Thread: Best Joint for Ply Box (Bee Hive)

Originally Posted by artme

With that ply they are going to be pretty heavy supers let 'em get full of honey and they will test your mettle.!!What are you doing for an extractor?

Anything full of honey is heavy! I have a nephew who is the maintenance engineer at a large commercial dairy - when I saw him about a month ago I ask if he had any scrap stainless steel - he said heaps what do you want it for - I told him and he said send me some plans - it will give me something to do

I'd be more concerned about what glue to use.

I recon the choice would be marine epoxy such as " system 3", "boat coat" or "west system"

These marine epoxies are great stuff.....they come unfilled ( runny) and you then thicken them with your filler of choice.
As far as waterproofing the end grain...nothing will touch the marine epoxies....unthinned they wick right into the timber and seal it up pretty well.

They make plywood boats with this stuff.

the bees will also have a very hard time digging thru it.

check it out.

cheers

Good Morning David

Everything that Soundman says about epoxy is spot on, but I would like to add a little.

Epoxy hates UV - it goes powdery with exposure to sunlight - insides of joints should be OK - not really suitable for coating outsides of boxes unless you keep it well painted.

People may develop allergies to epoxy - its a cumulative thing - and can be rather nasty. [I get a twitch in my eye; a boating friend reacts severely - red face, shortness of breath, swolen, running eyes, running nose, severe migraine]. I have no information on whether bees like the smell of epoxy!

Great grandfather, grandad, uncle all kept bees - same broodlines - and they made their hives from finger jointed solid pine - about 18 mm. Think it was Oyster Bay Pine - which I understand is the same tree as Aus cypress. Only glue then available was hide glue, the insides of the hives were always left raw pine and the outsides were painted a light pastel blue because ".... the bees like it ....." Not sure if thats true or just a story for us pesky kids.



Fair Winds

Graeme

It is true that epoxy is not good with UV...but it would be great for stabalising the exteriour timber....you just have to paint over it...and the paint will last a hell of a lot longer because there will be no movement or cracking in the timber.

as for the Alergies.

Two important matters......a lot of people are slap happy handling epoxy......that definitely does not pay...gloves and good ventilation and or breathing gear are essential if you are working in quantity....covering your arms and legs is a good idea too...DO not get it in your eyes.

If you do get it on your skin..DO NOT use solvent to get it off.....use citrus bassed hand cleaner or vinegar.

Some of the older generation epoxies are realy rough on humans.....roaring head aches, rashes and more.....I know a bloke who worked in a lot of polyester resin & fiberglass in the past......I warned him...this is not polyester and told him about a less reactive epoxy...but no.....any way he got a rash on his legs that stayed for 2 months

The australian made BoatCoat product is far less of a problem with the alergic reactions than for example West System.

cheers