How to Build, Wire and add Foundation to Layens Beehive Frames

This video demonstrates my steps for building Layens beehive frames, from raw lumber to a completed frame with foundation. This build is based on plans from horizontalhive.com (not a sponsor). See links below for downloadable free plans.
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: As a commenter has pointed out, and I have confirmed, you should not wear gloves when working with a table saw. I apologize for my own poor example. I posted this video to teach a skill, but I've learned something, too!
Images with frame measurements are from the plans available at horizontalhive.com
Plans for the frames, assembly jig, wiring jig, and other items are available at: horizontalhive.com/how-to-bui...
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:17 - Please be Safe
01:30 - About the Layens Frames
01:40 - Making Frame Top Bars
04:17 - Making Frame Bottom Bars
04:44 - Making Frame End Bars
06:56 - Drilling for Frame Wiring
08:29 - Assembling the Frames with a Jig
09:39 - Adding Staples to Support the Wire
10:36 - Wiring The Frames with a Jig
12:51 - Adding Wax Foundation
14:48 - Conclusion and Closing

[@marcusnilsson2847]

Good video, with one VERY important exception. NEVER EVER WEAR GLOVES when working with the table saw! Without gloves you may get a cut. With gloves the sawblade rip your whole hand in if it get cought just a bit! Apart from this, all good advice.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Thank you for the feedback and the tip. I'll admit that at first I was uncertain of your advice. My gloves have taken a few nicks that, otherwise, my fingers might have. But you prompted me to research and you are absolutely correct. I found the following which confirms your statement: "We should avoid wearing gloves when using a table saw just like we should avoid wearing loose-fitting clothing. Gloves can get caught in the blade which can be dangerous. Wearing gloves when using a table saw increases the risk of injury." So now I know and will do better in the future.

[@marcusnilsson2847]

@@SuburbanSodbuster hi, and thanks, really like your videos. Maybe better if you make a remark on safety and gloves and I remove my comment? Better safe than sorry. Have seen a few friends in the building industry loose fingers or cut their palm in half when wearing gloves at the tablesaw. Some scary stuff! Keep up the good work and feel free to remove my comment on gloves when ready.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

@@marcusnilsson2847 no need to remove the comment. It's a good and important point. I'll update the description but I'm not too proud to acknowledge the source. Coming from a family of farmers and with a father who worked several years doing remodeling & handyman work, I'm a rarity in my family because I still have all of my digits. I hope to keep it that way.

[@marcusnilsson2847]

@@SuburbanSodbuster no worries :-) Looking forward to new movies on your chanel!

[@TheJapagu]

I was about to say the same thing. That happened to someone I know and they were lucky they didn’t lose any fingers. Fingers got cut very bad.

[@huckleberry4487]

Thanks Monty. I would suggest it's safer using a simple push block with a rear cleat for the thinner strips to push along the rip fence. Make sure the teeth of the blade are set just high enough to get through your cut piece.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Thank you. I'm always open to suggestions to help me keep my fingers. 😁

[@simonclark8290]

Excellent work. My safety tip is around the charge cables. Without any fuse and working on a conductive worktop you are asking to short out the battery and some point and a best you'll get a lot of sparks but at worst it could result in a fire and damage the battery, burn you etc... You just need something to remove the power the moment you're not using it. Personally I would use a bench supply with a current limiter. You can short that to your hearts content and control the operation. As it stands, with a leasure battery the heat produced will be a product of the battery's actual voltage on the day and wire resistance so mileage will vary a great deal from one user to another.

[@followme8238]

Great video - I love the detail you go into and the written dimensions. Next time you build a Layens hive please capture that too - I haven’t yet found a good video for 19+ frame Layens with solid 2x body material

[@curtbeers1606]

I'm in the process of building the insulated Layens hive box. No video though, I'm waiting for a friend to give me wool after shearing their sheep to use for the insulation.

[@sfcmmacro]

I love your jig for cutting the shoulders on the side pieces. I’ve been trying to decide how I want to make mine.

