# pine 1x10 lumber boards



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Hi, All!
I say this ads "I have 12 leftover pine roughcut boards / lumber. They are ~ 8 ' long pine 1x10 lumber boards."
selling for $90 dollars.

Is this a good buy to build some hive boxes? I am thinking either honey or medium boxes.


----------



## PeterP (Feb 5, 2014)

Home Depot and Lowes have been selling one inch rough cut boards 10 and 12 inch wide here in Canada. Some are finished one side some are not. I purchased one board 50% off because it was cracked and was not consistently same thickness. I made a 2 frame holding box. The rough cut 1 inch is a full inch and not the 7/8's of finished lumber so it can throw off your standard fit and/or bee space. (unless you plane it to size) Also, I think most boxes in USA are made with 3/4 inch lumber? These would be full inch.

Regards Peter


----------



## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Not too bad, that's retail around here for #2 common. A better deal if they are cleaner than #2 (fewer knots).

Stretch the lumber out by keeping the cut-off and gluing it to the side of 1x6's, which will make they wide enough to make shallows from. Look a bit rough because they never come out completely flat, but it does lower the cost a bit.

Peter


----------



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I go ahead to give him an offer. These are the nice straight boards with 
fewer knots on them. Looks nice enough! Thanks for the feedback, Peter.


----------



## flyin-lowe (May 15, 2014)

Lumber prices are very regional. My local Menards had 3 foot 1x10's for $1.49. That would be .50 cents a linear foot, your paying almost a dollar for rough cut. Were you planning to plain them down or use them as is? In Indiana I wouldn't pay that much but it might be a bargain out there.


----------



## tanksbees (Jun 16, 2014)

Lumber is expensive here in California. Home depot price is $14 for that size, and lumberyards usually charge even more than home depot.

It is usually more economical here to simply buy boxes from mann lake unless you make them out of plywood.


----------



## ChuckReburn (Dec 17, 2013)

A 1x8 has a better yield for mediums, a 1x10 will have quite a bit of waste.

In theory an 8 foot board makes 1.25 boxes but, cracked ends an ill-placed knot holes often means only 1 box out of a board.

Yield is 12 to 16 boxes. Mann Lake budget medium boxes are about $9. 12 boxes would put you at $108 and free shipping.

So you either spend $18 to sit at home and wait or put it in the gas tank and drive over to load the boards.

Now if everything goes perfect when you are milling the boards you get an extra 4 boxes worth $36. If your time, electricity, wear and tear on equipment to mill the hopefully 16 boxes is worth less than $36 the wood is a good deal.

It's hard to beat the price on milled boxes (I order at least 20 at a time for a price break - and with mediums, you can use a lot of boxes up fast).

I used to make a lot of my own but it's gotten impossible to justify it with the cost of raw lumber.


----------



## texman034 (Feb 19, 2015)

I bought a bunch of 1x10 rough cut lumber for $1 per 8foot board. Unfortunately that was only 18 boards. I can only hope to stumble across something similar in the future. They looked really rough, but were very nice once the planer got done with them


----------



## texman034 (Feb 19, 2015)

The local mill here sells rough cut for 60 cents a board foot. To calculate a board foot, I think it is (length X width X depth) divided by 12. I am not 100% sure if that is right but I am sure there is someone waiting to correct me if I am wrong. That would be about $5 for a 1x10x10. Also note that this is a mill that a guy runs on the side, not a full time business. Also if you supply the tree he will cut it for 30 cents a board foot


----------



## sweatybetty (Apr 24, 2015)

texman034 said:


> The local mill here sells rough cut for 60 cents a board foot. To calculate a board foot, I think it is (length X width X depth) divided by 12. I am not 100% sure if that is right but I am sure there is someone waiting to correct me if I am wrong. That would be about $5 for a 1x10x10. Also note that this is a mill that a guy runs on the side, not a full time business. Also if you supply the tree he will cut it for 30 cents a board foot


a board foot is 12" wide, 12" long and 1" thick rough cut.


----------



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

"A 1x8 has a better yield for mediums, a 1x10 will have quite a bit of waste."

Since I am cheap and resourceful, I will make the deep hives instead of the mediums. All my
hive boxes are deeps anyway so this should be o.k. for my situation. I don't even know how much a
deep cost from mannlake compare to the medium? I have been making my own frames out of 2x4 pines and the bee boxes out of composite
particle osb particle 4'x8' boards since I started beekeeping.


