# Catenary Curve to support comb...



## Scut Farkas (Jun 7, 2007)

I saw a website where a guy made wooden catenary curves to act as support and therefore frame in a top bar hive. I don't have my first hive yet - won't have one for at least a year, but I'm constantly thinking about the top bar hive I will build. I think this wooden curved structure defeats the simplicity of a top bar hive, makes harvesting difficult.

This got me thinking - has anyone ever taken a piece of thick string or twine, coated it in beeswax and and hung it from either end of the top bar to form a supporting catenary curve? I know this won't help support the comb if you take out the bar and twist it at an angle, my thought is that it will keep a warm comb from dropping off the top bar and actually give the bee's some structure to attach too - a structure that is not the wall of the hive. 

And when it comes time to harvest the honey, it'd be a simple matter to cut or untie the string and pull it out of the wax so that you can crush and filter to harvest how you see fit.

Is there any merit to this idea? Am I correct in assuming that this has been discussed 10,000 times before and someone will link a thread on the topic?


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## stangardener (Mar 8, 2005)

i've seen pictures from what i think was vietnam where string was used to help support comb. my first year i knew i would be moving my hives in the fall so i made my top bars with a toungue depresser coming down the center to help support. it worked great but i decided it's just extra work for nothing. haven't done it again. are you having problems with comb collapse?


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## Scut Farkas (Jun 7, 2007)

No, I'm just in the planning stages for having hives in about a year. I will be in the Atlanta area and I imagine it will be a distinct possibility. I've just read where people have had comb fall off and they tied it back on with string. My thought (be it uneducated and inexperienced however) is that if this is somewhat common, then why not do something so simple as tying a wax coated string to every top bar. Looking for those with education and experience to comment on the wisdom of such an idea before I walk down that road.



stangardener said:


> i've seen pictures from what i think was vietnam where string was used to help support comb. my first year i knew i would be moving my hives in the fall so i made my top bars with a toungue depresser coming down the center to help support. it worked great but i decided it's just extra work for nothing. haven't done it again. are you having problems with comb collapse?


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## deantn (Jan 3, 2007)

*Curve*

Would either of you be willing to post the sites you refer to in your posts.
Have toyed with the ides of building a TBH for a while now and am getting very interested in them.


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## Strider94 (Feb 21, 2007)

deantn said:


> ...post the sites you refer to in your posts.


This may be the catenary hive Scut was referring to:
http://beesource.com/eob/althive/birkey/index.htm


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## buckbee (Dec 2, 2004)

The top bars on that catenary hive look too wide to me - even with the stabilizing effect of the rims, they will be heavy and unwieldy.

Going back to the string thing, I can't see how fixing string to the ends of a TB would help in anything but the vertical plane. It would not prevent a comb breaking off if turned on its side - only a vertical rod would do that, I think - and vertical rods tend to cause a division in the comb, which defeats the object.


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## Scut Farkas (Jun 7, 2007)

Strider94 said:


> This may be the catenary hive Scut was referring to:
> http://beesource.com/eob/althive/birkey/index.htm


Yes that was the TBH I was referring to. Thanks for posting, I couldn't find it again.


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## Scut Farkas (Jun 7, 2007)

buckbee said:


> Going back to the string thing, I can't see how fixing string to the ends of a TB would help in anything but the vertical plane. It would not prevent a comb breaking off if turned on its side - only a vertical rod would do that, I think - and vertical rods tend to cause a division in the comb, which defeats the object.


Yes I agree with everything you say. I've read about folks tying comb back to a top bar after it had fallen due to over-heating. So the vertical plane is all I was attemptig to address. As for the horizontal plane, that's best addressed by making a frame stand to inspect your frames so as to limit any angular stresses as you turn the comb to look at it.h


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