we make top bars

We are making new equipment............a few months ago, Roger decided we should make a change.......... The boxes we use on our bees are nine inches deep. Some years ago--and I really have no idea how many--beekeepers began using 5 3/4 inch boxes for their honey supers. [The bees like the nine inch supers--which is what we call each box--for the body of the hive, usually two nine inch boxes--one on top of the other.] We put additional supers on top of the hive for extra honey storage. Then we take those off and extract the honey out of them...........it is these "honey supers" that we are changing from nine inches deep to 5 3/4 inches. A nine inch, or full-depth, super full of honey does weigh around 90 pounds!! You can see why so many beekeepers like the smaller super. So.........we have just purchased and put together 500 new 5 3/4 inch supers. Now all these new, empty boxes need nine frames of comb to go in each of them! The only time of year the bees could get a whole super ready for honey storage is about then next three weeks. It takes 7 pounds of honey to make one pound of wax. The bees eat the honey and make the wax.........that's something I want to learn more about later--much later! What I'm trying to say is that it's important to get as many frames as possible made right now! So here are the pictures..........it's fun to be involved...........We have been "cutting top bars" for two days now...........Roger is cutting 1x4s to length for top bars.........


I am cutting the top bars apart. I get three top bars out of each piece. You can barely see a stack of lumber to the right of the photo........there are four boards across in the pile, and I got them all cut!! You can't see it in the photo, but there are two blades on the saw..........one to cut them apart and one to cut a groove in the middle where the foundation will fit.

I have to tell you something about this saw...........you know the proverbial story of the man buying his wife a table saw for Mother's Day? Well........this is the real one! This is a "Saw Stop". Kevin came home one day and said, "Mom! You have to see this!" He showed me a video demonstration on the computer about this saw. There is an electrical charge in the blade, so if you happen to touch it with your finger or hand or other body part, the electrical charge changes and it instantly trips an aluminum "brake" that stops the blade and drops it into the saw. I used to know what fraction of a second it took........amazing technology and has already saved a finger or hand..........Richard is still not sure what happened......just suddenly, everything was silent and he hardly had a scratch on his finger.........I love this Mother's Day gift!!!!











Michael has a dado blade on the other saw and is cutting the little notch across the bottom of the bar. You can see the groove I cut as I sliced them apart. Then Michael stacks them neatly in a box..............we have to fill 45 of these boxes to make enough frames for all of our new supers!!



















Then Roger took them again--or Michelle came later and did some to cut the other little bits off the sides. Everything has to fit together just right. I'll show you later how this all goes together.............there are four steps, just to make the top bars and we still have to brand them. Yes, it's a lot of work, but it's so satisfying! And it's great to know that this summer (hopefully) we will be taking these frames out of the supers, dripping with honey. I love to scrap my finger across the comb for a taste. Brand new, fresh honey is the best treat!