Andrew said:
Our state Apicultural Guru (Tony J.) inspected all frames with
comb before I agreed to the purchase - he did not find any evidence of
scale.

 Old frames usually come out of lye bath  loose and and in my opinion are
not worth putting new wax in . frames which are not very old usually come
out ok.

Andrew said:
Never-the-less he recommends giving all the frames a lye bath and also that
I either give the boxes a lye bath or scorch the interiors.

Every bee inspector I have ever met will tell you the same. Why say
different and have you blaming  them if AFB should appear. I have seen
beekeepers with new equipment get AFb in the first year. AFB happens! In
fact i found a single cell of AFB last week in a new comb in a hive started
with new equipment from a package this year in a hive of a fellow Midwestern
club member.

Also

Not bad advice *if* the former beekeeper has had a history of AFB in his
hives. If not ????

Andrew said:
I've never worked with lye and am curious what kind of shape frames & boxes
are generally in after a bath.

boxes with several coats of paint get the lye water very dirty fast and the
process is slow. I have posted many tips to using lye water in the archives.
Put my name as author and lye water as subject.

 About everything you would want to find out about using lye water is in the
archives.

We used to be able to walk in an buy 10-20 cans of lye without a problem but
because lye is used in the making of "meth" now you may get a visit from a
detective if you buy cans of lye in large quantities in Missouri. Takes 3-4
cans to a 55 gallon barrel more or less.
Andrew asked:
Am I better off getting rid of the frames (by burning) and starting new?

frames are easier and faster than boxes to lye and I have got around 500 I
have put back to do but I caught a sale on frames instead a couple years ago
and used those instead but still figure I might lye the 500 one of these
days and see how they turn out. if loose in the joint I pitch. When you have
been doing beekeeping as long as I have you can tell newer frames from older
frames. Tony is an old beekeeping dinasaur like me and will pick frames
worth using lye water on *if* he wants to.

Andrew said:
I'd love to hear from some folks who've been the lye route, and whether
having done it, they'd do it again.

Sure! Find a bee buddy which has a few things to boil and work together! .
Start early in the day and you can sit around and exchange bee stories while
the water comes to a boil which can take several hours if using a 55 gallon
drum. We usually fire 2-3 drums at the same time.

Most on the list would say burn all frames and scorch the boxes. There
really is no set way to deal with used equipment. In the end you will have
to decide for yourself which way to go.
 I hate to burn bee equipment which still has a useful life but do not have
a problem burning junk!

If the beekeeper is around for you to talk to and has not seen AFB in his
hives and Tony has been inspecting his hives regularly than maybe you might
take a chance and simply use the equipment. If I sold you a hundred of my
boxes you would not need to pitch the frames and boil the boxes!

Tony is one of the sharpest inspectors around. If AFB had been in those
boxes Tony would have found the AFB I believe.

Bob

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