1S78 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CTLTUKE. 



191 



the longest for tops and bottoms, and the 

 shortest for ends. If you are making the 

 all wood frames, the top bars are to be Vj 

 inches longer than the bottom bar. This 

 allows a projection of I of an inch, for the 

 frames to hang on. This I think as great 

 a length as we ever need, and I do not think 

 it advisable to try to get along with anything 

 less, if we wish to avoid the effects of propo- 

 lis in bee hive manipulations. A bee can 

 pass freely through an opening of i of an 

 incli, but if it is much less, he is disposed to 

 bridge it across with i)ropolis ; if it is much 

 greater, combs will be built in the space. 

 For these reasons, comb frames are usually 

 separated from the sides of the hive, about 

 ^ of an inch. Well, if we do not want the 

 l)ees to lill up the rabbet with propolis, we 

 must have a channel for them to walk in, 

 about this width, and I outside of the rabbet, 

 added to the I inside, gives xis just f for the 

 projecting arm. 



I would put the frames together, at the 

 corners, with the grooving saws, such as we 

 use for section boxes. In the I stuff, I 

 would have four grooves and four tenuous, 

 a.s shown below% 



.y0^ 



This work ih ^ er) lapuUx done with four 

 saws having collars between them, to sepa- 

 rate them just the right distance. The 

 iioards, when cut up into lengths, are then 

 run over them, being held at the right depth 

 by gauging the height of the saw table. 

 Where the four saws are not at hand, this 

 grooving may be done, but of course not as 

 rapidly, with a single saw cutting one 

 groove at a time. To get the distance just 

 right, a blade, or track, is set in the table, 

 by the side of the saw, just large enough for 

 the grooves to slide over. The tirst groove 

 is cut, by running your boards against the 

 side of the track, as a gauge, and the next, 

 by running the groove on the track, and so 

 on. This method is more liable to inaccura- 

 cy than that with the four saws, yet very 

 nice work can be done by means of it, and 

 we are not limited to any size of stuff, or 

 material. Section boxes, or boxes for a va- 

 riety of piu'poses, may be made with this 

 kind of dove tailed corners, with great facil- 

 ity. Great care should be used, to have the 

 stuff held closely down to the table, that it 

 may be jdl grooved to the full depth. An 

 ordinary saw, with the teeth set very wide, 

 will answer fin- this grooving, but a thick 

 saw made on purpose, ground thinner in the 



centre, so that it may be sure to clear well, 

 is much better. Cutter heads will do for a 

 small amount of work, but having only two 

 teeth instead of many like a saw, they are 

 so quickly dull, that I would much prefer 

 the saw. For the metal cornered frames, 

 would have all the corners made as above; 

 the grooving in the top of the ends is to be 

 made a little deeper, to accommodate the 

 extra thickness of the top bar. The top 

 bars, we rip off 5-16, the ends and bottom 

 bar. 7-32. The bottom bars would do just as 

 well i. were it not that heavy combs are 

 sometimes made to rest on them, as in trans- 

 ferring, etc. 



Where the frames are made all of wood. I 

 would make them as in the cut below. 



If they are made so as to drive together 

 just right, it gives a very stiff frame, and 

 but a single nail is required to fasten the 

 corner. Care should be taken that the neck 

 on the ends of the top bar is not cut too 

 deep, else the projection may be in danger 

 of breaking off, at the narrow point. The 

 neck should be so made, as to have about 

 7-16 of the wood left ; this will allow the 

 mortices to be just 7-32 deep, and the same 

 in width. We make these with a cutter 

 head, before the boards are cut up. The 

 tool should be nicely ground, that the groove 

 may be smooth and sharp, with no ragged 

 edges or anything rough about it. The mor- 

 tice in the ends of the top bars, we make by 

 placing the four grooving saws close to- 

 gether, the washers being left on the out- 

 sides. Cutting in the end of the wood is 

 rather trying work, for both saws and cut- 

 terheads, and they will need sharpening 

 often. Great care should be taken, to have 

 all these joints just right, for the strength 

 and beauty of the frame depends on having 

 them driven up as tightly as may be, with- 

 out splitting the wood. The comb guide, 

 for both kinds of frames, we make of nice 

 straight grained pine, 9-16 wide, and just 

 thick enough to till closely the groove cut 

 by one of. these grooving saws. Tliis is a 

 little less than i of an inch ; for yoii will re- 

 member that four grooves and four tenuous 



