Now buying deep plastic frames cost about $3.00 or so, while building wooden frames myself cost about $0.55. If you are still a sideliner like me, cost matters.

However, if you spend all your time in the woodshop, you won’t have time to work your bees, so it’s important to work smart. That’s where the jig comes in. The most time consuming part of any wood working project is setting up your saw.

You measure, then remeasure, then make a cut, then check the cut, then make a few fine adjustments, then make another cut, then check that cut… Lather, Rinse Repeat!

Now that’s not a big deal if you are building birdhouse but when you are building a 100 hive frames, this process can really hinder your progress.

That why I use jigs. It still requires all the checks, checks, and rechecks but once you have it right, you simply make a jig. Then, next time you need to make a cut, it is as simple as placing the jig and setting your guides to it.

So to make 120 frames, I had to buy:

• 8: 1×4 to make 120 top bars
• 4: 1×4 to make 140 bottom bars
• 4: 2×4 to make 300 side bars (for 150 frames).

Now this is not ideal, since I am making 120 of one, 140 of the next, and 150 of the last. However, I only need 120 frames right now, so I’ll just put back the spares for next time.

As for how to build a frame, I strongly suggest you check out YouTube’s: Beekeepersworkshop The guy that does these videos sounds a lot like Sheldon Cooper’s, Fun With Flags but the videos are excellent!

If I can finish building my frames tonight and tomorrow night, then I’ll be splitting hives on Wednesday. Wish me luck.

As for my Diet:

I’m stuck in a 1 step forward 2 steps back loop. Last Wednesday, I was down 26 pounds, this morning I gained 9 back. However, I think this might all come back off tomorrow due to the 160oz of water I drank between 4:00pm and 9:00pm last night.

I boiled crawfish yesterday and I think the salt in them made me CRAZY thirsty! I just couldn’t get enough to drink. Then, much to my surprise, I wasn’t up all night peeing. So with 12 pounds of water and a belly full of crawfish, my weight was up this morning.

I considered leaving my weight yo-yo issues out of the blog but it’s all part of my journey… so there it is.