Queen Ester

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Chase

My parents were in town to spend some time with us and watch as the smoke and bees fly during our routine inspection. Everything looks good, and we had a special discovery. We finally got to see Queen Ester! Special thanks to mom for being on the spot with her phone camera. The queen is the longish looking one at the very tip of my finger. Hard to see even with a photo.

There was some rain and a touch of cold this week, so the girls only gathered an additional 13 ounces of weight. Still a good haul for a week with some wild weather.

Orange Blossom Season

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Chase

We have an orange tree that is going nuts in our backyard. It is 6-7 feet tall, looks to be in need of a trim, and is producing a ton of blossoms.

I was really hoping we could get the bees in and established before the tree went to flowering. We were successful, and they have found the orange tree.

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Wedding Present Table

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Chase

Some good friends of mine are getting married and I couldn’t be happier for them. I am trying to start a tradition where I make a nice wedding present for friends that get married. A majority of my friends are already married, but better to start late than never!

I asked them what they wanted and got 3 answers: A table to put keys and stuff on near their front door, a shoe rack, or a wine rack. I chose to combine the first two and drop the 3rd. My initial plan was done in sketch-up. Other than a shortening of the legs due to an unfortunate accident I went with all my original dimensions.

I don’t model every mortise and round over in sketch-up, instead using it as a way to get the general look and feel of the project and to get a rough cut list. A trip to the local cabinet store turned up some nice looking red oak, but only 4/4 thick. It was enough to get started with, but I eventually had to go to Orlando to get the 8/4 (thats 2 inches). Luckily it was combined with a trip to do a suit fitting for said couple’s wedding!

I cut everything out and ripped it to rough width using my table and chop saw. Other than a router for the top edging, and a CNC mill for the “G” everything was done by hand. I started this project in early January and managed to lose a number of pictures in that time. I am missing quite a bit of my mortise and tenon work and the beading process. Still, there are enough pictures to get the idea of how it all went together.

Top

I got to use my shiny new Woodriver number 7 my parents got me for Christmas. It did a fantastic job of jointing the edges for glue up. The rubbed glue joint held really well and is completely invisible except for grain changes. Power jointer eat your heart out! A run with the router gave a really nice multi-curve edge. I don’t have enough molding planes or experience to try this part out by hand

Apron

I was quite proud of the bead along the bottom apron edges. It was done with a beading iron in my No 45 combo plane. Planing off the bottom flat bit makes it look better. One shot has two beads, one before and one after planing off the flat.

Bead work in progress

Starter bead on left, finished on right

Mortise and Tenon

I am missing a lot of the photos of cutting the mortises, but I made a lot of mistakes and they are rather rough. I used a rabbet plane and cleaned them up from the picture, but they still weren’t great. My little rip dovetail saw wasn’t quite up to the task of cutting those cheeks. Hopefully a full tenon saw is in my future.

I squared the legs up well enough that they could be mortised. I initially tried using pencil mark my parts to keep the organized, but ran across a really good idea by John over at Woodworks by John. Mark the joining parts with letter stamps. After much trimming and swearing the table stands!

Finished tenons

Letter marking keeps parts organized

IT STANDS!

Legs

I had already cut out the legs and squared them to do the mortises. Next I cut them to length and did a taper on the outer two surfaces. It starts about 24″ up and drops down to make the bottom of the foot about 1″ square. Tapering is a lot of work!

Squared legs

Tapered, with inside edges together

Outside edges together, you can see the taper better

Once I got the tapering complete I was able to cut the grooves for the bottom shelves. I assembled each side with apron and laid out each cut with a long ruler so I could get both legs. The sides were cut down with a saw, then removed most of the waste with a chisel. The final depth was handled with a router plane. What a great looking job, I did something like this over a year ago before I had a router and this turned out 10 times better! Next time I will taper last. Everything had to be shimmed up to hold still because of the leg taper.

This is where a huge issue came in. I cut the left side and it turned out pretty well. Next I moved on to the right half and cut the left half again. Lighting makes the grooves a bit hard to see.

