Author Topic: Fancy Garden Hive (Read 11296 times)

kbfarms · « **on:** December 30, 2010, 01:55:46 pm »

We've created a prototype of a fancy garden hive. This is the front of an 8 frame medium. I figured we'd start with that before we went on to deeps as it takes less time to carve, plus I get to use the prototypes ;). For the deeps, there would be a banner that can have a name or farm name in it.

We figured it would be stained/coated or dipped heavily. This is made from white pine. We were also thinking of making it from sassafras instead of pine for more durability, plus we can get the sassafras locally. I think red cedar would also be very pretty. We can drive a bit and get cypress.

What do you think of the design? I'd love to have feedback on it. Thanks

BjornBee · « **Reply #1 on:** December 30, 2010, 05:24:44 pm »

Very Nice! ;)

I can't believe that you even went as far as too have a mite on one of the bees. What realism in your work! :-D

Let me know how much for one front panel. I'd love to have one to show off. Might be good marketing for you. :-D

VolunteerK9 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 30, 2010, 06:55:52 pm »

Very, very nice. Is it hand carved or are you using some type of CNC machine?

kbfarms · « **Reply #3 on:** December 30, 2010, 07:52:22 pm »

Thanks for the comments so far. We have not decided on pricing yet as we are still building the models and trying out the machine. We are using a CNC machine, but we are hand building the models for it so it is a slow process right now between hardware, software and woodware ;). I think we will end up with three or four main designs. Once we know the pricing levels we will post, we definitely want good referrals as this is a startup operation.

We will also do signage and thinking about honey displays/shelves for farmer markets and other outlets which folks sell their honey.

AllenF · « **Reply #4 on:** December 30, 2010, 08:17:15 pm »

Very cool. A lot of great ideas can be cut into boxes now. I like the signage idea. How wide of a board can you work with? And how think is the wood after being carved? Looks good.

JP · « **Reply #5 on:** December 30, 2010, 08:39:10 pm »

Man, these are quite nice!

KB, when you get the chance please update your profile to include your location.

Thanks!

...JP

kbfarms · « **Reply #6 on:** December 30, 2010, 08:52:56 pm »

Right now we can go to 24" X26". With an equipment upgrade we can go to 24" X56". After carving the prototype is 3/8" but we think for production it will be 1/2". We don't see the thickness after carving for this one panel of the box being an issue. On our next cut we are going to have a 1/2" frame around the ends where the finger joints are so the carving will be set "into" a panel, which will add more stability.

kbfarms · « **Reply #7 on:** December 30, 2010, 09:28:45 pm »

Here is our 2nd prototype with the 1/2" frame on the finger joint sides. This will strengthen the panel and help with nailing. We are justing using unassembled hive parts we have on hand for prototypes, so the wood is a little rough....not the way the finished product would look as far as finger joints. Thanks to all for the comments and compliments so far ;).

AllenF · « **Reply #8 on:** December 31, 2010, 08:34:10 pm »

Where did you get the design or did you have to program it yourself?

kbfarms · « **Reply #9 on:** January 04, 2011, 07:13:45 pm »

We build the model ourself. There isn't alot out there on bees.

AllenF · « **Reply #10 on:** January 04, 2011, 08:10:15 pm »

I still think it is very cool. I just needed to say it again.

kbfarms · « **Reply #11 on:** January 04, 2011, 08:30:13 pm »

Thanks again, here are two more designs we've finished. We have one more design we need to fix a bit and then I'll post it. These are deeps.

AllenF · « **Reply #12 on:** January 04, 2011, 08:36:04 pm »

Sweet. I love it.

kbfarms · « **Reply #13 on:** January 04, 2011, 09:55:04 pm »

Thank you......we should have the final one done before the end of the week. Then we have to figure out a price for them based on design and carving time to make a profit and yet be at a reasonable price. I think that will be the hard part.

kbfarms · « **Reply #14 on:** January 07, 2011, 01:50:48 pm »

Here is our deep comb design and our comb&flower design. We have a bee medallion design yet to cut and that will finish our inital designs. Please note that we are using bee box parts on hand. The production will be with select lumber.

lenape13 · « **Reply #15 on:** January 07, 2011, 02:50:07 pm »

Very nice work!

ziffabeek · « **Reply #16 on:** January 07, 2011, 04:02:56 pm »

Wow! These are awesome. What a great idea. Best of luck with the endeavor. I have a feeling you will make a pretty penny from the hobbyists!! I might even have to save my pennies for one!

Looking forward to hearing your pricing structure and web address.

love,
ziffa/liz

AllenF · « **Reply #17 on:** January 07, 2011, 04:13:27 pm »

I have a feeling that they want dollars, not pennies.

kbfarms · « **Reply #18 on:** January 07, 2011, 04:24:27 pm »

Yep, we'll definately need dollars :-D

The most expensive one will be the honeycomb one. It takes 12 HOURS!!!! to cut one of those, but man I really love that design. We are still trying to figure a way to cut down on the machine time. We are currently carving with a 1/16" bit, we are going to try a 1/8" bit and see if the quality is still good. We've also went up a size in the router to see if that will cut down the machine time.

ziffabeek · « **Reply #19 on:** January 07, 2011, 04:54:22 pm »

What kind of machine do you have? I work for a big woodworking machinery tradeshow. I might could find someone for you to talk to for advice. Most of the guys are really friendly. Also, you can often get help from the cnc manufacturer or software maker.

