Dear reader, The easiest method of making a follower board is to buy 1 X and cut it to length. I know, I am using many of these at the moment. I like follower boards because they make hive inspection simple. Each hive should have only 1. I did say 1 and only 1. The board is cut to the size of the frame from end bar to end bar. Standard lumber is used. Nails properly placed in each end will suspend the board without the need to make any cuts except to length. The board comes out first when you inspect the bees. Set the board aside and examine each frame. The first frame out of the hive goes where the follower board was. Place each inspected frame in until you have gone completely through the hive box. Replace the follower board on the other side of the frames. That is why we call it a follwer board, it follows the frames back into the hive. A 1 X 6 works for shallow boxes, a 1X8 for mediums and a 1 X 10 for deeps. The prospect of using two of these boards that are 3/8 inch thick is unnecessary and defeats the purpose which is to make hive inspection more quick and easy. Only 1 is needed and that is all you should use. ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Follower boards Author: Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]> at internet-ext Date: 10/8/96 5:20 PM In Eugene Killion's HONEY IN THE COMB he gives plans for making solid durable follower boards. The major difficulty would be in finding 3/8" stock to make them from. Another description I once saw used 3/8" masonite, the size of a frame, with a strip of sheet metal bent over the top (the metal was the length of a top bar). There were 4 rivets popped thru the metal holding it securely to the board. The "ears" of the follower board were formed by bending under the sheet metal on each end (where it juts past the edge of the board). I've not made any like this but it seems straightforward. An old-timer once suggested to me the idea of manufacturing quality follower boards. They are never offered by suppliers or in the journals. Someone could no doubt make a nice little business of it, it they could make them in large quanitities and offer to ship them. I think they'd be popular.