Two left sides… crap. I set down my tools and went inside to do something else. I had invested hours into each leg. I was able to turn lemons into lemonade though. The table was set to be just over 40″ tall, which after assembling feels too tall. Two sets of shoe shelves would be useful, but looked a bit more cluttered than one. I decided to cut the bottom set of shelf grooves off, and re-taper the legs. Work work. Here is the new shortened version along with one of a few piles I had to sweep up while making this thing.

Bottom Shelf

I assembled the bottom shelf along with the top in a similar manor. I really wanted to bring in some decorative accents here. Carving is out of my skill set, but the mill can do wonders. How about a nice scripty G in the center of the shelf? Done! Their last name starts with G.

Assembly

With all the parts cutout and shaped properly I went about finish planing every surface smooth and clean. Some of the oak got squrley and left me with tear out. I don’t have a high angle plane, and I am crap with a cabinet scraper so they will have to remain as a finishing “feature”.

To keep the top on I am using small clips that fit into slots on the apron and screw into the top. They will allow the large top to have moisture movement without trying to pull the base apart.

There are a lot of surfaces that needed gluing and seconds matter when glue is drying. I did a number of test fits and got all my clamps at the ready. The glue up went smoothly! A short rounded over piece glued to the bottom shelf will keep shoes from sliding off.

Test fit

Glue up

Shoe lip

Doweled Shelf

The bottom shelf sits in a groove. The weight will be held well by the groove, but few glue surfaces means it could break free. I went ahead and drilled out the legs/shelf and glued a 3/8″ dowel in to help improve the hold. A small block plane got the dowels down as smooth as a baby’s bottom!

Finish

A dark finish was requested and I have had some great results with minwax’s stain on oak. I think the grain pops really well, and I had a lot of the stain around. Once completely dry I sprayed the top and base with multiple coats of general finish’s high performance water based coating. What a great product. That stuff goes on like silk and dries smooth. Spraying can be a pain, but the results are worth it.

Over all, there were mistakes made, lessons learned, and a lot of sweat. I was able to finish a few days before the wedding and delivered it to the happy couple. May the table last for a century, and may your love last longer.

Did I mention it comes with a lifetime repair warrantee?

Limoncello

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Chase

I don’t think I had ever had limoncello before a friend’s wife gifted me some for christmas. She is a bartender and did some fine drink related gifts this past year. It was really good stuff, and I wanted to try my hand at making some. She makes it in huge batches so I was worried about a recipe scale issue. Instead I read 5 different online recipes that don’t seem to agree at all.

The lemon to vodka ratio was pretty stable at around 8-10ish zested lemons per 750ml of vodka. The wait time ranged between 3 days and well over a month. Time to improvise. I went with 10 lemons into 750ml, and taste tested it along the way. Zesting worked, and I did that to some, but it was slow. Peeling went much faster, and my peeler didn’t get much of the bitter white stuff under the rind.

10 lemons

zest and peel

filled jar

With the jar filled and looking pretty yellow right off the bat I waited. Every other day or so I would do a tiny taste test. It was harsh, being basically pure vodka, but the lemon flavor started coming out quickly. I found it to be a good flavor after about a week, so I poured it into a larger bottle through a coffee filter. The result was a tansparent yellow liquid. Kind of looks like pee, but tastes nice and lemony.

After a week

Most recipes have you adding a lot of simple syrup. I didn’t want this to be very sweet. I made a batch of 2:1 sugar to water syrup and added it in small splashes with tastes in between. The pictures below show before and after adding the syrup. It is a 1 liter bottle and was probably right around 750ml full before. I would guess about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup when in, but that is a guess. I wanted to take the edge off vodka, but not turn it into some super sickly sweet mess. I think the balance was good.

Before adding syrup

After syrup

I enjoy it warm, but having a small glass straight from the freezer is awesome! Don’t forget that it is still mostly vodka! Next will be coming a version with limes and another with oranges. I can hardly wait!

Final Recipe

10 Lemons
750ml Vodka
~1 C simple syrup to taste (2:1 sugar to water)

Zest or peel lemons being careful not to remove white stuff under rind. Leave in vodka for around a week, tasting will help guide you. Filter through a coffee filter into a second container. Add simple syrup to taste.

