Metal corner protector 400x60

01 · PICK BY THE HEIGHT OF THE BOX

There are three lengths, each covering its own

This is the long one, 400 mm, covering the edge of a Layens from top to bottom. The other two we stock are the 230 mm, sized for a Langstroth box, and the 150 mm, meant for supers. Before ordering, measure the edge you want to protect and take the one that does not overshoot: a corner piece longer than the box sticks out and snags when stacking. If your kit is Dadant, bear in mind its box is taller than the Langstroth and the 230 will not cover it fully — it will still protect the upper part, which is where knocks usually land.

02 · WHERE THE KNOCKS LAND

The corner always gets there first

Damage on a hive is almost never in the middle of the board: it is on the four edges. Kit gets stacked in the store, loaded into the van, one box dragged over another to square it up — and all of that concentrates on a wooden edge a few millimetres wide. The metal profile wraps the edge and spreads the impact across both faces, so the wood stops taking it bare. It does not make the hive indestructible; it puts off by a long way the day that edge opens up and starts to splinter.

03 · GALVANISED, AND FITTING IT

Screwed on, checked once a year

The galvanised finish is what lets it live outdoors without damp eating it, and it asks for no upkeep beyond a look. It fixes to the corner with wood screws, and it is worth drilling a pilot hole if the board is thin or has dried out: a screw forced into an old edge splits it exactly where you were trying to reinforce it. Once fitted, check it at the start of the season; what gives way over time is not the metal, it is the fixing.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is sold as single pieces, not as a set, so do the sum first: a hive has four corners, and an apiary of ten comes to forty pieces. They weigh 70 g each, worth keeping in mind if you are ordering in quantity. And if you are dressing mixed kit, check box by box: you may need two different lengths in the same order.