Correcting dodgy Frame Grips

Within most modern beehives (Commercial, National, Dadant, Langstroth, Beehaus, Smith,Rose and Modified Warré off the top of my head) there are removeable frames in which the bees make their comb. The frames are supported by lugs at either end of the hive that fit a rebate in the hive wall. The frames can then be lifted out for inspection. With a National hive the lugs are about inch long so it's easy to hold the frames by them and turn them, however frames used in Commercial and Smith hives have very short lugs making them a bit fiddly to hold the frames. As an alternative to using the lugs I prefer to use a device called Frame Grip which is basically a four fingered metal claw you hold in one hand that allows you to pick up a frame by the centre of the top bar. Using a frame grip also means you have one hand free when holding a frame making it easier to do things like move bees, scrape propolis, check play cups or whatever.

As per usual there's some really cheap frame grips going on eBay coming from China and Hong Kong so I decided to order a second pair for my out apiary a while ago. Readers of my blog have probably noticed I've bought enough cheap chinese tools off eBay to open my own pound shop, whilst they're obviously not the best kit hence the low price they're usually adequate for my needs and when they're not sellers seem fairly quick to give a no quibble refund. There's a few different types on there at the moment all similarly priced. I ordered some with metal tubes over the handle section. They took a few weeks to arrive.

Possibly not my best purchase

They're obviously more cheaply made than my usual grips with each side being made from separate pieces of metal bolted together rather than each being one complete cast part but they looked fine to me. However not long after starting to use them I was just a little surprised when a heavy frame of bees and brood slipped out of it's grasp. Bees everywhere. Angry ones. Probably some casualties too. That's never happened before and I've been using frame grips since day one. After closing up the hives I had a closer look at the frame grip. I found the tines that are meant to hold the frame in place when gripped are shorter than my other frame grip and angled so when you're holding a frame the surfaces below the bar are sloping downwards making it easy for the weight of a heavy frame pressing down to push them apart and fall through.

Notice the angle of those little teeth?
Well, I didn't..

I messaged the seller on eBay who promptly gave me a refund without asking me to return the grip. They're still being sold in huge numbers on eBay so I guess a few readers will have them. Anyway once the problem's been spotted it's not rocket science to fix, just a couple of minutes with a metal file is enough to take the slopes off the tops of the teeth improving their grip. I filed them to a right angle with the vertical edges.

A couple of minutes with a file and you've got a better frame grip.

I've been using them just over a year now and not had another accident. Actually the metal tubes on the grip are very thin metal and one's torn a bit on the end where it goes over a nut hidden underneath but that's not something I'm losing sleep over. At the time of writing they're still the cheapest grips on eBay and I'd buy another pair, but I'd remember to file those tines before using it.