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Author Topic: Source for 1 3/8" top bars  (Read 9015 times)

Offline Foxhound

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Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« on: January 13, 2015, 10:30:59 pm »
Where does everyone get their top bars? I know some people make them, but they seem like the hardest piece to make for the whole top bar hive.

Offline Chiefman

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2015, 03:43:57 am »
i'll be really surprised if you could buy wood off the shelf that size.

I make mine on a table saw.
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Offline OldMech

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2015, 10:06:42 am »
I make Lang frames from scratch, so making them for a TBH would be pretty mild I am thinking..  Cut some grooves, wax in some starter strips...  WAX ON!
39 Hives and growing.  Havent found the end of the comfort zone yet.

Offline Foxhound

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2015, 08:14:32 pm »
I wasn't thinking so much on finding the wood for them, but for finding pre-built top bars.

I saw some for sale on the BeeThinking website, but havn't really seen them elseware.

Specifically the top bars that are made from 1 piece of wood, rather than dealing with waxing in strips.

Offline richter1978

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2015, 08:56:45 pm »
Top bar hives aren't built to a standard.  It would be difficult to sell components, everyones hive is a little different more or less.

Offline craneman54

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2015, 02:27:16 pm »
I wasn't thinking so much on finding the wood for them, but for finding pre-built top bars.

I saw some for sale on the BeeThinking website, but havn't really seen them elseware.

Specifically the top bars that are made from 1 piece of wood, rather than dealing with waxing in strips.

If you have a Table saw are know of someone that does,it would be easy to make them out of 2x4's,or any 2X stock form one of the borgs.
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2015, 04:27:24 pm »
My first set I ripped with my skill saw (didn't have a table saw at the time).  I made half 1 1/4" for the brood and the other half I made from 1 by 2's which were 1 1/2".  I left them 1 1/2" for the honey.  If I had a table saw at the time I might have made them all 1 1/4" and then made a lot of 1/4" spacers.
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Offline capt44

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2015, 10:09:38 pm »
I cut mine on the table saw then made a groove down the middle on the bottom side to put starter strips in.
Worked great and it give the bees a straight line to build on instead of going cross ways.
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Offline Joe D

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2015, 12:41:51 pm »
I cut the 2x4 in half at a forty five angle then ran the pieces back threw to get the point.  Left them all at 1 1/2 inches, cut a notch at each end to help keep it in the hive.

Another thing you can do is build a long hive and use lang. frames, then you can use an extractor.
 Good luck


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Offline hivebuilder

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2015, 08:54:14 pm »
if you buy all your equipment you will never catch up. like a boat it will be a hole that you throw money into.
buy yourself a good table saw and learn to use it. makes a good hobby after you are retired.
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2015, 05:46:12 pm »
>if you buy all your equipment you will never catch up.

You must have a cheap source of wood.  I can't buy the wood for what I can buy them already cut.
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Offline gww

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2015, 06:20:15 pm »
I used free wood and after labor some of the stuff they are building and selling on craigs list seems cheep.
gww

Offline CapnChkn

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #12 on: February 16, 2015, 04:11:01 am »
Quote
buy yourself a good table saw

And if you do, use push sticks.  I still can't feel anything with my left thumb.

I just rip them flat, roll beeswax into strings, and melt them on where the center should be with a soldering iron.  I tried making the bars 1.25 and 1.5 in, but the bees put honey in the brood bars, brood in the honey bars, and don't seem to give a ****.
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Offline Foxhound

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #13 on: February 16, 2015, 11:17:14 pm »
Quote
buy yourself a good table saw

And if you do, use push sticks.  I still can't feel anything with my left thumb.

I just rip them flat, roll beeswax into strings, and melt them on where the center should be with a soldering iron.  I tried making the bars 1.25 and 1.5 in, but the bees put honey in the brood bars, brood in the honey bars, and don't seem to give a ****.


Did you cut your thumb when you were using the push stick?

Thanks for being straight forward with the sizes. It seems fussy to me to do the 1.25" and the 1.5"

Offline jayj200

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #14 on: February 18, 2015, 07:55:03 pm »
A 2x4 riped makes an ideal top bar especially for honey supers

Offline CapnChkn

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #15 on: February 24, 2015, 07:48:22 am »
Foxhound, I had just put on my nice clean freshly washed coat on a cold December day and decided I would build a rope carrier for the wood so I wouldn't get it dirty.

It's a good thing I set the blade so it would just cut the wood, about an eighth inch higher than the thickness.  I made push sticks after my bloody coat and I got back from the hospital.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2015, 08:12:09 am by CapnChkn »
"Thinking is like sin, them that doesn't is scairt of it, and them that does gets to liking it so much they can't quit!"  -Josh Billings.

