Spring Tasks, and Catching Up To Maple

Caught again, preparing, when I should be doing, I spend my free time trying to complete a "to do" list for bees, missing the fact that Maple is well into bloom (yellow and hanging heavy all along the highway and roads), and they are packing it away. And I need to super. But instead, I complete the bottom boards, am rebuilding old ones, and am going through every single unused super I own, gleaning out gross comb, and renailing every frame. Being the confident carpenter I am- or was- I neglected to side nail my frames for the past two years, only glued them and shot staples through the top and bottom. Because: glue is really strong- so who needs side nailing? But- not strong enough when you are prying a propilised/burr combed frame out of the center of a hive. 98% of the time- it seems fine- but one dang frame loosens up and you have to pull it and renail it on site with bees all around, and it just reminds me that taking extra time to do things right, is usually worth it.But not always- the bottom boards took way too long- too many cuts, too many pieces. Below is the final version. I know it looks like every other bottom board. But for God's sake- I am an architect- I don't take it lightly- and applied my very best skills and thinking. Sort of for naught, it turns out.  Its 5/4 cedar, with a 3/4" spacer (with a kerf- to break capillary action), and almost no exposed end grain. Which meant lots of dumb joinery. It has a 45 degree entry- common, but in the end, after trying out all sorts of flat and beveled entries, I think this is best, as it drains best, and I can still put a reducer across with the sides projecting. I know, it looks like no big deal, but dang it, it took at least 10 built versions to get here. There are feet on the bottom to keep it high and dry- but also set to allow pivoting when weighing, Note the screen is nicely bent down before the entry, so it doesn't get stapled to the top if the entry board. Every joint went through pain.

And- on the bottom- a very luxury detail- a center support for the mite board. My mite boards are corrugated sign plastic (which it turns out, is not cheap, even in a world fill of plastic), and they run in two side kerfs (which you will see in above, do NOT extend to the exterior- very clever planning and routering). I used to kerf the butt end side (the entry), then beveled it- but decided that was just a place for vermin- and also, I could not tell if it was tight or not when pushing a board in. So bees would get it, looking for pollen and getting trapped, and house with mites looking for hosts. Not a happy scene. 

The support prevents the board from sagging, The boards get curvy, then don't fit tight, or curve up, and scrape off as you pull the out. 

 And below is today's hurried operation of stacking supers ( a half of them? the rest are in the shop) and gleaning bad frames and renailing, and pressure washing them for painting tomorrow. In foreground is my devoted cat companion. At right are buckets where I poured melted foundation through screens. For hours of scraping, it seems like I end up with half a pound of wax. At left is my HF truck, to which I bolted a 16x10 piece of steel to carry the supers.