In this instructional video, the presenter walks through the complete workflow of cleaning, sterilizing, and drying beehive frames before re‑foundating them. After describing the standard cleaning routine—cutting out wax, melting usable wax, washing frames in a boiling caustic‑soda (washing‑soda) solution, then a dip in boiling water—the presenter highlights the problem of wet frames needing a place to dry. He demonstrates a modified Abelo drying rack that can hold both National‑size frames (14 × 12) and Langstroth frames simultaneously. The original rack only accommodated National frames; to fit Langstroth frames, a simple modification was added: a single piece of batten placed at the correct distance, allowing Langstroth frames to sit perpendicular to the National frames. The modification enables up to ten Langstroth frames to be arranged side‑by‑side while National frames run the other way, all on a removable platform that sits on the Abelo stand. The presenter emphasizes the practicality, pride, and recommendation that every beekeeper should have such a mixed‑frame drying rack to prevent mold and keep frames sterile and ready for foundation.
Chapters
Today I've been cleaning and sterilizing lots of frames like this, but once you've cleaned the frames, you need somewhere for them to stand and dry before you put the foundation back in. I'm going to show you my modded Abello stand that takes Langstroth frames and national frames at the same time. So I've had this little stand here for ages, and I use it for clearing out national frames. I put them through the whole process. I cut out all the wax, melt it down if it's good, wash the frames in boiling caustic soda or washing soda, and then I dip them in boiling water, get off absolutely everything, and they come out like this, which you can see is perfectly clean, sterile, and ready for foundation. But before you put the foundation in, I can still feel it on this frame here. They are wringing wet. They've been boiled for 15 minutes in the washing soda solution and then dipped in boiling water and they are sodden through. So they do need drying out. And that's what this device here is for. It's literally just a big National drying rack. And then I came to do some Langstroth frames over here and then I was thinking, how am I going to get my Langstroth frames in here? And the person who made these for me came up with a really nice, neat solution. So I'm going to jump back over to the other one because this one over here takes Langstroth frames, but it also takes National frames as well. So you can see this part here is just for National frames. That's a 14x12, another 14x12 there, kind of stack them all up. Got a couple with foundation in. But the problem comes when you go to put that Langstroth frame in, it doesn't fit. And I was doing that for a long time, and it's really annoying when you knock it and they just all fall down. So I modded it a little bit like this, and it works really, really nicely. So the modification was really simple. It's just a single piece of batten across there, another one over here at exactly the right distance that the Langstroth frames can fit in Perpendicular to the way that I had the National frames. Now, it's not a revolutionary design. I was just quite proud of how nicely everything fit in and that I could use it for National frames and Langstroth frames. But without a doubt, my favorite bit of all of it is the fact that when you put the Langstroth frames in like this, they fit perfectly. So I don't know about you, I really, really like the fact that we could get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Langstroth frames across like that. Basically a 10-frame Langstroth Box with National running the other way. Now everyone should have something like this. This literally sits on the Abelo stand, so it can just be taken off if you need to, or you can do a permanent solution with it. But it's great having it as something that could just pop onto the Abelo stand because it means you can lift it up, you can clean your frames, you can get them sterile, you can get them rewaxed, you can use the stand to air them out before everything goes all moldy. Every single beekeeper needs a beehive stand like this. I'm quite proud of this one because it is a Langstroth National mixed stand.
