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wooden ware, cupping prevention

4K views 24 replies 15 participants last post by  Specialkayme 
#1 ·
So, jumped on the sale band wagon and received a pallet of deeps, ready to assemble.

Question is: what steps should I take, storing them, to ensure they don't all cup and warp, before February assembly?
 
#2 ·
Wood will always adjust to ambient moisture. Best to store the equipment dry and assemble as soon as reasonably possible to avoid problems with expansion and contraction. Other than that, stack well above the floor because floors tend to hold moisture. Stack the wood pieces crisscross to help prevent bowing and warping.
 
#3 ·
I just ordered a pallet of mediums I'm waiting to be shipped. My plan is to just leave them laying flat wrapped in plastic with some DampRid as I'm planning on taking awhile to get them all assembled. In my experience it's the moisture that causes warping. Be careful with DampRid type dessicant, it's very corrosive if it comes into contact with metal. DampRid is mostly Calcium Chloride, if you can get ice melt where you're at it works just as good and is alot cheaper, wish they sold it around here.
 
#5 ·
#8 ·
that mann lake sale last week cost me $8000 for 50 double deep, 2 supers, with top and bottom, unassembled hives.
The price of your toys....

I prefer to spend money on saws and nail guns and such. Have to admit that I've spent about $5000 on bee equipment over the last 2 years.
 
#18 ·
Have to admit that I've spent about $5000 on bee equipment over the last 2 years.
Me too but most of my purchases from Mann Lake are supplies like foundations and little stuff like Honey Bandit and various other items. (no wood except frames) Have bought a few thousand frames.

Got three table saws. One is setup for strictly dadoes. Not keeping track of the lumber receipts. They fade and go blank.
When I buy wood I go to Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards since they're all within a mile of me.
Pick thru their piles and end up with ten or twenty boxes worth saw saw saw, glue, bang bang then paint.
Even cut the handles in. (made a custom jig)
At $60/box with frames and foundations I don't even want to think about that.

It adds up and holy cow it aint cheap.
 
#11 ·
No experience with pallets of deeps, but plenty of experience with wood in general. My advice would be to make sure the pallet is level. I assume it is strapped, but if it isn't, strap it. If you do not have actual straps, screw scrap 2x4's to the top of the pallet and place weight on it, such as sand bags or cement blocks. Keep it out of the sun and do not tarp it unless it is outdoors. If so, put a tarp on the ground and put blocks under the top of the tarp and do not tie down tight...allow air movement. When you start assembly, take off what you can do in a day and re strap it. J
 
#14 ·
It always takes MannLake months to catch up. They stock the warehouse and then blow through it in a few days.
My 36 came in boxes not on a pallet. I put them in my house and took a box at a time out to assemble. Any that warped or cupped I put a clamp on it till I nailed it home. Honestly didn't find more then 2 out of 36 that I had to fight with.
 
#15 ·
Great ideas everyone, thanks.

Yes, typically we are dry here. Yesterday we hit 52% humidity at 7pm, as I type this we are at 17%. But that lends to the opposite of what most people experience elsewhere in the country; boards warp here because we can be so dry.
Wood never stops moving. I know a small job contractor here who will pipe clamp all his boards, in a stack -really didn't want to do that.
 
#20 ·
"So, jumped on the sale band wagon and received a pallet of deeps"...


I have received plenty of unassembled deep and medium supers that come "pre-warped" from some manufacturer's. Where did you get your pallet from? After sifting through lots of commercial grade junk over the years I only order my boxes from Shastina now. Those of you who have received bulk orders from them know how they are packaged and shipped. A quick visit to their website shows examples. I've had some stored in my garage for over a year without issues of warping. But they stayed cleated as they were sent. Interesting to hear all about our weather here from people in New York, who probably have never crossed the Mississippi.
 
#21 ·
Interesting to hear all about our weather here from people in New York, who probably have never crossed the Mississippi.
Yeah, what do they know.
Now that's funny!
I'm sure it's a bit different from my land in Culberson County Texas, but Seattle it aint.
Why don't you tell us about the weather there? inquiring minds want to know.
 
#24 ·
At $60/box with frames and foundations I don't even want to think about that.
My cost for a top $14, bottom $11, square deep box $12.50, 14 frames (build my own for raw cost of 50 cents each), 14 sheets of foundation ($2.10 per sheet), wire, nails, glue, and paint winds up at about $80 per hive, not including the time I put in assembling and painting. Put a similar Langstroth hive together and it will cost roughly $100 since you need 2 deep boxes and 20 frames. Now that I have 700 board feet of rough cut cypress lumber (cost 80 cents a bd ft) stacked in the greenhouse as dry as a kiln could have got it, I have a few options for building my own.
 
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