# Acorn Foundation



## Swampsquash

Looks nice....I may have to give it a try as well....I never coat my rite cell I just leave it and they eventually work it...sometimes lol



I played with candle making and overcooked some wax and figured I would use it to recoat some foundation and see if it improves acceptance.


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## dynemd

I 've heard that shipping is outrageous from Acorn, so I ordered some Acorn 2X waxed palstic foundation from Foxhound Bee Company 50 sheets of medium for $1.25 each and 30 deeps at $1.50 each, $42 shipping to Cali. There is more wax than Mann Lake Rite Cell and it does smell better but there's not more than 1/5th the amount I roll on with a foam roller myself. I think I use a pound of wax for every 12-15 medium frames and my bees take to it very well. I might as well of used unwaxed foundation with the Acorn 2X. JMHO


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## Swampsquash

dynemd said:


> I think I use a pound of wax for every 12-15 medium frames and my bees take to it very well. I might as well of used unwaxed foundation with the Acorn 2X. JMHO



That sounds like alot of wax...do they look heavily coated when your finished?


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## drlonzo

jwcarlson said:


> I have been using Mann Lake's Rite Cell and have been increasingly frustrated with the wax "coating". Splotchy, uneven... Missing. So I have been recoating it with about 7 pounds of wax per 100 sheets of deep foundation. Once I crunched the numbers it came out to something like 42 cents per sheet in wax! Let alone the time to roll it all on. So I was using my wax or buying wax at about $6/pound.
> 
> I toyed around with the idea of getting Acorn's heavily waxed foundation last year, but shipping costs always seemed prohibitive. So I ordered 250 sheets of each deep and medium sizes. They came in today and I couldn't be happier.
> 
> The picture shows a deep Acorn foundation and a Mann Lake medium foundation laying over it. The difference is amazing. Run your fingers over the Acorn and it feels like a sheet of wax foundation. Over the Mann Lake all you feel is plastic.
> 
> The Acorn stuff smells fantastic as well.
> 
> www.acornbee.com
> 
> Anyway, I couldn't find a picture on here of the coated product, so I figured I would post. Shipping to a business address saved about 40% in freight cost. Side benefit of having more cells per frame as well.


What was your cost per sheet on the Acorn foundation?


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## dynemd

drlonzo said:


> What was your cost per sheet on the Acorn foundation?


Yes, and shipping charges please.


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## dynemd

Swampsquash said:


> That sounds like alot of wax...do they look heavily coated when your finished?


Yes, you can see there's a lot of wax. But my bees pull it out of the cell indentation and form the walls of the cells quickly.


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## Swampsquash

dynemd said:


> Yes, you can see there's a lot of wax. But my bees pull it out of the cell and form the walls of the cells quickly.


Good to know...thanks...I will try tomorrow...is a foam roller the key?


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## dynemd

The foam roller is the best way I've found, better than a brush or dipping. Don't get the wax too hot.

It's a 4"
Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Shur-Line-037...id=1457054643&sr=1-33&keywords=4+paint+roller


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## Kamon A. Reynolds

We bought 5000 from them and we will never buy from anyone else as long as they are around! Great product. The cell impressions are better also


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## jwcarlson

dynemd, that's what I use as well. And it makes me want to slam my head into a wall putting $42-48 of wax on 100 sheets of deep foundation. So I have Mann Lake cost of $1-1.10/sheet of deep (depending on the sale) and 0.42-0.48c per sheet of wax PLUS my time.

The Acorn stuff (which is much more consistently coated than I achieve with a foam roller) not only saves me money, but it saves me a ton of time.
Here's the break down, remember I bought in quantities of 250 deep and 250 mediums, so there is a price break there if I had to guess:
Deeps $1.02/sheet
Mediums $0.75/sheet
Shipping for the 500 frames was $80 by shipping to our local feed store. That comes out to shipping cost of $0.16/sheet (quick and dirty, I know it's a bit more for deeps obviously because of weight).

*Total shipped cost - $1.18/deep and $0.91/medium.* Today's regular Mann Lake price is $1.10/deep and $0.89/medium.