----------



## tanksbees (Jun 16, 2014)

beepro said:


> "A 1x8 has a better yield for mediums, a 1x10 will have quite a bit of waste."
> 
> Since I am cheap and resourceful, I will make the deep hives instead of the mediums. All my
> hive boxes are deeps anyway so this should be o.k. for my situation. I don't even know how much a
> ...


Mann Lake deep 10 frame boxes are 11.80 each. Your lumber cost is $7.50. It takes me more than $4 worth of time to make a box.

Frames cost 75 cents from mann lake. Even if I could make them out of free material not worth my time.

Bottom and top covers are much cheaper if you make them yourself.


----------



## flyin-lowe (May 15, 2014)

beepro said:


> "A 1x8 has a better yield for mediums, a 1x10 will have quite a bit of waste."
> 
> Since I am cheap and resourceful, I will make the deep hives instead of the mediums. All my
> hive boxes are deeps anyway so this should be o.k. for my situation. I don't even know how much a
> ...


Check the width of the boards the guy has. Normal 1x10's are only 9 1/2 inches so you can't use them for standard Lang deeps, you need 1x12's for those. If the boards the guy has are actually 10 inches wide you will be OK.


----------



## texman034 (Feb 19, 2015)

Agreed. Rough cut should be a full 10 inches finished boards should be 9.5 inches. If buying finished wood, then would have to buy 1X12 to be big enough for deeps


----------



## Faith Apiaries (Apr 28, 2015)

So true. Everywhere in the world, except California, a "nominal dimension" means something. "nominal" means "in name" That means, a 1x6 is the name of a board. The dimensions of that board are 3/4" x 5.5". According to courts in California, "nominal" has some different meaning...just to keep things confusing. (please read that with the tongue in cheek tone that's intended...but there is truth in it at the same time)

Since I can't get anything near that wide in my area, I edge glue together two 1x6's (with TB-III) to give me 11" then I slice the boxes down after assembly...everything is exact dimensions then. I also made a router jig to cut the rabbets so they are spaced perfectly for the frames, regardless of the exact dimension of the box itself.


----------



## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

ChuckReburn said:


> A 1x8 has a better yield for mediums, a 1x10 will have quite a bit of waste.
> 
> In theory an 8 foot board makes 1.25 boxes but, cracked ends an ill-placed knot holes often means only 1 box out of a board.
> 
> ...


I cranked out the cost of what it'd cost to make boxes vs. buying the cheapest grade from Mann Lake and it makes absolute no sense for me not to buy them. It takes enough work to assemble them... with my setup and available time it would take me months to make 5 boxes.  



tanksbees said:


> Mann Lake deep 10 frame boxes are 11.80 each. Your lumber cost is $7.50. It takes me more than $4 worth of time to make a box.
> 
> Frames cost 75 cents from mann lake. Even if I could make them out of free material not worth my time.
> 
> Bottom and top covers are much cheaper if you make them yourself.


Purely from a economics standpoint, I don't understand how it could make sense to cut your own frames. Assembly, yes. And you can do a much better job than the company you're buying them from I'm sure. But milling frames... eh.


----------



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

>> Normal 1x10's are only 9 1/2 inches so you can't use them for standard Lang deeps ...

'Standard' dimensions for 1x10 lumber (kiln dried and planed) is 9.25" x 0.75" in the USA market. Full lumber dimensions here:
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/softwood-lumber-dimensions-d_1452.html

With 1x2s through 1x6s, the actual dimension on the wide side of the board is 1/2" less than the nominal width, but in widths greater than 1x6 the variance from nominal width is 3/4".

That detail doesn't change the requirement for 1x12s for deep boxes, but if you are expecting 1x10s to be 9.5" wide you may be disappointed when you actually measure the board. 

'Standard' 2x lumber has a similar change in boards greater than 2x6s also.


----------



## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

The economics of making your own boxes is sorta complicated. Me, I already had everything I needed except a dado blade, so I'm only out about $100. Much of the lumber I use is cut-offs and scrap from construction projects, but even new #2 pine in 1x8 is something like $8 for an 8 ft board, which will make a box and one or two extra pieces. For me, shipping is more than the boxes, so it's well worth my time.

Frames less so, as they are $1 each in quantity. However, I can make mine with 3/8" end bars, much stronger than "factory" ones, and with a decent blade on the band saw not a huge amount of effort to make -- plane down a 2x6 to the correct width, cut to length for each desired frame size, cut a dado in the top for the top bar, cut two in the bottom for bottom bars, and cut them on the band saw to thickness. Probably not saving money like on the boxes though.

Peter


----------