Offline hjon71

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #16 on: February 24, 2015, 09:23:25 pm »
You might message Eric Bosworth on here. He started a post last fall I think about making top bars. He might be able to hook you up.
Quite difficult matters can be explained even to a slow-witted man, if only he has not already adopted a wrong opinion about them; but the simplest things cannot be made clear even to a very intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he already knows, and knows indubitably, the truth of the matter under consideration. -Leo Tolstoy

Offline richter1978

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #17 on: February 28, 2015, 11:34:43 am »
Beware the dado blade! Got me good on 3 fingers last summer!  11-12 stitches and around $3000. Trying to cut a handhold. Ouch.

Offline BackwoodsBeekeeper

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #18 on: March 06, 2015, 11:22:20 am »
Foxhound,

There is a place called http://beelinewoodenware.com/ that sells 1 3/8" and 1 5/8" top bars.  They are .90 a piece plus shipping.  Their e-mail address is beeline@abcmailbox.net.  I haven't done business with them, but a lady on another bee forum buys her top bars there and she is very satisfied with their service.

Offline shoshannama

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #19 on: June 18, 2015, 06:35:41 am »
I bought long lengths of 1x 1- 1/2 untreated lumber and cut into 17 inch strips for top bars. I don't have a table saw, so I used Les Crowder's suggestion of quarter round molding strips as comb guides, which I cut to 13 1/2 " and glued and also tacked onto the bars with tiny nails.  I'm happy with them, and my bees seem to be building on them quite nicely despite one side of the comb guide being flat and the other curved.  All I own is a small battery operated circular saw and a drill, and built my own hive having no prior woodworking experience.  I wouldn't say it was easy, but it was challenging and I learned so much I'm looking forward to making another one. If I can do it I'm sure you can!
Shanna Rose

Offline Eric Bosworth

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #20 on: June 23, 2015, 10:24:32 pm »
I tried top bars last year and had a comb collapse as well as comb stuck to the sides. When I started, I made my hives so they fit deep frames. That way if t didn't like it changing would be easy. That said I now use complete frames without foundation. I can buy a rough cut 1"x10"x8' for $4. With that, I can make top bars for frames by cutting the comb guide with the router and ripping it with the table saw. I had a guy come with a portable saw mill and had him cut a 1 3/8" thick board for frame ends. If you want to make top bars fast you need to start with the proper thickness. Unless you have access to a mill that will make custom cuts that isn't easy to find. I should have also had him cut a 1.25" board for ends as well. For brood nest frames I use a standard 1"x??? Because they are planed to 3/4". Works perfect with 1.25" ends in the brood nest. I think if it were me, making top bars for top bar hives, with what I know now I would make them 1" wide. Then I would make 1/4" and 3/8" spacer strips. That will make building them quick and easy. It will also give the most flexibility for expanding the brood nest or what ever.
« Last Edit: June 24, 2015, 11:21:09 am by Eric Bosworth »
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Offline jonesjungle

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #21 on: June 24, 2015, 01:07:27 am »
Here are some. Just googled "top bar hives for sale" http://www.beethinking.com/collections/top-bar-hives/products/top-bars :smile:

Offline Eric Bosworth

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #22 on: June 24, 2015, 05:39:17 am »
At $2.40/ bar that seems pretty expensive to me.
All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns; that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party. ---Mao Tse Tung

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. ---Benjamin Franklin

Offline Eric Bosworth

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Re: Source for 1 3/8" top bars
« Reply #23 on: June 24, 2015, 11:36:41 am »
I was thinking about my last comment on how I make top bars and if I was to use top bar hives again how I would make them. If you don't have a source for rough cut lumber you could do the same thing with planed lumber only using wider spacers. As a comparison if the top bar is 3/4" wide (A standard thickness of a 1"X? at a lumber store) then rather than using a 1/4" spacer you could use a 1/2" spacer and still have the the same 1.25"/ bar in the brood nest. For 1 3/8 bars just make 5/8" spacers.

I like rough cut because it is cheap and I live about 20 miles from a saw mill where I can pick them up Tuesday - Saturday. Hemlock works great. Depending on how my bees do this winter Next spring I plan to have the portable sawmill back because I have a lot of larch on my property. Larch is great because they are tall straight trees, and naturally resistant to rot. It helps that I have a days work for a saw mill in about 4 trees. That should keep me going for a while. The biggest problem with larch is the sawdust. It gives very fine splinters that are difficult to see to remove.
All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns; that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party. ---Mao Tse Tung

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. ---Benjamin Franklin

 

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