Today I Made

[Lesgold]

That?s an unusual tree. I can see why it is in short supply. Might be hard to get the logging trucks into that location.

[animal]

lol. gotta know how to drive ... just put her in low gear and don't let up ... 

They'll grow on land too, but the base isn't as fat on the land trees,nor do they put up the tall "knees". I don't know if anyone still cuts the ones in the water, but they used to float them out. Some would sink and were lost ... so that today, some people go out, find the "sinkers" , and take them to the mill. Often they do it with a homemade pontoon boat made of oil drums with a big winch strapped to it. A 100 year old (or even older) tree sunk in the muddy bottom will still be good. Some swampers  scavenge logs left on land too. Here's a video of one of those guys. His Cajun accent brought back a few memories, but I was surprised to not hear any butchered French from him.
The wood has a certain mild smell (and taste) that is unmistakable, even on a 100 year old board if you shave it with a pocket knife. Because of this, a bowl made out of it helps to make excellent sushi rice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q79BB_FpSVI

and the supply is slowly getting better. It was always expensive but during covid the price was 5x what it was before. It's now averaging around 3x.

[Lesgold]

Thanks animal. Love watching Swamp People. It?s always a bit of fun seeing them wrestle gaters. That second log looked quite old. It held up extremely well considering the time it was under water. Great beehive box material but I?ll bet they are slow growing.

[Ben Framed]

Cool. I learned something new today about wood. Your cypress is a totally different tree.
I was referring to Taxodium Distichum, also called bald cypress or swamp cypress. resistant to most bugs, light, strong and straight grained. Makes great boat hulls, porch posts, etc. and part of what makes a swamp look nice and spooky. 

A bald cypress is what I had in mind as well. Many houses and barns were built out of them back in the day here in the South.

[BeeMaster2]

Les,
Bald Cypress is very slow growing. I planted 3 cypress trees in the edge of my pond back in 2005/6 during a long drought so that their roots would bee underwater water and which they have been ever since. They are now almost 20 years old and they are only about at most 30 feet tall and their trunks at waste height are about 6 inches in diameter. One of them was damaged by my bull when it was young and now there are 4 trees instead of one and they are very small compared to the other two.
I always thought that being in a wet clay base would allow them to grow very quickly but they never have.
All of the old growth cypress trees on my property, they grow in the swamps, were cut down long before I bought this property. Most of the stumps are still there. So I only have new growth cypress trees that are only about 30 years old. None of them are big enough to cut for lumber. Every time I bought a new property, I would look to see if any of the cypress were big enough for logging but they are not.
Jim Altmiller

[animal]

There's at least one logger/mill in Louisiana that's cutting and sawing up trees sustainably. I bought some 12x12 posts from him a few years back. He said they were planted by his great grandfather over a hundred years prior, and he replants too. He also cuts the base in slabs sometimes for tabletops and such. Well, that's the story I got from the salesman/broker for the wood. One place here used to stock it in some sizes, random length .. now it's all special order with a 3 weeks to 3 months wait. For comparison, the wait time for walnut is 3 days to a week.

[Lesgold]

Yesterday was a cold, wet day so no bee hive inspections could be made. Late in the day I was able to get into the workshop to start on another project that I?d been planning. After making a pollen trap recently and doing a bit of research on cleaning pollen, the idea of making a cleaner seemed appealing. Looks like most people use some type of fan for the job. I use a computer fan in my honey warming cabinet to circulate air and thought that one could be used for this process. After watching a few video clips on this process, a design was nutted out. There was enough time to cut all components out and pre drill holes ready for assembly. The unit will sit on a bucket and the pollen will be fed via a funnel. This will allow the pollen to fall at a steady rate past the fan which should blow away all debris. (That?s the plan but I have no idea if it will work) I went up to the local hardware store and purchased a set of 4 plastic funnels for $4.50. They were all tested for flow rates with some pollen I had in the freezer. The two smallest funnels clogged when tested and the largest one dumped the pollen though far too quickly. Once the correct funnel was selected, a hole was drilled to hold it in place. Unfortunately the day finished before it could be assembled. It?s been airing here and we just received a message that our local markets are cancelled. Time to unpack the car and get back into the workshop to assemble the cleaner.