It was a freaking no brainer once I cranked the numbers out.



Tennessee's Bees LLC said:


> We bought 5000 from them and we will never buy from anyone else as long as they are around! Great product. The cell impressions are better also


Agreed, Nick has been very helpful and I've asked him to quote me foundation so many times and at the lower quantities the shipping kills ya. But around the 500 sheet mark (even better if about 700) it just works out.
They are also selling unassembled boxes now too. Can't recall the pricing, but the deeps were well priced even at very low quantities. I'm tickled pink that I finally made the plunge and bought the stuff.


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## dynemd

From another thread:


Tennessee's Bees LLC said:


> When we ordered our 5000 from them we just got a single coat. It works great in a good flow. If your not in a natural flow it needs a extra coating. My wife and I did this ourselves from our own reserve of beeswax and my goodness they will draw it out till oct.


I guess you'll see how well the bees draw it out jwcarlson, I hope they do well. If shipping wasn't such an issue I'd like to try the extra heavy wax. Someone said that Kelley Bee may be carrying Acorn foundation in the future...


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## jwcarlson

dynemd said:


> From another thread:
> 
> I guess you'll see how well the bees draw it out jwcarlson, I hope they do well. If shipping wasn't such an issue I'd like to try the extra heavy wax. Someone said that Kelley Bee may be carrying Acorn foundation in the future...


Yes I will. I don't think they make a heavier waxed product on foundation. I asked for heavy. Either way, it's a huge improvement over ML's stuff. I believe it will be well drawn. Pictures don't show it very well unfortunately.

He said they offer the plastic frames in different coating strengths. Foundation they don't just waxed and unwaxed. There is no additional listing on the product sheet he sent me either. I think in the past they did?


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## dynemd

Per Acorn web site- Acorn Plastic Foundations are designed to last. Precision molded cells. Super rigid, no bowing or warping. "_*Available with standard, heavy or extra heavy wax.*_"


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## jwcarlson

Just not sure that's valid anymore. I talked with Nick on the phone and asked specifically. He says just two on foundation now.

Frames still do 3 levels. I wanted to make sure I got the most wax version.

Edit to say, if this is the lesser wax variety, count me as happy.


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## Marti

> Side benefit of having more cells per frame as well.


Is that because Acorn frame has cells edge to edge or are the cells smaller, hence more cells?


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## jwcarlson

Marti said:


> are the cells smaller, hence more cells?


They're smaller. Like 5.1mm range probably. I don't much care about the size, but I do think the density might have a benefit... who knows. Either way, it's more cells per frame... more cells per box.


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## Marti

I will give them a try. Better wax coating and more cells per frame , what's not to like.


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## JRG13

A friend has some Acorn frames (full plastic frame), the bees drew them out well, in the winter even. My only issue was, as with most plastic frames, the gap distance between boxes was large enough for 2-3 rows of drone comb.


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## davidsbees

I have been buying uncoated and rolling my own wax. In the picture is Dadant coated but you couldn't tell it has any wax on it. I use a short nap kitchen and bath roller from lowes. The foundation I rolled has 3 coats. Put some on 3 weeks ago and already have hatching brood.


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## jwcarlson

Looks good, davidsbees, I bet they hop right on those.

How many pounds of wax do you use on 100 deep foundations? And more importantly how much time does 3 coats take?


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## davidsbees

Between 4-5 pounds. I've tried to post a picture but won't load. You can try Instagram #bradshawhoney and see how fast they draw it out.


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## jwcarlson

They hop right on it. I use about 6-7 pounds on 100 deep frames with the foam roller. If I had a roller as wide as the foundation, it would probably help me more evenly coat. But the price on this precoated stuff from Acorn means I hope to not have to coat again.  Acorn uses either 7 or 8 pounds per 100 deep frames. It certainly shows.

To be clear, my beef with ML's foundation is the shoddy wax coating. I have no issues getting bees to draw it after coating with additional wax. I just want to avoid the wax ($) and the time to coat the foundations.


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