Home made board
Clamps
Having decided to make a top frame hive, I realised that I would have to glue two boards together to get the right width. I have a lot of woodworking tools, but I don't have a pair of clamps of the correct type.
As I didn't envision going into mass production, I thought that buying a pair or cramps would be a waste of money, so I made my own!
The cramps were made from spare wood about 40mmx30mm (Roof tile battening I think).
I cut 2 pieces about 18/19 inches long and 4 short blocks 3 inches long. For each clamp, I screwed one of the 3inch blocks to the top. The position of the bottom piece was determined by adding the actual width of the boards, plus twice the width of the block MINUS 1/4 of an inch.
Two blocks, about 3inches long were cut and then cut diagonally to fashion a pair of wedges. Number the wedges 1 and 2 so that they stay as a pair when in use. One part of the wedge is then screwed up against the bottom block. The bottom block helps to stabilise the wedge.
I also cut two small pieces of polythene sheeting from a polythene bag.
Place one board on top of both clamps so that they are spaced about a quarter of the distance from the ends. Lift the board and place a piece of polythene under the board and over the clamps. This is to prevent you glueing the clamp to the board.
Spread adhesive along the edge of the second board and place it on the clamps against the first board. Check that the ends of the boards are lined up. Now press the second part of the wedges into place. Hand or thumb pressure is all that is needed at this point. Check that the ends are still lined up and that the boards have not lifted. A tap with a hammer or mallet will flatten them. Now tap lightly with a hammer on one wedge and then the other. You only need to get the boards to squeeze together while the adhesive sets.
Modern wood exterior adhesives set in about 24 hours, but you will be able to remove the boards after about 6 hours. Glue squeezed from the underside of the boards can be scraped off with a chisel. Give the boards their full setting time before doing any work on them to get the best permanent joint.