[@robertthornton9790]

Very nice use of a table saw to get everything done, especially on the side pieces. Great advice about making alot of each piece while you have things measured and set up so that each piece is identical. I built my 7 layens hives that way cutting all side pieces and end pieces then processing 7 hives worth so that when done I had everything cut and prepared to assemble all of them. Huge mind and time saver! So glad I found your channel. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us!

[@johnnyfaber9955]

It was 665 before I hit the like button. Nobody wants to achieve that number. Hopefully it moves past it soon. Your videos are awesome. Thank you for your help.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

No worries! He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. I ain't skeered about the number of likes 😁. Thanks for watching and liking!

[@hawkspiritweaver6664]

Been looking at Horizontal Hives for a bit over a year.. wasn't ready to start last year and had hoped I'd have a hive and swarm catch box ready to go by this time this year... HA.. as usual the amount of time it takes me to get something done has increased in reality but not in my planning.. Oh well.. This is extremely helpful as I learn by watching better than reading... This is much appreciated. for us 60+ year olds

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I'm glad to know that I'm not alone in overestimating what I can do in a certain amount of time. Right now I'm trying to figure out when I'll get 6 hives built this spring. I'm glad the videos are helpful for you.

[@trevormcnutt9756]

Edgewater Florida with layens hives sending bee love , thanks for all your videos!

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Thank you for watching!

[@curtbeers1606]

Excellent video, the wiring is the part that I have trouble with. I will need to build the wiring jig now that I've seen it in operation.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

The jig takes some time to put together, but it saves a lot of time and work overall when assembling frames.

[@curtbeers1606]

@@SuburbanSodbuster I have one for the frame assembly just not the wiring. Although I will probably need to get a stapler instead of the brad nailer I've been using. Yay a new tool 😁 don't tell my wife.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Every project is an opportunity for a new tool! 😁

[@dropsintolife1913]

What a ledgend! Thanks for so much information.

[@almostagardener4549]

Very good video! Just a suggestion when cutting the rabbit for the top bar cut the face cut first then cut the the longer cut the waste peace will fall away. You can also make a simple jig that rides over the fence to push the peace through the blade. This jig would look like a H the vertical peaces would ride on each side of fence and the horizontal peace would ride on the top of the fence this could be made from scrap one by four.

[@GM-gv8kc]

Great video! Lots of useful information, clearly shown and explained.

[@sstrebler]

Great video and I especially liked the jig to cut the shoulders on the sides. I use a jointer, but do get some chip out. One thing I did different is I made guide sticks for the top and bottom bars to place the staples first and then I drill the holes at the very edge of the staples. That way, the staples are nearer to the holes so the wire doesn’t slack from cutting into the wood at the edge of the staple. IDK how much it helps, but I get the staples on a lot faster that way as well. Thanks for the video.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Thank you for your comment! The dado jig has worked well for me and provides good results, but I have an old router table and I may try to set that up for future builds. Honestly, I have more experience with the table saw than router table and a person tends toward what they know. But it would save me a lot of time not to have to set up the dado blades and jig every time I make frames.

[@weregonnabzzz4648]

very clear and concise instructions. Thank you for posting!

[@wendygrant2735]

Excellent diy video. Thanks for sharing.

[@huckleberry4487]

Thanks Monty. Do you have any hives using foundationless frames with a dowel across the middle, and if so, which do the bees prefer? I like the idea of using wires without full foundation so the bees can decide when they need drones.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I haven't used fully foundationless frames; I prefer the use of wired frames for use in an extractor. But I do like using only partial foundation. This year I might experiment with just using waxed wooden popsicle sticks as starter strips. Besides restricting the bees' determination of cell size as needed, I think using large foundation encourages bees to begin building in the middle rather than anchoring at the top, first. Plus it saves money to use less foundation for each frame. 😁

[@NKYHoneyBees]

Great video. I will be making some myself using your video. Appreciate the details :)

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I'm really glad this is helpful for you!

