Thorne Winter Sale 7 January

[Jon]

The price list is out:

http://www.thorne.co.uk/winter-sale

[fatshark]

Thanks Jon ... Interesting to see that prices are higher on broods and supers than in the October sale (£2 and £1.50 up respectively). The quality then was excellent, with very few knots and no warped boards. Fortunately I'm broke :D

[Jon]

I need at least 10 more supers and the frames as well as a few other bits and bobs.
It is still a big saving and I have never had major issues with any of the second quality stuff.
Carriage free when you spend over £100 is attractive as well as a lot of companies charge extra to NI.

[Poly Hive]

Surely cheaper to make them yourselves?

PH

[Jon]

Surely cheaper to make them yourselves?
PH

You can make a cedar super for less than £13.50?

[Poly Hive]

I can certainly make a super for less than that, why do they have to be Cedar at all? My pine ones a few years ago admittedly, cost me circa £2-50 - £3

PH

[gavin]

Pine is not the answer for the great majority of beekeepers. There was a local social enterprise company making pine equipment and I although it is serviceable I didn't recommend them to our beginners. The quality isn't as good as the usual beekeeping supply houses and the boxes are heavy - and that is without them getting wet in the rain. Wouldn't fancy lugging a brood and a half of one of them to the heather.

Those Thornes prices are good if you look around at the other suppliers - for example Paynes (http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/) have their sale on and National Supers are £17 the box.

As far as I recall these Thornes budget boxes are not Western Red Cedar although their full hives are. 'Second quality cedar' they say - does that mean larch? Certainly lighter than your basic softwood and (I was told by a man in the know) intermediate in rot-resistant properties.

It would be good if all companies selling woodware would be totally explicit about the timber they use, or maybe they think that they are already. At least Fragile Planet (http://www.fragile-planet.co.uk/) says theirs are ply.

[Jon]

I own about 15 broods and maybe 25 supers all Thorne cedar seconds and I am very happy with them.
The price for first quality brood boxes is about £40 and about £30 for a super so I reckon those prices are good.

You could probably make yourself a plywood super for a fiver but factor in your time as well at whatever you think you are worth per hour. Comparing ply or white wood to cedar is daft as cedar is a much superior product. Weight of equipment is a big issue in beekeeping once you have had a bad back for a while.

[gavin]

I'm sitting in the car about to carry one of those pine boxes mentioned above (borrowed, as my remaining spare supers have frames in and I need a couple empty to surround fondant) and an old WRC super (light as a feather) over 100 m over rough ground to the apiary. I know which hand will have sore fingers by the time I get there. Also mulling over an equipment storage problem which might be resolved with one of those B and Q brown plastic boxes (they look mouse-proof) on the allotment. Also about 100 m of carrying. Two things would help that: all my equipment WRC or poly, and a reduction in my waistline!).

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[Poly Hive]

Sorry all but my pine boxes were more than adequate and certainly not overly heavy. Biscuit jointed for broods and dovetail jointed they worked very well at a quarter a price of the makers goods.

Cedar in my view is vastly over rated and not even very bonny in time.

Poly is of course my first choice and is both lighter (for my bad back) and the bees thrive better in it than any timber I know of. Ask Denroasa what their stats tell them.

Anyway Happy New Year to all and hopefully full supers this season and well mated queens.

PH

[Black Comb]

I think the Thornes 2nds quality are English cedar complete with knots.
The wood is softer than the perfect western red, certainly not heart wood.
For the price they are OK.

[gavin]

I think the Thornes 2nds quality are English cedar complete with knots.
The wood is softer than the perfect western red, certainly not heart wood.
For the price they are OK.

I see that there are four species traded under the name white cedar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Cedar) and one also called yellow cedar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupressus_nootkatensis), so it may not be so easy for the user to be sure which of the cedars is the right one. Pete L seeks whole trees of Western Red Cedar for his hive-making.

[prakel]

Got to say, there is a certain satisfaction from making kit but I can also see the sense for some people to buy in supers etc and spend their time making the more creative stuff themselves.

drifting off topic again...Regarding the supers in this sale (remembering that I don't actually even use National hives anymore) I'd be buying the Commercial version -a far better box to my way of thinking which works perfectly with National broods although we then get back into the weight issue again I suppose.

[Black Comb]

Well Gill sent me a mail about this this morning!
I.e. a list of sale items.
It is described as utility grade English cedar with plastic runners.

Not much of interest to me except the frames.

[prakel]

With second quality dadant broods priced at £25/£30 each and (elsewhere) first quality Swienty jumbo boxes working out at about £25 each I think I must be using the wrong hives.

Some fair bargains in the miscellaneous section though -stuff (probably mainly one offs) that was missed from the email notice.

[Jon]

Just put in an order for myself and another one for the association.

It was impossible to use the website first thing this morning due to excess traffic but seems to be working ok now.