When Beekeepers Party

<>I took my wife to the “Bee Bawl” at the Eastern Apiculture Society conference in Newark, DE. This is where beekeepers dress up in bee-apparel and get down. There were lots of prizes for most creative, bee hats, bee shoes, etc. One group from The government research lab in Georgia came as hive beetles. That made me want to dress as a giant Coumophos Tab.

One woman wore a halter and white hot pants with the word BEE-HIND printed across her gluteous maximus. Another guy, late sixties, maybe 250 lbs, unhooked his suspenders, dropped his overalls and showed us his bee underwear. He posed with the babe for pictures. I didn’t take any. The lighting was terrible. Maybe it will make the cover of Bee Culture. Editor Kim must have snapped half a thousand pictures that night. I suggested he could put me on the cover. He shoved me up against the wall and snapped a dozen. I came as a yellow jacket drone.

One of the great paradoxes of beekeeping: The practioners of the art are mostly old guys with Santa Claus beards and drooping bellies. The government and university researchers are cute young chicks (and some middle age cute chicks). The lesson to undergrads: if you want to make money, study law or software engineering. If you want to find cute young girls, you have to be a beekeeper.

Hive making workshop at the EAS Conference

<>Taught by David Peregmon, one of the EAS Directors. This sounds interesting and I expect to attend, Thursday, Aug 9 at the U of Delaware. David works on hands in his spare time—physical therapy, I think. He sees a lot of hands damaged by woodworking machinery so you can expect a lot of warnings about safety.
Most of my power tools are 50-100 years old, so I don’t even know what safety guards look like. It’s a good rule of thumb, whether you have safety guards on not: make jigs that cover the blades so you can’t even reach them with your hands.

Making Hand Holds on a Table Saw

The most often asked question on making your own beekeeping equipment: How do you make professional looking hand holds? The answer appeared in the July issue of Bee Culture. You make a jig that holds the tops and sides over the table saw blade. Taking multiple light cuts, tilt the arbor while the blade spins, raise the blade a little more and return to the 90 degree position. Raise the blade again and tilt. Repeat until done. You are cutting sideways, using the saw’s set to remove the wood. The result is superior to the commercial molding cutters because there is no tear out. The disadvantage: it takes almost a minute to cut one hand hold.

In the near future, we’ll have the plans available at www.petersieling.com .