>The idea of meium for everything sounds appealing.
Eight frame mediums are my choice.
> But I am very confuizzled in regard to frames/foundations. it seems there are many choices and different reasons for desiring each one. I recently bought some foundation called "Duragilt", but have been told that this is the worst of the worst.
I disagree. I've used a lot of Duragilt. It's usually well accepted since it's wax and you don't have to wire it. It has two downsides. It's not the cell size I want and if the bees every chew the wax off the plastic they never rebuild it.
>I liked how easy the Duragilt was to install when putting together my new frames.
Exactly.
> But if it does not work, then what?
It will work. In the long run you may not like it, but by the time they chewed it up you probably should swap out the comb anyway. :)
>Which should a Newbee choose, and why?
Any plastic is an acceptance problem (in theory). Cell size is one issue to me. Cost is another. Mann Lake's PF100s and PF120s (depending on what size you need) are well accepted one piece plastic frames and foundation and they are 4.95mm cell size. I bought 3000 in the last year.
> What are pros and cons?
The best acceptance is foundationless (with some kind of comb guide). Bees love to build their own comb. The down sides are that if they mess up a comb they will continue the mistake across the hive. Of course if you ever did a cut out this doesn't seem so insumountable. The other downside is you have to be more gentle with the comb.
Next is wax. You can buy it in 4.9mm (small cell) 5.1mm (medium cell). You can also buy it in standard 5.4mm. I'd buy the 4.9mm. Bees will draw this the next best as it's wax and they like to work wax. What they don't like is that it's already laid out and they had a different plan. Wax is hard to keep in the frame without it sagging. So usually it's wired. Wiring and embedding the wires are a lot more work and more things to learn and more equipment to buy. To do it well you need a form board, an embedder and a crimper.
Fully drawn plastic. This is expensive and heavy but it's also permanent. PermaComb is available in medium depth and it's about 5.0mm equivalent which is not a bad size (I prefer 4.9mm). The bees don't have to draw it and once they start using it it's permanent drawn comb. Acceptance issues are about the same as plastic foundation, but the advantage is that they already have the comb done once they decide to use it. Honey Super Cell is 4.9mm and only comes in deeps.
Plastic foundation. The issue is acceptance. Once they start drawing on it, they will use it just like any comb.
Plastic one piece frame/foundation. These are frames and foundation all in one. The PF100 and PF120 at Mann Lake are cheap and small cell and I've had good acceptance. Pierco and others are out there as well. Mann Lake has some more expensive ones but they are large cell. Acceptance is the main issue. The other issue is that while you get more cells because of thin top and end bars, you also get more burr comb between the boxes because of it.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#foundation