Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: sixacrebees on October 01, 2012, 09:59:25 am

Title: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: sixacrebees on October 01, 2012, 09:59:25 am: Curious is anyone has used this for hive body construction. I have some large pieces left over and thought about using it. My main concern is that 3/4 - 1/2 thickness that happens where the grooves are cut every 6" could cause some issue with winter heat retention. Any opinions are appreciated.

Thanks
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: BlueBee on October 01, 2012, 11:27:50 pm: Isn’t the stuff only about ½” thick to begin with? Yes you’ll loose more heat though the grooves, but isn’t that akin to saying you’ll get colder outside during winter in a tank top than in a tee shirt? If you don’t start with much insulation to begin with, I’m not sure it’s worth worrying about those grooves.

The insulation value in something really comes down to how many little pockets of air there in the material. Natural wood has a lot of little pockets and tunnels for air to get trapped and act as an insulator. However wood is typically only good for about R1 per 1” of wood!

Compressed wood like T111 is going to have much worse insulation value than even real wood I would think (Don’t know the numbers on T111) since there is going to be far less places for little bubbles of insulating air.

The best insulation (sans a true vacuum and areogel) is foam which consists of millions of little bubbles of air (or other gases) which retard the flow of heat/cold from one side to the other. If you don’t want to lose a bunch of heat through the grooves of T111, wrap the whole thing with foam. Polystyrene or Polyurethane.
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: sixacrebees on October 02, 2012, 03:34:06 pm: thanks, after consideration looks like it not worth the risk of loosing bees.
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: danno on October 02, 2012, 04:31:10 pm: you can make swarm traps out of it. I use 1/4 luan for most of my traps
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: paindragon1 on October 02, 2012, 07:06:03 pm: Wouldn't the bees end up closing all the gaps eventually any ways?
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: AllenF on October 02, 2012, 10:49:44 pm: You would want the smooth side to the inside, grooves to the outside. Bees will not close up the gaps in the outside of the hive.

I would second the idea for swarm traps. I just don't think that T-111 would hold up for hive bodies.
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: sixacrebees on October 03, 2012, 08:43:23 am: last night I tried some of it on some Coates nucs, seems to work. This is the 15/32 stuff, so a little thicker than 1/2".
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: Rex Smith on October 04, 2012, 01:59:50 am: For my swarm traps - I used leftover smartside siding for the lids. Everything else is standard plywood. Not really happy with them, though - as the ply absorbs water and de-laminates eventually. My next ones will most likely be solid wood - as I have LOT of rough cut 1x lumber.

Makes me want to buy a small lumber mill like a Wood Mizer (or similar) to make use of all the trees that died on our land from last years' drought.
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: AllenF on October 04, 2012, 09:41:12 pm: You have to cut a lot of trees to "pay" for that sawmill. When you cut up all your trees bing that saw my way. :-D
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: Rex Smith on October 05, 2012, 03:09:51 am: I don't disagree Allen! I've had a hankerin' for a sawmill for a while, though... and have been looking at several brands. The economy is such that I can probably get a small one (all manual - no hydraulics) for a song. Problem is - I can't sing! Maybe someone would give me a mill - to keep me from singing! lol :chop: :chop: :lau: :lau:
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: BlueBee on October 05, 2012, 10:15:59 am: I keep thinking a saw mill would be an excellent investment given the price of hardwoods. I still haven’t figured out exactly why people (lumbermen) claim it’s not economical to mill your own Walnut, Oak, or Cherry trees given the prices I see at the lumber yards.
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: D Semple on October 05, 2012, 10:40:25 am: Quote from: BlueBee on October 05, 2012, 10:15:59 am
I keep thinking a saw mill would be an excellent investment given the price of hardwoods. I still haven’t figured out exactly why people (lumbermen) claim it’s not economical to mill your own Walnut, Oak, or Cherry trees given the prices I see at the lumber yards.

I mill my own for furniture, but it doesn't pay for cheaper woods like we use for bee boxes.

Way to many steps involved to make it practical and cost effective.

(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/DSemple/Woodworking/IMG_1306.jpg)

But don't buy the mill, haul you logs to a mill and they will cut them up for you for 15 - 25 cents per board foot.

Don
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: paindragon1 on October 05, 2012, 11:48:30 am: Oh come on.... A walnut bee hive would be awesome.
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: D Semple on October 05, 2012, 02:56:10 pm: Quote from: paindragon1 on October 05, 2012, 11:48:30 am
Oh come on.... A walnut bee hive would be awesome.

Tried it, too heavy

(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj72/DSemple/Woodworking/a844f2a4.jpg)
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: paindragon1 on October 05, 2012, 03:24:33 pm: It looks freaking awesome though.
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: AllenF on October 05, 2012, 05:03:55 pm: I agree.
Title: Re: T-111 Wood Siding for hive bodies?
Post by: BlueBee on October 06, 2012, 02:04:18 am: D Semple, that thing should be a in museum…or Fort Knox! What a hive!