Maisemore Wooden Super Product Review

Hi, I'm Lawrence Edwards from Black Mountain Honey. Welcome to another episode of No Nonsense Beekeeping. In this video, I'm going to review the Maysmoor Wooden National. Now, as in the previous videos where I showed you how to assemble this, this video covers both the super and the brood box from Maysmoor. They are identical apart from the depth, so I'm just covering off a couple of videos in one. So if you want to see how to assemble this equipment, so the Wooden National super from Maysmoor or any other supplier, and the wooden national brood box. I'll put the link up there and you can see the other video. In this video though, we're going to focus on just a real quick review of the equipment. So I wanted to keep the review a little bit separate from the other video showing how I assembled this, only because it was quite a long video. I went into a lot of detailed steps and I just wanted to pull out the key recommendations and reviews, do it on a separate video. So first thing to say is Mazemore, really good supplier, do lots of different kit, do lots of poly kit, and they do a lot of frames and cedar woodware as well. So whenever I'm buying kit from Mazemore, and this is the stuff that I've got here, I always, always, always say it 3 times, go for the second kit. Now what that means, it doesn't mean it's inferior, it means it's made out of a slightly different type of cedar. It's got So it's like an English-grown cedar as opposed to a Canadian cedar, which is good for the environment. All it means though is that you're going to see more of this, so you're going to have knots all over it and maybe a few defects. You're not going to have any holes, you're not going to have any rot, you're not going to have any splits, so don't think that seconds equipment means it's defective. It's definitely not, it's just not perfect, which is what the first equipment Look at the cost difference though. The price difference between first and second wooden national kit is extortionate in my opinion, and I would recommend everybody go for the seconds. The seconds are considerably cheaper, and in return, in terms of a return on the investment, they're so much better. They'll last just as long, they'll do the job just as well, but they're less than half the price. So always, always, always try and get your seconds kit wherever possible. Next thing to say is hit them at the sales. Try and plan ahead and get them when these are cheap. So I bought these from Maysmoor back end of November. I think I paid about £14 for the super, and I think I paid about £17 or £18 for the brood box. That's just a rough kind of guide as to where you want to be paying your money for these. It does fluctuate each year, and it seems to fluctuate up, so they do tend to get more and more expensive each year. I bought a big batch of these last year in 2019, and they were £12.50 each. So they do get more and more expensive each year, but they're considerably less expensive in the sales. So just try and hit them in the sales, plan ahead. They tend to have one end of the season, they tend to have one around January as well. So just get them in the sales. They're exactly the same kit, they're just a lot cheaper. So in terms of wooden national kit, so supers and brood boxes, I very rarely buy any brood boxes anymore because all of my brood boxes are poly brood boxes, and I really do like the poly kit. I've done it in a separate video, poly versus wood. I personally prefer poly for my brood boxes. For supers, however, I really don't think it makes a massive amount of difference, and the supers in terms of a wooden one are considerably cheaper, but they do take a considerably longer time to put together. What I really like about the Maysmoor super though in particular And the Maysmoor Brood Box is that they have an integrated runner. So instead of having to put on a metal frame runner and pin that on, or you're pinning on like a, a metal Castellation, they're integrated into the design. So what that means is that you can take a frame like that, pop it on, and you've got the space underneath your frame lugs, and everything is flush with the Top. On other designs, you need to pin on a frame runner to get that spacing correct, and I find it personally a little bit difficult to get the super constructed and then work out how much extra I have to add on for the frame runner. Whereas doing it this way, I can just put it together, pop the frame in, adjust it to fit, tack a little nail in there, and then I've got it into exactly the right place. And I know that wherever I put that frame along there, it's going to be perfectly flush, giving me my bottom bee space, everything flush on the top. And to be honest, that is about it. That is the main differentiator between what Maysmore offer as a wooden national for the super and the brood box and all of the other suppliers. I've, I've had pretty much all of them and they're all very similar in terms of fit and finish and quality and number of defects. Couldn't pick anything between them. Maysmore though, they have this design which I really, really like, hence why I've kind of taken it upon myself to go and buy a few more bits of their kit to show you exactly how I put them together and then to do this video just to show you that real unique piece of design that Maysmore has got that I think sets it above pretty much every other competitor in the marketplace. Final bit of advice, don't go for Eddie Third's equipment. So when I say that seconds is just as good as firsts, my personal advice, unless you're really good at joinery and you're happy to kind of make things fit that probably haven't got the best fit, I would steer away from, from thirds. Seconds, in terms of functionality, there is no difference whatsoever. It's more the aesthetic and the look, whereas the difference between seconds and thirds is you need to put work into them to get them up to a level where you can use them. So you might have to do some filling, you might have to do some cutting, you might have to do a bit of bodging with a screw. There's quite a lot of work. My personal recommendation, unless you're really good with woodwork, I would steer clear of any thirds from any supplier. So that's it for the video. I really wanted to do this one just to give you that information about this lip. I appreciate it's a quick video. There's not much that I can say about a wooden National Super or a brood box. Other than they go together well, they work well, they're fit for purpose. But I really do like that element of design that Maysmore have put in there. Thumbs up from me. So as always, thanks for watching. Please hit the subscribe button. 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