Of course, probably everyone here but me realized this right away, but don't expect one nail at each end of the top bar to hold your frames together. Bite the bullet, make them fit, and use 2. Bees really, really, really hate it when you use your hive tool to try to drive a nail back in on a frame still in the hive.
DOH!!
Better yet, glue them and then nail them. The glue will hold more than the nails.
That's good to keep in mind when I'm assembling my new equipment this winter. What kind of glue? Regular Elmer's wood glue?
I use TighbondII and 1/4" x 3/4" staples with my pneumatic stapler.
Steve
Are you putting the horizontal nail in thru the sidebar and into the end of the top bar? That is the best thing to prevent pulling them apart.
I have switched to air stapling. Much quicker and no bending nails or splitting wood. I use one vertical and one horizontal on each side. And of course glue. Either polyurethane or Titebond
Rob...
Uh, horizontal nail?
My first mistake was using only one vertically down through the top bar into the sidebar. When I switched to two, I didn't have a problem. Should I do one vertically and one horizontally, then?
>I use TighbondII and 1/4" x 3/4" staples with my pneumatic stapler.
Ditto, except I use 1" staples.
My mentor taught me to put 2 1" brads through the top bar into the end bar and 1 1" bard through the end bar into the top bar. 1 1' brad on each end of the bottom bar. That's 10 nails in all--in beekeeping that is what they mean when they talk about a 10 nail frame.
I use 1 1/4 brads with glue for my frames and hive bodies, glue does the work the brads just hold it tight until glue sets up, never had a problem, I also use 3/8 staples when putting foundation in,,,,, all pneumatic