When a comb is simply old and dark and there is no suspicion of disease I  
simply use a hive tool or knife to remove it from the frame leaving maybe half  
an inch (more in the corners) to guide them.  Otherwise I use starter  strips, 
which average about an inch deep, but are cut on the slant so one end is  
deeper than the other and these are placed alternately so a deep end is next to  
a shallow end. I often use the thin foundation supplied for cut comb to make 
the  strips.  It introduces the least amount of other bees' wax (and, we now  
learn, chemical contaminants) into the hive.
 
The one time I use a full sheet of foundation is when doing a Bailey  change. 
One placed centrally in the new brood box which is placed over the old  
provides a bridge that queen and workers can use to get to the upper  storey.  The 
queen goes up and starts laying in the new comb even as it is  being drawn, so 
keen she is on fresh comb to lay in.  After a few days the  beekeeper, having 
ascertained that she is there, can put the queen excluder  between the 2 
boxes, removing the lower one after 3 weeks, taking with it some  sealed drone 
brood with its complement of varroa.  I have found that a good  time to make a 
Bailey change is when the first oilseed rape is appearing in the  fields nearby, 
so the farmer, not me, feeds them.
 
I have normally had no trouble with combs straying off course except  
occasionally in my top bar hive, which has, of course, no frames. When persuaded  
back on course with a gently applied hive tool the comb resumes the straight and  
narrow.
 
An important factor in working hives without using foundation is that the  
hives must be LEVEL as the bees use gravity to guide them. A spirit level is  
part of my kit as well as a few wooden wedges to make adjustments.  On the  odd 
occasion when I haven't been able to find the level among the junk in the  
back of the car I have improvised with a bottle of drink.
 
Chris



   

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