136 AUSTRALASIAN 



boxes. Nothing destroys the nice appearance of comb- honey 

 more than a clumsily-made section box. Before the neat dove- 

 tailed sections now made by Messrs. Bagnall Brothers were 

 obtainable in these colonies I used to get my material cut by 

 a cabinet-maker who had a very fine-toothed circular saw, but 

 as the different parts of the boxes had to be nailed together 

 stouter material was required for the sides to hold the nails. 



The size of the one-pound section — outside measurement — 

 is 4|in. by 4Jin. The width of the top, bottom, and sides 

 should be the same as the section frame, viz., top and bottom 

 a sixteenth less than one and three-quarter inches, and the 

 sides a sixteenth less than two inches. "When cut for nailing, 

 the sides should be four inches long by three-sixteenths of an 

 inch thick, and the top and bottom four and a quarter inches 

 long by an eighth of an inch thick. A small form on the 

 principle of the frame form should be used when nailing them. 

 Half-inch brads I found best for driving, not being so liable to 

 split the wood as a larger nail. For two-pound sections, suit- 

 able for the Langstroth frame, the tops and bottoms require to 

 be 8| inches long, but the sides are the same as for the 

 one-pound box, 



ONE PIECE SECTIONS. 



Section boxes made out of one piece of timber are now very 

 largely used in England and America, and I think might be 



F 



i=i r 



Fig. 58.— ONE PIECE SECTION. 



introduced by manufacturers into these colonies with advantage. 

 The pieces, after being ripped from a block of wood that has 

 been previously shaped to the required form and dovetailed at 

 the ends, are run across three saws placed the proper distance 

 apart. The saw cuts run nearly through the pieces, leaving 

 sufficient wood, however, to hold the joints when they are 

 folded up. 



PUTTING DOVETAILED SECTIONS TOGETHER. 



When first using dovetailed sections I found something more 

 than hand pressure was required to put them together firm and 

 strong; I therefore made a small lever cramp, shown in Fig. 59 