First Hive Inspection

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Chase

Our hive has been with us a week and Ester appears to be going strong. We have been nervously peeking in the front entrance and trying to count the number of pollen carriers every day after work. We were so excited to crack it open and look inside we could hardly contain ourselves. Once again the trusty gopro was in action taking video of our first inspection experience.

If the video didn’t give it away, we think things are going well. There is a lot of brood being laid, honey is obviously being stocked where there was none last week, and they are expanding out to the new frames. I couldn’t find the queen, but new brood means she must be in there somewhere.

It is a big weight off our shoulders that they are setting up shop. Speaking of weight, I employed my new hive scale. The brood chamber is 27 pounds right now. I will take weight measurements every few weeks and keep a graph of the results under my bee log. Until something major happens I will probably not post again about inspections. No one wants to see a million videos of us gushing over insects.

Strawberry Madness!

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Chase

The sun is out, the weather is warm, and we are in peak season of strawberries. I went to my favorite food market and got a little unhinged with the strawberries. 20 pounds came home with me that day!

I have been waiting for this day for a while. My first canning experience was with strawberries many years ago. We didn’t have most of the right tools, but we picked and canned a load and made the best strawberry jam I had ever tasted. Now it is time to recreate the experience.

I gave them a wash and pulled the stem end off using a strawberry huller. I would high recommend this tool for doing any amount of strawberries. So quick! The directions called for smashing with a potato masher, but I went for a quick few pulses in the food processor. 12 pounds did a good job filling up the bowl.

After I had enough strawberries I began processing and canning batches. You are supposed to do it in small sizes because the pectin can overcook. The first group was full sugar, while all the rest were some variation of low sugar jam. This is what it looks like with everything going in the pot.

Many hours later and dinner time rapidly approaching I had 35 jars full, but still a lot of strawberries. I had jammed 13 pounds at this point. Well minus all the ones I ate. Still, what to do with the remaining 7 pounds? Three got sliced up and tossed with a small amount of sugar. Dessert for a week! The last 4 pounds got hulled and stuck on a cookie sheet bound for the freezer. I make smoothies for breakfast, and my primary fruit ingredient is typically strawberries. No reason these can’t go in.

Into the freezer

Sliced with a dash of powdered sugar

All the jars eventually cooled, so I lined them up and gave them a spiffy label. 25 are a low sugar variety, and 10 are a regular full sugar. 7 cups went into those ten jars. Kind of hard to imagine 3/4 of a cup of sugar getting wedged into each one of those little jars with all that fruit. Toast anyone?

How Much Does a Bee Weigh?

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Chase

Being an engineer I can’t help but over analyze and try to gather data on everything I do. Part of starting my blog was to keep a record, for myself, of my projects. I think the bees should be no different. Thus I built a bee scale to help measure the weight of each body and super as they are filled. Beyond the pure joy that is data collection, keeping track of their weight can help predict when supers will fill, and alert me to reductions in population.

I bought a package scale and took it apart. The scale can hold up to 100 pounds which ought to support even the fullest deep. I made a top board that the bodies will rest on while being weighed. The back edges are wider than they need to be and have tall guides. This should keep me from falling off any edges when moving the supers onto the scale. Using only 4 small areas of contact at the corners helps reduce the chance for bee casualties. The top of the scale is a plastic part that is easily removed. I screwed it to the bottom of the top board to take advantage of its alignment pins.

Top board

Under side, top of scale screwed down

Next I made a base board that would hold the guts of the scale and its controller. I screwed the scale down at the far end of this bottom board so that when the top board is on you can still read the screen. The controller simply zip tied to the base board.

Both top and bottom board got a quick hand hold roughed into them. The top of the scale had alignment pins so it would sit snugly on the base. They are tricky to align, but once in, the top board is very stable. I can disassemble and carry both halves easily. The true test comes tomorrow when I perform my first hive inspection.

