I carried a tattered Amazon box from the cabinet above the wooden trap door to the kitchen counter. The box was leaden, brimming with tools my husband had gathered the last time he visited our “project house” in South Dakota. Just then, I needed a tool to lift an ancient tack strip from a wooden floor.
At first, nothing seemed promising: a roll of duct tape, scissors, hammer, wrench, cable ties, tape measure. But then I found a hive tool. Wait. A hive tool?
What I drew from the box was shiny, painted buttercup yellow on one end, and never used. I flipped it over in confusion. Did Rich buy this? Didn’t he know I have dozens of such implements at home? What was he thinking?
Then it hit me. The gadget at hand was not a hive tool but an ordinary pry bar. Why had I never equated those two things? When I learned to keep bees, I was told to buy a hive tool, but when I asked for one at Home Depot, they gave me the squints, as if they never heard of such a thing. From then on, I thought a hive tool was unique, purpose-built for beekeepers.
But now I realized it wasn’t. As I examined the pry bar in my hands, I wondered how I could so easily miss the obvious. The thought was humbling.
The standard beekeeping tool
The standard hive “tool” that comes with most beginner kits is a flat, double-ended bar. Both ends have sharpened edges for scraping, and one end is bent at a 90-degree angle. That a hive tool is a pry bar in disguise explains why it has a hole for extracting nails. I always wondered about that feature because, in all my beekeeping years, I never had a sudden urge to squeal nails from my bee boxes during inspections or honey harvest.
Still, I found it jarring that someone designed the small pry bar for non-beekeepers. After all, both ends work wonders for scraping beeswax and propolis, the flat end easily slips between glued-together boxes, and the bent end conveniently lifts frames. And that hole in the center? How else would you hang it up?
The right tool for the job
Some beekeepers shed their bee suits and gloves. Some don’t use smokers. Others don’t bother with socks. But no beekeeper I’ve ever met works without a hive tool.
Although they are universal, hive tools come in endless designs, shapes, and sizes. The popular styles proliferate at bee supply stores, and most are inexpensive and work a treat. But specialized designs exist, too. No rules exist for hive tool design except strength and safety. Because you don’t want your tool to bend or snap, materials and workmanship are “job one.”
Of all your equipment choices, the right hive tool may be your most important decision. After you gain some beekeeping experience, choose a design that works for you, one that fits your beekeeping style. Then keep it honed and handy …
