I’m new to bee keeping, but thanks to the internet it’s not too hard to figure out how to get started.  Here I’m posting stuff I’ve done or learned along the way.

A very good do-it-yourself site is:  http://beesource.com/build-it-yourself/ 

I do most of my work with a table saw, router, and nail gun.  Depending on your table saw you might get away without a router.  Personally, I have a crappy table saw that can’t take dado blades, which causes me to route much of the cuts.   A table saw with dado blades would be much faster and in many cases better.

I have 10 frame hives with deep and medium hive bodies.  There are other derivative like 7 and 8 frame bodies.  When I first started out I wondered why anyone would possibly not want a 10 frame setup.  More is always better, right?  Well, I figured it out.  A 10 frame body full of honey is pretty darn heavy.  Moving it around when doing a hive inspection, in 100 F heat, wearing a bee suit, and not disrupting the bees too much can be challenging.  That said, I’m sticking with 10 frames.