As in beekeeping topics, again we get a lot of good advice and perspective
as various experienced and knowledgeable people write from all over the
world, each from his/her own experience.

That is good for getting an overview, but general truths are not always
applicable to a specific small sample, particularly where details have not
been given.  In this case, we don't know the supplier in question, the
buyers needs, standards, purposes or budget.

As in beekeeping, we can say that all woodworking is local, and that appear
to be 'worldwide universal truths' may have local exceptions, and I suggest
that these truths may apply on something like a bell curve.  These in the
middle may find them true all the time, everywhere, and others nearer the
trailing edges may find that these 'truths' apply some of the time and
others...

Having made a living designing and building furniture back when the
dinosaurs roamed the earth, I can offer a few thoughts and experiences.
Actually, I have before, some time back, on this very list.  Others wrote
very good essays as well, and as often the case, they will likely write
brief comments now, but not bother to regurgitate the entire previous
discussion, so a dive into the archives may be worthwhile for those hungry
for info.

One huge consideration for both fussy beekeepers and serious woodworkers is
that local ambient humidity may differ a lot, and what is 'dry' on the
coast, may be 'damp' inland.  Therefore, machining standards may vary.
Well-seasoned (antique) furniture from the East has been brought west and
found to shrink and crack in the dryness of our climate, especially when
that dryness exacerbated by central heating in winter.

Kiln drying has improved the situation for builders of bee boxes, but a kiln
is only as good as the operator, and, besides, kiln dried wood (8%? as I
recall, but it has been decades) is still pretty damp where I live.  Each
different wood has unique characteristics, and may differ in the amout of
shrinkage in drying and swelling in service.  Moreover, 'pine' is not
'pine'; there are countless varieties of pine, each with differing
machining, life expectancy and rot resistance properties.

Softwoods, in particular, can be very difficult to work with any degree of
consistency, since the density, the grain, the moisture, and warpage all
vary from sample to sample, resulting in varying machinabilty and resulting
dimensional drift.  This can be managed, but it requires understanding of
each wood, and careful attention to detail.

When several woods are being milled in the same shop, at the same time, on
the same batch, as happens, for example when a spruce/pine mix is purchased,
some dimensional problems are bound to ocur.  Corners may not quite fit
tightly -- or too tightly, and the heights of sides and ends may not match
perfectly.

Fortunately, these problems may only be apparent to the woodworkers, since
beekeeping tolerances are quite wide, most beekeepers are not too fussy, and
the problems are usually quite subtle.  Many North American beekeepers trim
the boxes to width, using a table saw after assembly and drying in a heated
room, since some manufacturers deliverately deliver them a bit too high, to
allow for unpredictable shrinkage and for trimming.

That brings me to this comment.

> As the best way of achieving it is to
> stack part machined components at various times during manufacture
> for several months at a time. This attention to detail helps to keep
> tolerances small and of the order of
> 0.1 mm (0.004") which we used to be proud of.

I'm sure Dave got the very best out of his wood, and all the accuracy that
could be had by virtue of such attention to detail, and careful drying, but
this mention brings to mind an experience I had some time back, buying from
a well-known and respected US supplier.

I ordered a pallet or two of supers to be used for Ross Rounds production.
That is not a normal size that all dealers stock (When they do, for some
reason, they are always stock boxes that are a half-inch too high and need
ripping).  When the boxes arrived, as expected, they were Ponerosa pine,
commercial grade (looked more like select), lock cornered, and drilled for
nailing: very nice.

What amused me, though, was that it seemed that they had cut down pieces for
a taller box size or maybe pieces designated for wider box that had bottom
edge flaws.  The shop had obviously cut the pieces down just before delivery
by making one straight cut, ripping a strip off the bottom of each piece, to
arrive at the proper height.

However, they must have stacked the partially complete pieces for some time
in a dry place -- but maybe not for months -- between the original machining
and the ripping.   During that time, the ends had dried much more than the
middles of the pieces, and when they ripped, they made a straight cut, BUT,
when we assembled them and the boxes dried out, there was 1/8" to 1/4" bow
upwards in the centre of each side on the bottom due to the shrinkage of the
part that had been moist when cut.  What had been a straight cut was no
longer straight when the moisture equalized.  No problem.  We had ordered
them wide, and simply ripped off the excess, elimating the bowed edge.

Anyhow, advice to the prospective purchaser: Examine carefully any boxes you
purchase before you buy, unless you know the seller and their standards, or
you don't care.  Sometimes there are bargains, but in a tight market like
this, I would expect there is a very good reason for any price markdown.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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