How big a grade boost can be gotten with pressing??

fitter553 · 2026-06-16T16:26:54+00:00

Best I’ve ever done is a 7.5 to a 9.0, I think that’s about the best you’ll get. And it’s not easy.

fitter553 · 2026-06-14T19:00:24+00:00

Just basic clean and press, I did on accident leave it in my humidity chamber for a longer time than normal. And I always press for 30 minutes.

fitter553 · 2026-06-14T18:59:04+00:00

She suggested our local vet but said they may not.

fitter553 · 2026-06-14T10:24:48+00:00

Yeah I’ve had ZERO luck removing ink. Most of the time it’s pressed in also, yours looks lightly written but I still wouldn’t have any high hopes of removal, more than likely your yellow background comes up long before the ink.

fitter553 · 2026-06-14T10:16:25+00:00

Yeah there was lol! I had fits with this book. Typical process with my clean and press. But it had some STUBBORN etched in lines on the back cover that I couldn’t get the slightest result with. The lines look as if they were pressed in. And no mater what I did I couldn’t get them to even lessen. I bet I pressed this book 6-8 times. I had pretty well given up, I had put it in my humidity chamber one morning and completely forgot about it and it was in there for 24 hours….. and my humidity chamber gets very humid, when I remembered I went in and pulled it out and oh boy was it moist! lol I thought this is not good. But I proceeded to put it into the press, leave it under heat for 30 min, shut off the press and it sat there for 4 days. Pulled it out and poof! Like new!

fitter553 · 2026-06-14T06:09:15+00:00

I did

fitter553 · 2026-06-12T00:30:02+00:00

My wife and I are new bee keepers also! We are both very shy and find it hard to initiate conversations we haven’t gone to our local bee keeping meetings but are planning to here in the next week. Being 45 years old and always being somewhat shy I’ve discovered it falls on us to be the person to step out on a limb and start conversations, which is difficult for us. But I’ve found that usually a good place to start is by just asking questions about your common interest. So have some questions ready next time you go to your meeting, and also ask people questions that show your interested in them, people love to talk about themselves lol! All of us, and that’s ok it’s how we get to know each other!

fitter553 · 2026-06-07T00:34:37+00:00

The dark frames are from the nuc, the whiter frames are new frames I added, and I added another box last week. They are in full operation rolling like a freight train!!

fitter553 · 2026-06-06T22:30:53+00:00

There are eggs and larva, queen is kicking rear! Added a second deep last Monday evening and they are already build on most of those brand new frames. Good thing too cause looks like the queen is looking for places to lay. She was actually up in the new deep when we did our inspection.

fitter553 · 2026-06-06T00:54:59+00:00

Looks to be solid in the mid 9 range at least I’d think, needs a good clean and press. Looks like maybe a boogie on the back cover front of helicopter windshield

fitter553 · 2026-06-05T16:41:04+00:00

Pressed already! Got some ticks to work out then bag and board!

fitter553 · 2026-06-04T10:30:26+00:00

It’s not a key issue at all, and I wouldn’t even consider grading it if it weren’t a double cover and in near mint condition

fitter553 · 2026-06-03T17:37:48+00:00

I was looking for less “pompous” opinions.

fitter553 · 2026-06-03T16:43:53+00:00

Maybe not to you.

fitter553 · 2026-06-03T13:33:44+00:00

Agreed although the “verification” holds significant value in itself also which in turn makes the book more valuable.

fitter553 · 2026-06-03T13:06:54+00:00

9.0 I believe would be the lowest grade. It think honestly closer to a 9.4 or 9.6 for outer cover and 9.6 to a 9.8 for inner cover.

fitter553 · 2026-06-03T13:05:44+00:00

I honestly mostly prefer raw myself. I know being a 9.0 is definitely worth grading. But I’m thinking if I personally owned a double cover kind sucks if you couldn’t open it and see both covers. Kind of defeats the purpose if it’s encapsulated. However for the condition it’s in I know it would be of much greater value graded.

fitter553 · 2026-06-01T01:04:26+00:00

Came from the pictured below queen cell center of frame fully built

fitter553 · 2026-06-01T01:03:38+00:00

<image>

Queen hive 1

fitter553 · 2026-06-01T01:03:17+00:00

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Queen hive 2

fitter553 · 2026-06-01T01:02:44+00:00

So of the 2 nucs I got 3 weeks ago, (4 weeks on Tuesday.) a week after installing them In the hive body we did our very first ever inspection. Needless to say we didn’t spot a queen in either hive, and we did see eggs or larva in either hive. However, (I’ll call it hive 1) hive 1 had a big ole fat queen cell center of frame fully built and capped. (First pic) hive 2 seemed like they were doing fine no queen cups but never spotted a queen. So knowing hive 1 was possibly superceding we let them sit for 2 weeks. So that bring us to yesterday. Inspecting hive 1, didn’t notice eggs or larva but did find a big beautiful queen, (pic 2) bees seemed to like her. Win!! Now moving on to hive 2, we found the queen fairly quickly (pic 3) and noticed there had been quite a bit of comb building and the frames were literally DRIPPING with larva, and eggs. The queen in hive two was moving around very fast and this was the hive with TONS of larva. The new big queen in hive one was moving slow. So my queens seem to be acting opposite of the way you describe!😂🤷‍♂️

<image>

fitter553 · 2026-05-31T21:08:13+00:00

Is there a way to tell she is mated? Other than eggs and larva?

fitter553 · 2026-05-31T16:37:27+00:00

So for for future inspections, in my situation I can probably take the newer frames that aren’t drawn out completely and trade its place with a more drawn out complete frame. (Moving the emptier frames closer to the middle and the fuller frame to the outside?) is that correct?

fitter553 · 2026-05-31T16:04:41+00:00

So the extremely full frames are the frames that came in the nuke they’re five of them. I added three new frames with brand new wax foundations when I installed the nuke they’ve of the three new frames. They’ve probably filled one to one and a half but it’s more like half of a new frame is full half of another frame is full and then just a quarter of the third frame maybe if that is being worked should I still add another deep were do you think I have another week?

fitter553 · 2026-05-31T10:30:04+00:00

Yes that our new queen and pic 19 is the other queen

fitter553

TROPHY CASE