Galvanized frame wire spool 1Kg

01 · GAUGE

0.55 or 0.70? It depends how you tension

Both wire frames just as well; what changes is the feel of the job. The 0.55 mm is more malleable: it gives as you pull it by hand, ties off without a fight and goes further —535 metres per kilo against 331. The 0.70 mm is stiffer and takes more tension before it yields, which is what you want if you are wiring frames in batches with a ratchet tensioner or moving loaded hives. Rule of thumb: hand tensioning or just starting out, 0.55; working with a tensioning tool and after a very firm comb, 0.70.

02 · TENSION

Tension: neither slack nor at the limit

The wire is what holds the comb together when the extractor pulls on it with 2 kg of honey inside. Slack, the comb bows and works loose from the frame mid-extraction; that frame is not coming back. Overdoing it costs you too: pull too hard on fine wire and it snaps just as you tie off, which is the commonest beginner's failure. You have it right when the wire rings on being plucked and does not give under a finger. If you tension hard and the wire bites into the side bar, that is where metal eyelets come in: they spread the load around the hole so the wire neither cuts in nor slackens as the timber dries.

03 · EMBEDDING

Tensioning is not enough: embed it into the wax

With the wire tensioned, the sheet of foundation is still loose against it. Embedding means melting the wax onto the wire so it ends up inside the comb: either by running current through the wire itself from a small transformer, or the old way with a heated spur embedder drawn along it. Neither comes with the spool. It is worth the time: well-supported foundation is what the bees draw straight, and a sheet that moves comes out wavy and marks that frame for good.

04 · COVERAGE

How many frames a spool covers

The 535 metres cover roughly 275 Layens frames, 334 Langstroth, 254 Dadant brood or 340 shallow supers. Those figures assume four wires per frame plus the allowance for tying off; at five wires, or leaving long tails, count on somewhat less.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY