To my thinking the extra 3MM will only add weight that you will have to lift for the next several years.
You might be willing to pay the extra for the wider boards to be able to use the extra width to use elsewhere. It may be worth it to you also to pay less in total for fewer meters if that will meet your needs.
Most people that I know want the mediums to have a lighter box to work with. If that is your reason then going for the deeps is counter productive. If you can afford the $1200 then you can get more mediums for your money.
It is your decision, I hope this helps you reason it out.
Yeah it has. I did want mediums due to weight concerns; my back is in a fragile state, and I'd hate to do harm to it, but I also wanted to adapt to whatever wood I can find. I see though, I won't be wasting the excess cuts, I can use them to build lids/bottoms/whatever.
I also note that the local beekeeping supply yard is selling unassembled mediums supers for $24; my rough calculations suggests that I can build two for the price of one, by buying the timber and cutting it myself.
Suggest you buy enough timber (at any price, for this test) and see how long it takes you to build a quality box from scratch. Then, factor-in your time, electricity, cost of bulk timber purchase, amortisation of equipment and wear and tear of same - and then try to sell that box. And then consider doing the same thing, over and over again.
Such a test might prove invaluable to you, as many ideas sound like they will be great propositions, until the time comes to actually put them into practice - ask me how I know this ... !
I'm NOT saying "don't do it" - what I'm saying is "go build one box, and see what that experience tells you." It's only by conducting such a 'test run' from flat planks to a final sale of product, that you'll have enough information to make an informed judgement.
If you were making bee boxes for your own use (rather than for sale), it can be a much different story. Use pallet wood, condemned scaffold planks, etc - the bees don't care - I can knock-up a Long Hive (unpainted) in an afternoon for next to nothing - but be under no illusions that such hives are unsaleable.
LJ
I love how you think! I really should document it all and do some calculations. Last year, I casually kept track of things, but I needed to be more precise and record it. What it reveals could be very beneficial.
I figure I could build nucs to sell with crappy materials. My only competitor sells nucs made out of some recycled realastate boards for an incredibly premium price. Either way, I couldn't really find much at the salvage yards that looked suitable. The only planks I did find, were these $6 per linear meter stuff. I could look around more for pallet wood; I see lots of pallets being thrown away, and I could find use of it, but from what I can gather, it doesn't seem particularly worth it. The extra time, and skill required, deters me, furthermore I'm particularly concerned about damaging the equipment. I'm only able to do this because my father coincidentally owns the equipment, and from what I've gathered, it's easy to break the blades and what not with pallets, since they can have nails punctured in at unpredictable places. Maybe next year when I'm more experienced, I'll look into it; I'd imagine there'd be some way of detecting nails? Or maybe I just have to ad broken blades as an expense, taking that route. I'm happy to build hives from multiple sources, and sell the premium ones for other people; I still need many hives to house the swarms I plan to capture. I don't expect to sell more than dozen hives for the year, but who knows, I do see a demand for them.
I'd like to build enough to capture a good 20-30 swarms this spring, and have plenty of supers to fill them in, and also sell some equipment off a local barter site called gumtree, but I'm not sure how much I actually need.
The post was a bit long, so I started to fade out by the last section, but when I noticed it, I had to giggle. Maybe the world is different where you live, but where I live the odds of catching 20 - 30 swarms is way beyond unlikely. I am still waiting for my first. LOL
Would be helpful to include where you live in your preferences so PPL can answer appropriately.
It might be! I'm not setting up bait hives, but rather, responding to people requesting that they have beehives removed. How I found out about it was by asking a local man, he told me that he captured 20 that year; I captured 10 for my first time. I had 7 people calling me on the first warm day following winter, and many more throughout the months, I couldn't keep up with it.
I have included it. It can be seen from this thread, says I'm from Australia.
one of the advantages to langstroth hives is that the sizes are standard. extra thickness will add weight & make your boxes non-standard. also i'm not familiar with 'gage cut'. an aussie term perhaps? i'd stick with 3/4"/19mm & have at least one side dressed. S4S lumber would be better yet. tight knots will not cause lumber to warp but it's a good idea to trim your boards in such a way that knots are not located in areas where you have rabbet joints, box joints, or handles. you could build new boxes as mediums & shallow supers & keep your deeps for brood boxes since they are not lifted all that often. i'm lucky enough to have a local lumber yard & a planning mill that do a lot of custom cutting for clients & I have access to their drop offs. I've been biscuit cutting edges & joining narrow boards together to get wide enough stock for deeps & mediums. I also keep an eye on the free listings on craigslist for scrap lumber & plywood.
I didn't actually know that 19mm was the standard, thanks for the clarification! I learned that lesson regarding trimming down on knots, last time I tried this. I am interested in having a few shallow supers, as I'd like to be able to produce honey comb; it's rather popular with some people, and is so easy to extract. I figure that's how I'll use the remaining deeps that I have from last year. Sounds like you've developed a good system! I wonder if I should start keeping an eye on these local community sites also.
How much room do you have for this venture? You will need storage for the lumber, space for the wood working power equipment and benches, the cut lumber before assembly, the assembled hive bodies and other parts you are building and then room for all of the equipment you will be using to run 20 or more hives.
Most lumber will need to have the edges straightened after drying so the lot 216M of 245x19 lumber might be the best for startup if you are planning to make mediums, you said it's local and if you need more the saw mill is near by. Expect about 5 to 10% of the lumber to be unuseable unless you hand pick it.
Thankfully, I have a small, unused shed that I can use. I'm concerned though because I've learned that it's quite a mess, requires a few days work and I'm running out of time; we're in August! The wood working equipment can go elsewhere, after I've used them. I had wondered whether the 245 would be suitable for deeps. 5-10%? Sure is quite a bit.