[Lesgold]

Just finished putting the pollen cleaner together. No real problems with the build at all. My only concerns lie with the fan and the hole that drops into the bucket. I?ll test the cleaner tonight. If the fan is not strong enough to blow the waste material away, I may have to increase the voltage provided to the fan. If the fan is too strong, I may have to go a bit lower voltage with the plug pack or restrict air flow. I?m also not sure if the circular hole is going to do the job. Will pollen blow out or land around the hole perimeter? It will be interesting to see. I made a small box to contain the socket for the power plug. It seems to do its job. The circular plate clips nicely into the bucket and holds well. I?ll show results of the test when I get a chance to test things out.

[Ben Framed]

Another good, and worthwhile project Les! Thanks!!

[Lesgold]

The pollen cleaner was tested last night. It worked reasonably well except for a bit of pollen that was blown past the hole. It appears as though the air volume supplied by the computer fan is just about right for the job. I ran the pollen through a couple of times and caught the debris in a large container. A small amount of pollen also made it to this area. I weighed the pollen that was blown out and it was less than 0.4% of the total amount run through. Debris included bee wings, pollen dust etc. Changes to the hole which the pollen drops through will be changed to hopefully reduce losses to almost zero pollen.

[Ben Framed]

Success!!! 👍🏻 

[Lesgold]

Spent a day wandering around the bush but still found enough time to change the shape of the hole in the pollen cleaner base. I decided to make a temporary baffle which would tend to deflect air and also keep debris up high in the tunnel. It worked very well with the changes. Ran 120 grams of pollen through the cleaner a couple of times to see how well it worked. The result is shown below. A permanent baffle will be added next.

[Lesgold]

Just finished making the baffle and installing it. Decided to make it adjustable just in case. There may be subtle differences between pollens. Sorting fresh, frozen or dried pollens may impact on baffle position. To be honest, I have no idea. At least this way, the baffle position can be fine tuned. Time to start collecting some more pollen for the family to try and then on to the next project??

[Lesgold]

Last week the newly made screened bottom board was placed on a hive in an area where beetles can be an issue. As the spring has been really dry, beetle numbers were quite low. A chux super wipe cloth was taped to the slide on board to see if it would trap any beetles that fell though the screen. Apart from a lot of debris, about a dozen beetles were left tangled in the cloth which was pretty good considering the low numbers of beetle in the hive. I wiped an attractant made of peanut butter and apple cider vinegar onto the cloth to encourage the little monsters. I have a variation on this trap that I may try so that the debris does not fall onto the cloth.

[Lesgold]

When I picked up some jars from the beekeeping store, the guy who served me asked if I wanted some weathertex offcuts. (Weathertex is a hardboard external cladding manufactured board that is used in the building industry). The off cuts were about 920x130x9.5mm. This material is often used in the beekeeping industry for bottom boards, hive lids etc and is extremely durable in an external environment. I picked up a dozen strips as I thought it would come in handy one day. Yesterday when I was in the workshop looking at the material, I came up with the idea of making some migratory lids using only the material provided. Two layers of the Weathertex were glued together using Titebond with gaps left for rebate joints. When the glue dried, the nail holes were quickly filled and sanded before being cut into strips on the saw bench.

[Lesgold]

Strips of Weathertex were also cut to the width of the lid ready to be attached when the sides were glued and pinned. The rest of the construction was straight forward. The lid had 4 pieces butt glued together and held in place with nails. When the glue dries, the lids will be cleaned up and painted. These lids are a bit heavier than the ones that you would buy but they will have good thermal properties and should last more than 20 years of continuous use.

[Lesgold]

I bought a few plastic trays online and decided to make some screened bottom boards to suit. The design of the bottom board was simplified from the first one that was made in order to speed up construction. A simple frame was built from Cypress pine and hardboard off cuts with a rebate of 1mm inserted into the tops of the side and end rails. This would allow the mesh to be recessed level with the top of the rails. Bottom cleats would be added after assembly. The frames, risers and cleats will be painted prior to assembly.

[Lesgold]

The bottom boards got a couple of coats of paint and I had enough time to assemble one yesterday afternoon. Flyscreen mesh was stapled to the underside of the BB and the the cleats were attached over the top of the mesh. Aluminium gutter guard was then cut and stapled to the top of the BB before the risers were screwed in place. I need go buy a few more supplies before completing the rear access door sometime today.

[Lesgold]

Just finished putting catches on the removable door at the back of the BB and a wire handle on the slide in tray. They will be put into action next week when the paint hardens.

[Ben Framed]

Les those look real good. As long as the beetles can get through to the oil and the bees can't you should be in business.

Phillip