Guide for Frame Making. icjy 



after which we invert the block and nail the bottom-bar, as 

 we did the top-bar. Now press down on the strap (Fig. 

 7i,a),wliich will loosen the frame, when it may be removed 

 all complete and true. Such a gauge not only insures per- 

 fect frames, but demands that every piece shall be cut with 

 great accuracy, and some such arrangement should always 

 be used in making the frames. 



The above description and Figure 71 are for Gallup 

 frames. For Langstroth frames the harJ- .vood strips would 

 be eight and five-eighths (8^ ) inches long, and the distance 

 between them would be sixteen and seven-eighths (16^) 

 inches, that is if frames are made of pieces one-fourth of 

 an inch thick. To make reversible frames we use two 

 such guides. Wire nails are very excellent for making 

 frames, and just the thing for the pivots in reversible frames. 



When the frames are in the hive there should be at least 

 a one-fourth or three-eighths inch space between the end 

 of the frame and side of the hive. As before stated the 

 space below the frame may be one-half inch. A much 

 wider space on the sides than that given above is likely to 

 be filled with comb, and so prove vexatious. The wide 

 space below gives no such trouble and in winter it is desir- 

 able, as also in case the hive shrinks. It is very undesira- 

 ble to have the frames reach to the bottom of the hive. 



The distance between the frames may be one-half of an 

 inch, though a slight variation either way does no harm. 

 ■Some men, of very precise habits, prefer nails or wire 

 staphs in the side and bottom of the frames. Mr. Cheshire 

 calls these his, though Mr. Langstroth used them over 

 twenty years ago, which if I am correctly imformed, was 

 liefore Mr. Cheshire kept bees at all. These are to insure 

 •equal spacing of the frames. Mr. Jones prolongs the sides 

 and bottom of the frame (Fig. 62) for the same purpose. 

 These projections extend just a quarter of an inch, so as to 

 maintain this unvarying distance. Some bee-keepers use 

 frames with wide, close fitting end-bars, or with top-bars 

 wide and close fitting at the ends. I have tried all these 

 styles and do not like them. It is easy for ^ny bee-keeper 

 to try them. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is 

 good." 



