Plain galvanised runner for Hoffman frames 37.5 cm

01 · PLAIN OR CASTELLATED

Look at the frame side bars, not the format

If the frame side bars widen at the top, the frame is Hoffmann: those wide areas touch the next frame and keep the spacing themselves. Hoffmann frames take the plain strip, which holds the lugs and lets you slide frames along during an inspection. If the side bars are the same width top to bottom, the frame is straight and does not space itself: there you need a castellated strip, which comes in 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 frame versions with a 25 or 30 mm notch.

02 · WHAT IT DOES AND DOES NOT

It does not stop propolis, but it helps the lever

It is worth being honest about what it does: it does not stop the bees propolising under the lugs or between Hoffmann frames, because that is bee work, not sheet metal. What it gives you is a smooth hard surface to run the hive tool over, scrape and lever against without eating into the wood of the rebate. In a box inspected many times a year, that is the difference between an intact rebate after five years and a splintered, uneven one.

03 · HOW IT IS FITTED

Undrilled, and two per box

It is supplied without holes: you lay it in the rebate and fix it with pins or screws wherever you choose, which lets you adapt it to boxes with rebates of different depths. It measures 37.5 cm long by 2 cm high and is sold by the unit: two may appear in the photo, but the price is for one piece, and a box needs both, one at each end wall.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Supplied singly, undrilled and without fixings.