Assembled scale setup

Empty super on scale

I could use the scale to answer a question I get a lot “How many bees do you have?” I find that as kind of an odd question. I would think most people know that bees are small and go in large groups. My typical response to the question is: “Thousands???” with a big shrug of the shoulders. If I weigh the deep with bees, then shake them off and weigh again, I could get a good estimate of total bee weight. Not worth the effort and disturbance to the hive. I will choose a new answer of “Enough to KILL!!!!” from now on instead.

My co-worker had an excellent suggestion of building an IR trip sensor at the hive entrance. That way I could track the number of crossings. I like it, but it would require power and electronics far away from an outlet. Solar cells on top of my hive? Maybe someday.

Under-Mill Lighting

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Chase

I shot some GoPro video a week or two back on my mill. It was tough to get enough lighting over there. That area of my shop just isn’t really well lit. I could crawl up in the attic and try to wire another light, but I will probably move the mill before too long. In comes LED light strips. I picked some up to play with a while back and hadn’t gotten around to using them. They are strips that are largely made of copper foil, the resisters are already installed, and you can cut it every few inches to the length you want.

These narrow strips will fit perfectly under the rails used in my mill’s gantry system. You can little double headed clip-on connectors to link multiple segments together or make turns. I cut the one end off and used them to splice in power. They have springy tabs that are supposed to connect to the round pads. I found their connectivity wasn’t very solid, so I shored it up with solder. Now vibration and movement shouldn’t be a problem.

With all the connectors soldered and everything cut to length I pulled the backing off and carefully applied it to the underside of all my rail sections. For the connector end I wrapped a zip tie around them so that any tugs on the cable wouldn’t rip the lighting off. Everything got wired up in parallel to a 12V supply I bought from a similar amazon vendor. The results are pretty good.

My camera was in full manual mode, so what you see is what you get. One strip went under each Y rail (front to back) and I was able to sneak two under the X rail (left to right). This doesn’t completely fix my lighting problems, but it feels a lot better work around the mill. I will probably come up with some kind of ring light to give really good direct lighting lighting on the bit.

The total cost was about 25 bucks. I bought a lot bigger power supply than I needed so I can add as many lights as I want. About half the reel and a pile of connectors are left over. If I ever make an enclosure It will probably get gobs of this strip lighting.

We got BEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Chase

After lots of anticipation and anxiety we finally got bees. There aren’t many things I would gladly wake up for extra early for on a Saturday, but this is one. We drove up to Mims FL, and picked up our nuc. It is very strange to be handed a box that is buzzing. When we got home two little ones had escaped. Luckily I was able to coax them onto the box so we could go outback together and begin the unboxing. GoPro chest cam caught some great bee action shots. Also some singing may have occurred.

Family pictures are going to be a lot harder. Everyone say honeeeeeeeeeeey! Doh, one of them blinked.

Our hive compound has everything a bee could want. A raised base, colorful hive, chicken feeder full of water and marbles so the girls can take a drink but not drown, and a nice table to work off of.

We bee happy!

Painted Hives

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Chase

Our bee source has been busy enough that they didn’t have any bees for us when we wanted. As a result I had everything ready to go with no bees to populate my equipment. Might as well take advantage of the situation and do some painting. Rot is a huge problem in warm humid Florida, so this should really help the lifespan of the hive bodies. I picked up and assembled two medium supers for when the bees start getting busy with the honey.

Always start with primer. It soaks in a provides a good adhesion surface.

I could have followed up with a coat or two of basic white paint and they would have been perfectly acceptable there. But, I feel very inspired by Steve’s use of color over at Woodworking for Mere Mortals, so I am going a little wild.

It is the brightest yellow I could find in the paint section. I have no idea of the bees will see the color or not, but I sure as heck will be able to! I numbered the bodies so I can keep track of any observations I make for the bee journal. “F” is for the hive top feeder.

Ester

A lot of people seem to name their hives, but I figured I wouldn’t really bother. That was until I was reading about beeswax and how it is made, in large part, of long ester chains. Monica suggested we name just the queen and ester was stuck in my head. After a week of ester bouncing around with me I couldn’t resist; the name of our first hive has been decided. Ester comes home Saturday 3/7/15 morning!

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Monthly Archives: March 2015