Island CombPrince Edward Island
Hive plans

Langstroth box plan

Dimensioned drawings for one 10-frame box, drawn from the size you choose, with the steps to build it. Print it and take it to the saw.

Cut list for one box

Side boards

End boards

The dashed line along the top is the frame-rest rabbet, cut on the inside face; with a corner rabbet, the dashed lines near each edge are the corner rabbets the sides sit in.

Section through an end board. The BC plan cuts the frame-rest rabbet 5/8 in deep and 3/8 in wide and nails a metal frame rest into it. BC prints no figure for how far the frame tops sit below the rim, and the sources disagree on the gap above the frames: BC gives bee space in general as 5/16 in, a 1967 UK government leaflet (MAFF Leaflet 549, reproduced by the Scottish Beekeepers' Association) puts 1/4 in above the frames, the USDA drawing shows 1/4 in, and the University of Arkansas extension guide gives bee space as about 1/4 to 3/8 in. Set the rest depth with a real frame and your supplier's top bar before cutting a batch.

Assembled, seen from above

Building it

  1. Use flat, dry boards; wood shrinks most across the grain; keep knots small and away from edges and handholds (BC plan, p. 1). Running the grain along the length of every board keeps that shrinkage in the height of the box.
  2. Cut the boards to the cut list, then the frame-rest rabbet along the top inside edge of each end board, and the corner rabbets if you use them.
  3. Cut the handholds. The BC plan says they must be 5/8 in deep and draws the slot in the side boards (and in the end walls in its Fig. 13); it gives no size or height, so make them big enough for your fingers and, on the end boards, keep them clear of the frame-rest rabbet. They are not drawn above.
  4. If the plan uses metal frame rests, nail them into the rabbets now, with 5/8 in nails, not tacks (BC p. 2).
  5. Assemble in the BC plan's order (p. 2): frame rests first, clamp the box, nail through one end board into the sides, turn it over and nail the other end, check that the two diagonals are equal, then nail through the sides into the ends. The plan says the end pieces may be glued before nailing. Nails driven into end grain hold better at an angle.
  6. Paint the outside only: a good latex or alkyd primer, then exterior latex, or an exterior stain. Do not paint or stain the inside (BC p. 4).

The BC plan (p. 2) gives box nails as "50 mm or 1 1/8 in.", two figures that do not match; ask your supplier which suits 3/4 in pine. The cut lengths for butt and rabbet joints are worked out from the outside size; the BC plan's own side board, 19 1/4 in for a 20 in box, is what the rabbet option gives with a 3/8 in rabbet in a 3/4 in board.

Sources