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Circular Saw Hack: Cleo Hogan's Cove-Shaped Bee Box Handle-Cutting Jig

By Rain Noe - October 7, 2013

in Hand Tools

Don't let the nickname fool you: Cleo "Whimpy" Hogan is a retired U.S. Army Major and combat veteran with two tours of duty under his belt. But since the 1990s, Kentucky-based Hogan has been involved in the agribusiness of beekeeping, and currently raises both Italian and Russian honeybees in such numbers that he can generate 160 gallons of honey in a single harvest.

Hogan sells not only the honey, but also the bees. To keep costs down he makes his own beehives, which are fairly straightforward woodworking projects that can be done with conventional tools; but one thing that previously stymied him was how to do the cove cut required for a concave, parabola-shaped handle.

Hogan and his pal Lawrence Bartley figured out how to do it, using just a circular saw and a simple jig:

Obviously you're not going to want to do this with your favorite circular saw, but here's the perfect app for that swap-meet Skilsaw gathering dust in the garage. And while any of you ID students oughta be able to reverse-engineer the jig just by watching the video, Hogan will send the plans to fellow beekeepers free of charge. His e-mail address is cchoganjr [at] scrtc -dot- com.

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jose calzada

11 years ago

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Very interesting and usefully thanks a lot in advance
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Joe Ramholz

11 years ago

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Please send me plans for your handle cutting jig.
Thanks
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Rusty Hills

11 years ago

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Way to go Cleo!

Mr. Hogan graciously sent me a copy of his jig plans. I built it in just a few minutes and have been making handles on my bee boxes ever since!

Thank you, Wimpy!
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