But you probably already know all that!

And I didn't just say pennies, AllenF, I said PRETTY penny!! :-D

love,
ziffa

Sparky · « **Reply #20 on:** January 07, 2011, 07:35:07 pm »

VERY SWEEEET !! They are all great so far and I like the looks of your logo in the ribbon for the deeps. Keep up the good work. The machine wouldn't be the Plasma Cam with a router mounted, would it ? I always wanted to buy one for my shop.

kbfarms · « **Reply #21 on:** January 08, 2011, 04:00:50 pm »

No, its a Shark Pro with a mounted router. Sounds like the Plasma Cam is a similar type of machine.

kbfarms · « **Reply #22 on:** January 09, 2011, 07:28:14 pm »

Here is our final bee box design, a bee medallion. The farm name in this one is engraved instead of raised. We like the engraving, but we are going to look at a couple of different fonts, we are not certain we like this one as a final font. This box will be the least costly as it is around 3 hours of machine time. This one can also go on mediums and supers with very little modification, so all the boxes can match. I think this design would also go well with the other designs if you wanted this for honey supers and use another of the designs for deeps.

AllenF · « **Reply #23 on:** January 09, 2011, 07:29:39 pm »

That is gorgeous. Wonderful job.

kbfarms · « **Reply #24 on:** January 09, 2011, 07:54:59 pm »

thanks ;)

kbfarms · « **Reply #25 on:** February 21, 2011, 08:28:53 pm »

Just wanted to update folks on how our carved bee boxes are going. We have completed all our designs. We will have all the designs I've posted to date also in a medallion format similar to the large bee. Before too long, I hope to get those designs up on the website.

Our only hitch to date has been finding clear pine at a reasonable cost, and we need clear (select grade) pine for these boxes. It does not seem that we can get that lumber in KY for a reasonable cost. We did find a supplier for cypress and made a lumber run today to try our carvings on that wood.

For us, the cypress is cheaper than clear pine (go figure). Every cypress board we bought is perfectly clear. So if the carving turn out well on this lumber, this is probably what we are going to use at least initally.

We have our website up at www.kbfarms.com and we are also on facebook. If you would like to contact us, please either PM me here or send an email through the website or facebook.

Thanks again for all your interests in the bee boxes.

Acebird · « **Reply #26 on:** February 22, 2011, 05:03:19 pm »

Quote

We are currently carving with a 1/16" bit, we are going to try a 1/8" bit and see if the quality is still good.

Hog it out with a 1/8 bit or larger and finish with the 1/16. Your router needs to have the power to drive the larger bits though.

hivemind88 · « **Reply #27 on:** March 01, 2011, 12:59:25 pm »

That is a fancy hive. That is some fine engraving work. I think it would look great in Cypress or Oak. Have you considered making boxes in a wide variety of woods? You could really fill a niche in the market for specialty boxes in all sorts of types of wood.

kbfarms · « **Reply #28 on:** March 04, 2011, 09:32:17 pm »

For now we settled on cypress. We have a good source of that wood and its select quality. For immediate sales at bee schools, we'll have cypress on hand. I personally like the pine with some knots, but given the price of the boxes, I don't feel that we should use anything less that select wood. Some folks have suggested cherry for signs, but I don't know how fast the bits would dull. I really like the looks of red cedar for signs, but don't know if that would be popular with other folks. I have some old supers made of oak, they are very heavy supers without any honey!!!

That being said, we will custom make boxes in any type of wood folks would request as long as we can get it. You are correct in that we are looking for a nich market. There are plenty of folks who make the regular equipment. We cannot compete with that as far as through put and bulk buys, nor do we want to. However, right now we are the only folks doing custom boxes so my thought is that we need to build our market before the next folks come in with the same idea and ability ; ).

kbfarms · « **Reply #29 on:** March 06, 2011, 01:49:35 pm »

Quote from: Acebird on February 22, 2011, 05:03:19 pm

Quote
We are currently carving with a 1/16" bit, we are going to try a 1/8" bit and see if the quality is still good.

Hog it out with a 1/8 bit or larger and finish with the 1/16. Your router needs to have the power to drive the larger bits though.

You are right on the money, actually we are hogging out with a 1/4" and finishing with an 1/8" now. The quality is still good. The 1/16" took twice as long and we just could not get the time down to where we could price out a reasonable box.

Acebird · « **Reply #30 on:** March 06, 2011, 02:29:52 pm »

I don't know how sophisticated your software is but if you could identify the detailed areas you don’t need to cover the whole routed area with the 1/16 bit just the parts where it requires sharp corners and quick changes in patterns. There is always somebody that wants the best of the best so you could take it a step further if you need to with that customer.