Скачать или смотреть When Does Making Your Own Bee Boxes Stop Saving Money?

Is my wood shop still saving money—or quietly costing me more as we scale?

Almost from the very beginning, more than 20 years ago, I started building my own beekeeping equipment to save money. I scrounged lumber, used scrap wood, begged it off construction sites—whatever I could get my hands on. And for a long time, that approach made sense.

But as we move from hobbyist and sideliner toward something more serious, I’m starting to ask a harder question:
Is all this time in the wood shop actually costing more than it’s saving?

In this video, I walk through how I think about woodworking, equipment costs, time allocation, and scaling—without romance and without pretending DIY always wins on paper.

In this video, we cover:

Why building your own equipment makes sense early on

Where shop time starts competing with time in the bees

What I build myself (boxes, lids, bottoms) — and where I draw the line

Why I don’t build my own frames (and why that matters)

Big box lumber prices vs. rough-sawn pine from a local sawmill

When free scrap wood runs out—and reality sets in

Why I’m starting a shop log to track real time and costs

Hobby logic vs. business logic as you scale

I also talk through a real experiment I’ve been running with rough-sawn pine, why lumber cost is the key variable, and how this may eventually lead to a sawmill of our own. I’ve got acres of pine trees—if the numbers work, the path is obvious. But before I invest in heavier equipment, I want real data, not just gut feelings.

About Buffalo Lick

At Buffalo Lick, we try to be honest about what works, what doesn’t, and what has to change as you grow. This channel is about beekeeping, woodworking, land, and the real decisions that come with scaling something by hand—without hype, shortcuts, or influencer nonsense.

Call to Action

If you’re building hundreds of boxes a year, are you tracking your time and costs—or just powering through it? Let me know in the comments.
Subscribe if you value practical, no-hype beekeeping and real-world decision making.

#Beekeeping #DIYBeekeeping #BeekeepingEquipment #Woodworking #SidelinerBeekeeper #HoneyBusiness #SmallScaleFarming #BuffaloLick #PracticalBeekeeping