THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



I then tack, or start, the nails in the top 

 and bottom ends of the bars that are to 

 be driven through into bottom- and top- 

 bars thus forming the complete frame. 

 In doing this. 1 start at the right side, and 

 nail two nails in the top of each end-bar. 

 As I use a top-bar 1 1-16 inches wide, I 

 nail, as near as possible, 3-16 of an inch 

 from the edge. This will leave about 

 I of an inch between the nails and be far 

 enough from the edge of top-bar to avoid 

 striking through if there is care taken to 

 start the nails straight. I also slant the 

 nails towards the top, just a little. 



I now tack two nails in the bottom end 

 of each end-bar, putting them pretty 

 close together, so that, in nailmg up the 

 frames, both nails may be driven in with 

 one blow of the hammer. I use three- 

 penny fine for the nails driven into top- 

 bar, and two-penny fine, same as used 

 for the purpose of wiring, for the bottom 

 bar. 



After the nails are all in, 1 loosen up 

 the bars, and take a pair of small pliers 

 and bend the nails that are to form hooks 

 for wiring. I grasp the end-bar in the 

 left hand, top side up, and turn the nails 

 into hook-shape, towards the bottom of 

 the bar. You would be surprised to see 

 how rapidly this can be done after a little 

 practice. 



Unless you have several thousand 

 frames to nail up, you would better com- 

 plete each job as you go along. It will 

 save you time. After getting already for 

 putting the frames together, 1 use a form 

 or jig, for placing the parts in to nail. It 

 will hardly be necessary to describe this, 

 as you will likely be able to make up a 

 form suitable toenail by. However, 1 will 

 say that the top-bar sets into a slot in 

 a piece of plank, and that the end-bar, 

 when placed for nailing, fits so as to be 

 in place. There is another plank, or 

 board, that is at the side to shove the 

 end-bar against, which keeps it square. 



The nails are first driven in the top- 

 bar, then the bottom bar put in place, 

 when one strike of the hammer drives in 

 the two nails, then the frame is reversed 

 and the other end-bar is nailed on. 



The nailing of the frames is done in a 

 remarkably short time. I can nail from 

 three to four per minute, after they are 

 ready with the nails started in the end- 

 bars. 



Now comes the wiring: Here is where 

 this plan saves time over the pierced 

 end-bars. It takes a little longer to get 

 these frames ready, but with the style of 

 form that I use for wiring (shown in the 

 frontispiece) I can easily wire three 

 frames per minute. Here is the way I 

 do it: I have the form nailed fast to my 

 work bench, with the lower end even 

 with the edge of the bench nearest to me. 

 I then pile up a lot of frames at my left. 

 In working I grasp a frame in my left 

 hand, slip it into staples such as you see 

 in the upper left and right corrters of the 

 photograph, then slip my hand down to 

 the lower corners and turn the two bent 

 irons which you see, so as to hold the 

 frame solid. These two bent irons are 

 simply two common bolts with the heads 

 cut off, and the burrs screwed on at the 

 bottom so that one can regulate the 

 heighth at which they should be for any 

 particular frame. When the frame is 

 fastened in place, I grasp the wire on the 

 spool seen above the frame and bring it 

 around the bent nail on the lower left 

 hand corner, give it two turns with the 

 thumb and fore finger of left hand, run 

 across to the opposite nail, then across 

 diagonally to the center nail, then back 

 across to the upper right hand nail, then 

 straight across to the lower right corner, 

 then to the upper center nail, and lastly 

 back to the starting point, where it is 

 caught over the nail and cut with pliers. 

 Now give the wire a twist four times 

 around, turning both wires at the same 

 time, and it is fastened securely. 



To get the wire taut before finishing 

 the threading, I catch the wires with my 

 right fingers and tighten them up. This 

 is done with no lost time, and so quickly 

 that one watching will hardly detect one 

 doing it. 



Of course, I do not expect you will do 

 this work as quickly at first as I do, as it 



