So, the first thing to say is that I'm no woodworker; not by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do know one end of a hammer from another, and have a healthy enthusiasm for trying things out and screwing things up - so what could possibly go wrong?

In this spirit, and with lockdown boredom setting in (this was "Lockdown #2 - Revenge of the tedium"), I took a trip to see the brilliant guys down at Belvoir Sawmill, and returned home with the following. I can't remember the exact timing / circumstances, incidentally, but please rest assured that - at the time I made the trip - it was fully compliant with the rules.

... Some offcut planks of rough sawn Western Red Cedar ...	... a big hunk of Ash from the offcuts shed, and ...	... some cedar shingles; excess from a customer order ...

The timber was then stacked in the garage for a period (certainly over 6 weeks) to allow it to season; though cedar dries quickly and is relatively dimensionally stable anyway (the ash was already pretty dry), and then, it was GAME ON!!!

Sadly (or not, depending on your point of view), I didn't maintain much of a record of the machining and build, but, as you can well imagine, it ensued over the course of a number of weeks (at points when the instinct to 'potter' kicked in) and involved a good amount of electric-planing, table-sawing and routing (a wholly new skill for me), and glueing and screwing. All the consumables were things I had lying around in the garage.

The one thing I would say is that, before working the wood, I was dead-set on making boxes with observation windows, which would have been an ideal use for some perspex I have lying around. In the event, I came to the view that this was biting-off a bit more than I could chew. I did at this point chunter to myself about how I would then observe their comb-drawing (and hence decide when to add boxes underneath), but have decided to try a mini endoscope - attached to a mobile phone. If nothing else, that could give me some cool pics for this blog. Oh, and, whilst I have not yet purchased this, I have investigated what's out there, and have verified that there are ones which will fit into the small entrance which the Warrés possess. One step at a time, though.

Anyhow, jumping forward a tad ... once assembled, the hive got a coat of Boiled Linseed Oil; mainly as I like the colouration it gives the wood. Indeed, I do the same with all my other WRC hives too - even though there's no need, from a rot/longevity perspective.

The results - of which I think I can be justifiably proud - are below... along with some pointers to specific "features" / mistakes:

1) All the component parts	2) The top bars in-situ	3) The hive, fully assembled

Beyond the warm glow, as I say, there are probably a few things which are worth pointing out, for the general record:

1. The keener-eyed amongst you may notice that the ventilation traditionally at the top of the roof side-walls is broadly absent. There is ventilation, however; not least due to the channels I cut into the middle (underside) of the roof sections, but also as the gap between the ridge piece and the gable-end is exactly as per the 'proper' design. The reason ??? ... well, I could lie, but it's basically as I misread the measurements for the gable-ends. Ooops... So the choice was to either recut these from more timber (thereby generating some waste - even if some of the wood could be repurposed), or to make-do and mend. I chose the latter. I'll get through-draft, but just not as much. I like to think of it as a unique quirk. It is BESPOKE, don't you know. Who knows, it might better suit the vagaries of the UK weather!
2. The top bars are milled from the Ash. Ash is not supposed to be the most durable wood, but that doesn't entirely accord with my own experience. In any case, it's going to be inside the hive, and will be full of propolis in no time. The main thing that's noteworthy is probably that I milled these into a "T" profile - with the intention of dipping the spine into molten beeswax (cappings wax from my own hives) before giving them to the bees. I'm planning to do that as close to the time they go into the hive as possible, to offer-up wax with maximum aroma and plasticity, which should hopefully entice the girls to draw comb more readily.
3. Also, the middle picture shows how I've decided to try and deal with regulating the spacing of the top bars. There are probably good, standard ways of doing this, but I couldn't find any mention of these during my cursory web searches. Necessity is the mother of invention, so I decided to butt-up two top bars at a time, and plunge a 7mm drill into the centre; thereby creating a c.a. 3.5mm 'U'-shaped notch at the end, which has then permitted me to fashion a kind of fixing with some stainless steel panel pins. The bars sit loosely between these pins, and can readily be lifted-out ... at the moment. Let's see!
4. The quilt is of thinner (10mm) timber than the standard plans, though David Heaf tends to suggest this is acceptable. This allowed me to fully utilise the shingles - the remainder of which form the hive floor. The bottom of the quilt is cut from some coffee sack (as is the hive cover, not shown here) - donated willingly by the team at St Martins Coffee Roasters - purveyors of magnificent coffee from all over the world. If you're local to Leicester, give them a try. In fact, do so even if you're not local to Leicester..!

So that, as they say, is that.

We're now ready for some bees, and, with immaculate timing, it's about time for some bait hives to go out - so you might well guess what the next blog entry is going to cover. We're planning for two bait hives - one at home, in the vicinity of a spot where swarms have landed in consecutive years, and one at our main apiary. Of course the latter is to catch bees from outside the WH stocks, which will not be swarming this year ... no, Siree ... never.

On that rather optimistic note, hasta la proxima.

Craig.