Beekeepers wire?

Alex got it right on the money. As far as the history of this wire,
can only guess it was at one time a common, fine and soft wire
suitable for typing spokes. It is a soft wire with a bright finis
(tinned) and it has a suitable diameter. It is used for makin
excluders, foundations and comb supports. Since it is tinned, it i
easy to solder

--
Weisse Luft

Alex Rodriguez wrote in message ...
In article ,
says...

Can you elaborate on that? What benefits does it give to the wheel?

If you break a spoke, it keeps the spoke from flailing about. I can't
think of any other advantage

Wow factor. "You must be strong, mister."

Trevor

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 13:45:37 -0600, wrote:

Now I want to know why beekeepers wire is preferred for
tying and soldering. Is it suitable in diameter,

yes.

easy to bend,

yes.

extremely strong,

strong enough.

agreeable to solder,

reasonably.

resistant to chain oil,

More importantly, resistant to weather.

compatible with stainless steel,

Nothing sticks well to some stainless. The term "stainless steel"
refers to a large number of alloys with a variety of characteristics.
For the stuff commonly used in spokes, beekeeper's wire is compatible
enough, I guess, or something else would be used instead.

That is, why not use chicken-wire?

That's a 1" hexagonal mesh.

Or ordinary safety wire?

It's a harder variety of stainless that does not solder worth a damn.
(At least, none of mine does.)

Does anyone know how this stuff came to be called beekeepers
wire?

Yup. Beekeepers used it.

Is it used for anything except lashing bicycle spokes
together?

Yes. It's used to support the beeswax foundation in the frames of the
super and brood box. On the hives we had back in the 1960s, we also
used it to lash the lid to the supers, the supers down to the brood
box, and the brood box to the hive base, so that marauding critters
had a harder time getting the hive open.

Is it even available outside of bicycle shops?

ISTR seeing it at Farm & Ranch Supply stores a while back, but as it
appears that most beekeepers are now buying their frames prewired (or
else they aren't using the traditional beekeeper's wire for frame
building), I suspect that it's been dropped due to lack of interest.

Is there a rec.bees.tech newsgroup where they call each
other "honey" instead of "fred" and debate whether hexagons
are truly the optimal configuration, a forum in which
experts using pseudonyms like "Royal Jelly" and "Drone"
stingingly dismiss A. Conan Doyle and A.A. Milne and Patrick
O'Brian as promoters of apiary myth and lore?

I wouldn't know. Some things are best left to the imagination.


--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 13:45:37 -0600, wrote:

Is it even available outside of bicycle shops?

Here you go:

http://www.dadant.com/catalog/produc...roducts_id=174

or

http://tinyurl.com/4pqs5
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 21:05:07 GMT, Werehatrack
wrote:

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 13:45:37 -0600, wrote:

Is it even available outside of bicycle shops?

Here you go:

http://www.dadant.com/catalog/produc...roducts_id=174

or

http://tinyurl.com/4pqs5\

Dear Werehatrack,

Zounds! Only $6.12 for 1400 feet!

Most bicycle shops want five times as much (or more) for
only 400 feet., although elsewhere in this thread Marcus
Coles found a 400-foot spool for a dollar.

Of course, bicycle shops may stock higher-quality beekeepers
wire, suitable for restraining savage African killer bees,
drunk on nectar and sparing neither age nor sex.

Curiously, the Dadant beekeeping catalogue describes its
$6.12 bargain as a 1 lb spool that weighs 2 lbs. I'm not
sure that I'd buy honey by the pound from these folks.

Carl Fogel

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 15:28:58 -0600, wrote:

Curiously, the Dadant beekeeping catalogue describes its
$6.12 bargain as a 1 lb spool that weighs 2 lbs. I'm not
sure that I'd buy honey by the pound from these folks.

A pound of wire requires a spool and a box to ship it. Those make the
shipping weight two pounds.

Shipping company logic:

0.998 lb = 1 lb.

1.002 lbs = 2 lbs.

TANSTAAFL.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
Some gardening required to reply via email.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

big pete- Can you elaborate on that? What benefits does it give to the wheel?
BRBR

email direct, I'm not keen on getting into another ****ing contest with Jobst.

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

alex- If you break a spoke, it keeps the spoke from flailing about. I can't
think of any other advantage BRBR


Okay, okay, flack jacket, helmet ON-

Aluminum rims tend to get deformed as ya ride them, smacking into railroad
tracks, unseen potholes, etc. When ya 'deform' an aluminum rim permanently at
some point, the tension at that spot is reduced. So tying and soldering,
particularly on left side rear, reduces the spoke movement at the flange at
those spots, reducing spoke problems.

Peter Chisholm
Vecchio's Bicicletteria
1833 Pearl St.
Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535
http://www.vecchios.com
"Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 11:04:59 -0600, wrote:

While looking for spoke-setting punches, I saw this strange
item in the adults-only section of a certain bicycle shop:

http://harriscyclery.net/site/page.c...=49&SKU=TL1920

All sorts of shady bicycle shops advertise huge, expensive
spools of beekeepers wire for sale, no questions asked.

But no one seems bold enough to mention its unholy purpose.

What is a hundred meters of 0.37mm beekeepers wire used for?

Making raw spokes for midgets? Control cables? Tying and
soldering? Repairing broken tire beads? Leashing Sheldon's
formerly free-range bees? Something to do with Sir Edmund
Hillary's mountain bicycles?

Carl Fogel

Gee Carl, I am stumped too. Maybe it has something to with this
mysterious bicycle product....

http://rivendellbicycles.com/webalog/miscellaneous/

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:16:07 -0700, Robert Masse
wrote:

On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 11:04:59 -0600, wrote:

While looking for spoke-setting punches, I saw this strange
item in the adults-only section of a certain bicycle shop:

http://harriscyclery.net/site/page.c...=49&SKU=TL1920

All sorts of shady bicycle shops advertise huge, expensive
spools of beekeepers wire for sale, no questions asked.

But no one seems bold enough to mention its unholy purpose.

What is a hundred meters of 0.37mm beekeepers wire used for?

Making raw spokes for midgets? Control cables? Tying and
soldering? Repairing broken tire beads? Leashing Sheldon's
formerly free-range bees? Something to do with Sir Edmund
Hillary's mountain bicycles?

Carl Fogel

Gee Carl, I am stumped too. Maybe it has something to with this
mysterious bicycle product....

http://rivendellbicycles.com/webalog/miscellaneous/

Dear Robert,

Stumped?

You must mean the $75 mini-hatchet on that page.

According to Rivendell's ad, the hatchet comes with "The Axe
Book"--presumably one of Jobst's lesser-known literary
efforts, devoted to sharpening, head attachment, and the
theory that the hatchet stands on its handle.

The beeswax that Rivendell also offers on that page may be
used on the hatchet's leather holster, much like beeswax on
pistol holster.

C. Eastwood