# what type nails/brads/staples do you recommend using to assemble frames & hive boxes?



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I use a 1/4" crown stapler with 1" staples for frames and 1 1/2" staples for boxes.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

1" by 18 guage brads for frames and 3" by 15 guage finish nails (nailer) for boxes. I have also used 2.5" by 15 guage staples for boxes. Glue on everything.


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## standman (Mar 14, 2008)

beegarden said:


> Any overall consensus or recs out there would be appreciated.


Good luck with consensus. LOL I use glue and a 2 1/2 deck screw in each corner, top and bottom, eight per box. Then i put 6d tripled dipped galvanized nails that are ring shanked through the rest of the fingerjoints. Probably overkill, but I want my boxes to outlast me. Of course, if I had to build hundreds of boxes, I would just use an air nailer as recommended by others. Just bought a crown stapler, which I plan to use on future frames.


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## Big John (Feb 4, 2009)

An excellent site for frame assemble.

http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/


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## beegarden (Mar 3, 2009)

*thanks for the recs*

Many thanks to all of you who've responded. I am seeing that there are as many ways to do this as there are to beekeeping. 

*Standman*, would you mind telling me how long the 6d galv nails are you are using on the boxes? are they the same 2-1/2" as the screws? What do you use with frame assembly?

*Ross/Standman*, I see you both use pretty long nails in the boxes, 3", 2-1/2" respectively, -- do you have any problem with splitting?


*Michael*, my stapler doesn't do the narrow crown, only wide crown, would that work?

*Big John* thanks for the web link it looks like a lot there. I did look at the frame assembly video; they had a different type of frame than I have... I will look some more there; as its nice to have the visual..

Marika


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Michael, my stapler doesn't do the narrow crown, only wide crown, would that work?

Probably. I'm not sure how the spacing works out on the bottom bar on the frame.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I haven't seen a problem with splitting with 15 guage.


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## schmism (Feb 7, 2009)

i used my 18g brad nailer for frames (and a dab of glue) and the included #5 galv in my kits for the bodies


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## standman (Mar 14, 2008)

beegarden said:


> *Standman*, would you mind telling me how long the 6d galv nails are you are using on the boxes? are they the same 2-1/2" as the screws? What do you use with frame assembly?
> 
> 
> beegarden said:
> ...


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