[@collegeguy14]

Thank you for sharing. Haven’t even built the whole layens hive yes but just knocked out all these parts for the frames today have enough for 30 or so frames. Pretty simple. I think I’ll add short plastic waxed starter strips and a skewer across the side bars for support instead of wires. Seems like less work and can easily harvest half of the frame of honey comb when it comes time. Thank you for sharing watched each part of the video 10 times to confirm I was doing things right. Your dimensions are slightly different than the horizontal hive website. But they seem to fit well with the hive I have built from his measurements.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

If you recall, which dimensions are different? I tried to be consistent with Dr. Leo's plans, so want to reconcile and correct, if needed, any incompatible information. If the frames are working with your hive then maybe it's not a concern but I appreciate you bringing attention to the differences.

[@eddieholloway6754]

Thank you for the videos. I’m about to make side bars and didn’t want to purchase a router and table. I’m going to try and taper the side bars as you have shown.

[@eliinthewolverinestate6729]

Up north so I use Lazutin hive. Like a Layens but uses regular length frames and deep enough to hold a double Langstroph frame. I pull bottom bar out of Langstroph frames and drill hole center of top bar for skewer vertically for brood. So the Langstroph frame works like a top bar.The skewer holds comb better than wire. I use double deep Langstroph frames for honey harvesting.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

My first hive ("Taj Mahive" shown in some of my videos) was originally a double-deep hive, but Dr. Leo convinced me that the Layens was a better fit for our Missouri climate. I still have a pile of Lazutin frames in the garage - I'm thinking about making an observation hive to use them.

[@WillowWayRanch]

Watching, Thumbs up, and commenting in the hopes my sub sticks.

[@Jack-es9xq]

Good stuff! Is it mandatory that the side boards are routed with the rounded shoulders? Any reason why those same cuts couldn't be done with a table saw and hand saw? Seems it would be simpler that way.

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

It's not mandatory that the sides are tapered. They could be done with angled cuts or square corners. Some even make them from a single 1 inch wide board - but I prefer that the tops of the bars touch to add some stability. However, if it's done with a dado blade (as I do) or on a router table, then once the jig is set up the cuts can be made quickly in one pass..

[@andrewlay88]

Plans for table saw jig please!

[@pankajmakwana2300]

Very nice video thank you, gets straight to the point and very well made. Would you have recommended glue to the joints?

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Yes, I do recommend gluing the joints.

[@curly-hairedcountrygal1275]

Now that I'm building my own hives, this seems much less intimidating, except for the taper. Do you think it would work just as well to have the end bars look more like a bit rabbet and do straight cuts? Great video!

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I'm sure the end bars could be made a variety of ways. The bees probably don't care much if it's a taper or a straight (or angled) cut.

[@curly-hairedcountrygal1275]

@@SuburbanSodbuster Wonderful news!

[@jaydirks5884]

Do you have plans for the jigs you made Like the table saw taper

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

Plans for the frame assembly jig and wiring jig are available on Dr. Leo's site horizontalhive.com. I don't have a plan for my tapering jig but I plan to make some sketches.

[@curly-hairedcountrygal1275]

Also, can you give an idea of how much lumber you used to make x number of frames?

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I'll try to do some figuring, soon, for how many frames I can make with the boards I used.

[@oldpioneerfarm5673]

Do you have a name for the wax foundation sheets or where to get them?

[@SuburbanSodbuster]

I don't. When I was getting started I found a beekeeping supplier selling unwired wax foundation for Langstroth deep frames at a clearance price. I'm still cutting down sheets from that order for my starter strips, but since then I've forgotten who sold it and I haven't been able to dig up the order info. I have used some of the premium wax foundation sold on the horizontalhive website. It's nice to work with but, due to its purity (I presume), it's much softer and more prone to sag in summer heat than the other foundation. Whether I use sheets for Langstroth deeps or those sized for Layens frames, I've found that cutting the sheets into 2-3/4" strips seems to give the most even distribution from a single wax sheet. I used to try to be frugal (cheap) and cut 1" strips, but if the bees don't draw out the comb right away then the narrower strips sag pretty quickly.