# Getting Free Lumber



## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

If you check your local sheet metal and metal fabrication shops they get their metal in 4 x 10 and 5 x 10 sheets. These sheets come on heavy duty wood pallets. 4x4 main runners and 1x4 tops. The places were they get their metal do not charge them for the pallets and will only pick up the ones in mint condition. Most shops will give you these pallets to get them out of their way. I have 4 that I am picking up tomorrow. These will make great hive stands. You can keep them in the full 10' or cut them down, maybe spend a couple bucks on beefing the centers up a little or if you can get plenty of them use the wood off of the others.


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## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

funny you mention this, I just drove by a fabricators shop about an hour ago and notice a huge stack of nice pallets and thought "I wonder what they are gonna do with those"? Good info, headed back there in a few to talk with them


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

Make sure you have your uniform on. They would never say no to a peace keeper.


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## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

Yeah I'm in the felony flyer now, hope to swing in there if things slow down a little.


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

A beek who works for a sign shop in TN was explaining to me how he got ALL his equipment wood this way (except for hive bodies, those he couldn't find and had to buy).


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

peacekeeperapiaries said:


> Yeah I'm in the felony flyer now, hope to swing in there if things slow down a little.


Oh, really? What is your supervisors name and number?


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

construction sites pay to get rid of wood, one of my beekeeping students gives me truckloads every few weeks


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## Duboisi (Oct 7, 2009)

Hambone said:


> Make sure you have your uniform on. They would never say no to a peace keeper.


Let's give bees a chance.


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## mike haney (Feb 9, 2007)

crates and pallets and wood spacers that are imported are sprayed with insecticide and fire retardent. good luck,mike


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## shadetreebeeman (Dec 4, 2009)

None of my equipment or my last shed except for frames and foundation has come from a lumber yard or supply house. 30+hives and growing.Making your own is half the fun .


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I made migratory covers out of cedar pallet wood and regret it. Too unstable to hold paint, it all peels off. Has hidden sap wood pockets that are rotting after a year outside.


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

mike haney said:


> crates and pallets and wood spacers that are imported are sprayed with insecticide and fire retardent. good luck,mike


Most if not all of the crates built for flat sheets are built here. (At least in my area they are) The metal comes in on master coils. Once it is slit and cut to length it gets placed on a pallet to sale and disbributed. I picked up 6 the other day and they appear to have nothing done to them. The guy I got them from had some sitting out the were weathered pretty good and he said they have only been out there a few months. 

Maxant buys alot of sheet stainless. I will pm him and see if he can see where his supplier get their pallets.


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

The ones we ship internationally are just heat treated, but that's for food.


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

Hambone said:


> Most if not all of the crates built for flat sheets are built here. I will pm him and see if he can see where his supplier get their pallets.


I have logged for years [in the past, up until November of 2008]. Hauled much lumber to mills that make pallets and they haul them all over the country. They don't treat with any fire retardant etc. Many do have specialized machines that assemble them. Besides, I fail to see how a stand will hurt the bees, even if they were treated. 

Danny


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

Talk to any decent sized grain farmer. Many get pallets with bags of seed - some seed suppliers want the pallets back, and some don't. If the farm has much size, it will also be buying spray chemicals by the pallet. The pallets the chemicals came on usually get burned as trash - I've never seen any of them go back. 

The chemicals often come in 2.5 gallon jugs, and 2 jugs to a cardboard box. These boxes are stacked on the pallets, so the pallet should never come in direct contact with the chemical, if you are worried about that. Often, the farmers get pallets full of bags of the surfactant, which is just a 'glue' that helps hold the spray chemical on the plant leaf for better absorption.


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## sasquatch (Mar 13, 2010)

IM COMPLETING 11 COMP HIVS,TO INCLUDE THE FRAMES,ONLY SPENT 20 BKS SOFAR ON SCREWS,STAPLES.IM AN ACCOMPLISHED SCROUNGER.ON JUST NEEDS TO PUT THE WERD OUT TO ALL HIS BUDDYS.opcorn:


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## shadetreebeeman (Dec 4, 2009)

Odfrank did You prime with an oil based primer? If not did you mix penatrol or other bonding agent with you're oil based paint?


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## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

DRUR said:


> Besides, I fail to see how a stand will hurt the bees, even if they were treated.


It won't. A lot of beeks us treated shims/cleats under the hive to help detur pest. 


Got a sweet deal today. A friend that installs bullet proof glass for banks, cvs, walgreens ect.. Brought me his crates today. These are totally enclosed crates. 1/2" Plywood boxes with 4x4 and 2x4 supports. Gonna make some nuc boxes and stands out of it. He brought me 6 crates today. :thumbsup:


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

TO Specialkayme, and any one else looking for free wood. I make a couple hundred supers, deep and shallow, bottom boards etc each year, and get virtually all all my lumber free. Get to know any roofers in your local area that sheet roofs with 1 X 12 pine resaw boards. It is not as common now days as it was since many roofers now use composite boards, but several still use it. Get them to save you all the cut offs, and bad boards they get when they buy a pallet load. You will find you have to compete with the people who build bird houses, but... give them a little honey and they will save it for you. Also visit your local lumber yards and get in line for any 1 X 12 that they throw away because it is broken warped or damaged. Since the pieces you will need for bottom boards, supers, inner covers and tops are short, you can cut around bad places and knotts in the boards. Free is a good price.
Also get to know any barn builders. You can get cut offs from them. Most of them locally, use oak, which is too heavy, but often they use wood that can be used. If you are in the south, you can often get cypress. Works very well.


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