We went to Lowe's yesterday in search of materials for two projects, new beehives and a corgi-sized whelping box. 

I'm not just frugal, sometimes I can be just plain cheap.  On walking towards the building, I saw a pile of cull lumber bundled up.  Cull lumber is lumber that will not sell at full price due to some sort of damage.  I sized up the pile and figured it had enough pine to make all of my projects (without making me scrounge for top-bar material), and give me some lumber left over for other stuff.

I asked for a price on the bundle and none could be easily had.  The kid said he could work one up, but it would take time.  I told him to work it up.  They couldn't sell it to me or anyone else without a price.  I went and priced the lumber I wanted, and came up with $74.  The price for the entire pile -- $72.  GOOOOOOOAL!

OK, this is how to make the Michael Bush version of the top bar hive.  Click here for the dimensions and stuff, I don't intend to reinvent the wheel, just describe what Michael has not.  Recommended tools for this job:  miter saw, table saw, drill, tape measure, hammer and pencil.

My hives will have a top-entrance, variable width bars, and legs.  The exterior will be painted and I will use a plywood and aluminum cover.

The finished product will look something like this:

Let's start cutting some wood!

First I have to "make" the lumber.  If you buy the right sized lumber, you don't need this step and the project goes faster.  First I cut the ship-lap boards to length and screw a piece of wood to hold it together.  Note the different types of damage, cracking, warping and broken pieces.  The bees won't care at all, and neither do I.  I have to be careful about where I place the screws, I want them to line up so I won't hit them with the saw AND the pieces have to stay together after I cut.  By doing it this way, I get less waste (very Yankee).


Next I rip this big board to make two 11.5" wide pieces.


And the second:


The finished end pieces look like this (Norm Abram I am NOT):


And the sides look like this:


Once all your pieces are cut, you start assembly.  It isn't intuitively obvious how this will turn out, but it's maybe the most slick set up you have ever seen.  You nail the bottom to your sides (not the sides to the bottom).  Use the thinnest nails you have handy and only use two per side, or you will be sorry in a couple of steps.


Next you screw the end piece to the bottom board ONLY.  Line up the middle of the end piece with the middle of the floor.  If you use the correct dimension lumber, this will be flush.  This board is the oddest sized piece of lumber I ever used, and had to compensate for the fact it was a little thicker than it's supposed to be.


Carefully flip the whole mess over, and you will notice nothing seems to be right and it doesn't look anything like the beehive you are trying to build.


OK, the magic of this design is it requires no beveled cuts, no angled cuts and if you use dimensional lumber like you are supposed to, no genuine carpentry skills at all.  The trick is the tiny bits of space here make for the perfect angles once you pry them open.


Screw through the end pieces into the ends of the side pieces to get your V shaped box.


Now you turn it back over and nail and or screw the bottom board to the sides (right now it's just attached to the bottom board by two bent nails).


Turn it back over and admire your work.


One (very sad) future use for this box design is a dog casket.  I hope I don't need one anytime soon, but the box just naturally lends itself to it.


I blogged about this last year, but I think this is a better post showing the detail during construction.