At 10:39 PM 2/28/02 -0800, you wrote:


I don't see dry rot where I've been, unless equipment is stored outside
without bees.  Lots of frame ends get broken, but in the commercial
operations that we work with, its simply a matter of prying on the end
without first breaking the frames free.  Have same problem with students
and hive tools.

My question, why do the supply houses cut away the wood at the ends of the
top bars?  One of our commercial folks made all of his own equipment.  He
just deepened the frame rest of the box, used top bars with full depth (~
3/4 ") ends.  NEVER BROKE ANY OF THOSE OFF.

Of course, he couldn't mix and match his equipment with that from the
supply houses.

>Jerry, I have seen lots of top bar ends in which dry rot has
>occurred.  This because, I presume, water gets in between hive bodies
>and wets the adjacent wood.  For this reason, I varnish those ends
>when I assemble new frames.  One might ask why all supply houses sell
>repair parts for these ends if the condition isn't rather common.
>Dan
>
>
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Jerry J. Bromenshenk
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http://www.umt.edu/biology/bees