# Exterior plywood hive boxes?



## WhitetopMtn (Jul 13, 2006)

I ran across a website that talks about using 3/4" exterior grade plywood for hive boxes. 

http://beesupply.com/shop/about.php

Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this idea?


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## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

99% of my hive bodies are made out of 3/4 inch plywood. Many are years old and are holding up great, as long as you paint them. So far the only draw back is they are a little heaver. But the cost outweighs the weight. I also have not seen any humidity problems with them as some folks have claimed.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

As long as the plywood has some age to it, it should be fine. New plywood outgases formaldahyde and other fumes for awhile.


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## WhitetopMtn (Jul 13, 2006)

How much age? I'll be building during the fall and winter months, and installing packages next spring.


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## randydrivesabus (Apr 27, 2006)

that should be enough time especially if you leave them outside during those cold windy winter days we get around here. although i dont know if theres a sufficient concentration of formaldahyde in the plywood to cause a problem for bees since theres air circulating continuously in the hive.


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## WhitetopMtn (Jul 13, 2006)

Thanks for the info. I may go with plywood for the brood boxes. If the weight differences are significant, then supers might do better with pine (that's what my back is telling me, anyway).


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

A number of my hive bodies and supers are made from 3/4 inch plywood. Since, I used to get large scrap pieces of 3/8 inch plywood where I used to work, I've also made some from 3/8 inch plywood, by gluing and nailing 3/8 inch strips about 1 1/2 inch wide on all top, bottom, and front and rear sides of the box pieces before assembling them. 3/8 + 3/8 = 3/4 so they fit in with any other standard size boxes. The strips keep the pieces rigid, so they don't warp, and also can serve as handholds. Plywood works great as long as it's exterior plywood.

[ July 21, 2006, 10:27 PM: Message edited by: Dick Allen ]


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## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

Out gassing of the plywood has never been a problem for me. Since you dont paint the interior of the boxes they get good air flow, I have to admit I have never even given it a second thought and my bees have thrived in them, I think they afford better insulation because of the lamination of the wood. The weight difference for a deep brood is three pounds verses pine. With the cost difference I bought a back brace with the savings.


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## JCByler (Apr 16, 2003)

Interesting idea...

Do you use rabbit joints for the corners or just butt them? Do you screw or nail them together? I would be worried about delamination at the corners due to fasteners splitting the laminations.

Has anyone figured out the most efficient use of a 4x8' sheet (to get the most hive pieces out). I guess I can figure it out myself too.









-Jason


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## Dave W (Aug 3, 2002)

Dick Allen . . . 

Do you wrap/insulate your 3/8" thick hives?


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

Dave, to answer your question I don't make a special effort to wrap the 3/8" hives. The two different material size boxes/supers are usually intermingled. I'm still not sure about that wrapping business altogether as Anchorage (usually) doesn't get any colder than the northern areas of the lower 48 states and southern Canada. I have overwintered hives unwrapped with both 3/4 inch hive body/supers and the 3/8 inch hive body/supers in the same hive. I've also overwintered them wrapped. Still not certain about the results, but there might be some benefit to wrapping hives. But, again I haven't made any special efforts to insulate 3/8" hive boxes.

Jason, I've used both screws and nails. Pilot holes help immensely. Most of them are the simple butt joints, but I have done a few with the interlocking finger joints, being careful to keep those small nails that help attach the strips from going through the dado blade. Sometimes a little delaminatin does happen at the strips, but some good glue and a C-Clamp generally fixes that.

[ July 21, 2006, 11:42 AM: Message edited by: Dick Allen ]


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## fat/beeman (Aug 23, 2002)

hello
for new beekeeper starting out its best-cheapest way. I did lot of recyleing at first myself. I even used partical board to make hive bodies. as long as you paint them 2- 3 coats of latex paint there going to last you long mine did me for 3=5 yrs. I also used scrap plywood from job sites any thing to put bees in. bu the way I never had any gas relerase that I noticed.
Don======tight wad


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

>tight wad
hehehe....yeah, me too. I admire that in people. 

I did make a couple of hives from particle board, and while they worked they didn't last too awfully long. Moisture from inside the hive I think was the culprit. They were made with simple butt joints and screws, but the wood sometimes swelled on the edges and the screws pulled out. I have used chip board with good results. I suppose everybody has an opinion, but I don't think plywood outgassing is really any thing to worry excessively over. The hive is outdoors and the bees are going to ventilate it. By the time any honey shows up, I think it would be pretty safe to use. If there are enough fumes to cause problems, the bees would probably be the first to let you know.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I've never BOUGHT plywood to make boxes (although I buy it for bottoms and tops all the time). But I have made boxes out of it when I could get it for free. I prefer white pine, but free is a hard price to beat. White pine is lighter, stronger and usually cheaper.


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## monkeyboy (Jul 23, 2006)

> *Ross said:*As long as the plywood has some age to it, it should be fine. New plywood outgases formaldahyde and other fumes for awhile.


from the glues you'll get a few chemicals flashing 
off, most exterior plywoods are pressure treated, 
the old green stuff is toxic, the new yellow stuff 
is a skin irritant and still may be toxic


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## carbide (Nov 21, 2004)

JCByler,

I use 3/4" outdoor plywood for my boxes and use rabetted joints. I get 10 shallow supers or 6 deep brood boxes from one sheet.

I also make 5 frame nucs from 3/8" plywood. I can get 4 nucs from one sheet. This includes the bottom, both sides, double thickness ends(the inside piece smaller then the outside in order to provide the frame rest) and the top telescoping cover. The only thing not covered is the inside cover which I make out of 1/4" luan.

The main advantage, as has been pointed out previously, is the cost savings. I only started building them out of plywood 4 years ago and can't testify as to how long they'll last but so far I've not had to even repaint any of them yet.


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## hmeadq (Apr 11, 2005)

If you are buying plywood, make sure you get plywood without added urea-formaldhyde in the glue. 

As an architect who works on "green" buildings all day long I really believe there is a diffrence. 

But then I'm not that hot on the paints used for hives, we've been using parafin wax dipped so far, with no problems...


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

We had a remarkable swarm call season this spring and went from 3 to 12 hives in a matter of about 4 weeks... unplanned. 

I found a local warehouse that was disposing of shipping crates, and picked up all the plywood and 1x4's I needed to make hive bodies, screened bottom boards, inner covers, and top covers. Pretty much free, except for the Gorilla Glue, paint and hardware. I'm not sure how long they will last, but so far they are working just fine. It's bought me a little time until I can generate some honey revenue to buy Pine Boxes.


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