one side then rip on the other side. It will cut on the front on one side and the back on the other side, what has he learned?But your thinking is correct, if the blade/motor is off by, say 10 degrees of the mg slot and you line up the fence parallel with the blade, it will rip fine. Now try to crosscut with the miter gauge, what have you learned ? The blade needs to be parallel with the slot first, then the fence to the slot. That is how to tune a table saw! Now how do you tune a fish?

We were just noticing that our cuts were not coming out square. We first noticed it when we were ripping the bark of the boards. Then when we were cutting box lengths using the miter gauge, the edges are out of square. The blade was not running true to the squared off pencil line. Looking at the blade in the slot, the blade angles to the slot closer in front and away in back. It was a $20 saw, it still needs some tlc. I will check for blade wobble also.

[sqkcrk]

I have some cedar strips for handholds. I actually prefer them to the cutout handholds, better gripping surface. I don't plan to migrate these hives.

I don't know if the bees are going to like it, have to wait for spring to see.

I'm glad you have something for handles. It doesn't matter how far you are going to move them. Having some way to pick them up other than from their bottom will be nice for you as you handle them over and over again. Good looking work jd.

[psfred]

I'm assuming this is a tilting arbor table saw. The bolts that attache the motor assembly to the table have enlarged holes under the bolt head. Loosen the bolts and get the blade parallel to the slot, then tighten up and check again until you have it perfect.

On my saw, which is an ancient tilt top Delta, I had to do the same thing. In that case it's the table that moves (and the saw had been toppled over or dropped), doesn't work worth a hoot until you have it square.

Once you get the blade true to the table top, use a GOOD square (Starret or similar, not a cheap hardware store one) to set the blade to a true 90 degree angle to the table. There is an adjustable stop to set this position, but I always check with a good square any time I move the tilt. Next, use that square to set the miter slide to dead on 90 degrees. I don't know of a situation where the scale on the miter exactly hits 90 when it is square -- again, check every time with a good square before cutting, it's amazing how often it's moved.

Sounds like a lot of work, but it's far less hassle than trying to get square, flat boxes when the table saw isn't set up right!

I rip some 1x4 in half with the saw set for 30 degrees then cut the square side at 30 degrees to leave a flat portion, then cut 8" pieces off to use for handles. Put the side with the flat down, makes a nice notch for fingers without a sharp edge, and the slope on top sheds water.

I think I'm going to slope the top of my landing boards more too, as I always find a couple dead bees with their wings stuck down in water puddles after a rain. I'd prefer not to lose bees that way.

Peter

[Acebird]

Then when we were cutting box lengths using the miter gauge, the edges are out of square.

This means your miter gauge is not square to the slot. If your blade is off a little and you square to the blade the cut will be off a little. If the blade is off a little and you square to the slot (assuming you take a light cut) your cut will be square.