What types of wood can I use for my bee hives

[hemichuck]

I am building a lot of my own equipment mostly from pine scraps and some poplar that I pick up around work.I have acces to a lot of oak cutoffs and a lot of rough cut cedar.What are the pros and cons of using these woods for hives?

[Joseph Clemens]

I am building a lot of my own equipment mostly from pine scraps and some poplar that I pick up around work.I have acces to a lot of oak cutoffs and a lot of rough cut cedar.What are the pros and cons of using these woods for hives?

Just about any wood will do. I personally love to use Cedar, but it splits easily, so care must be used, especially if you assemble with nails vs screws. I pre-drill pilot holes and use coated deck screws.

It might be problematic to try to assemble supers using more than one species of wood in the same box since the different species will expand and contract at different rates. In my experience oak would make some very durable supers, but they are going to be much heavier than Pine, Poplar, or Cedar.

[randydrivesabus]

I would use whatever is available but oak would be more difficult to nail/screw together than pine or poplar, and as Joseph said, oak would be heavier. You could use the pine and poplar for the supers and use the oak for bottom boards and inner covers and outer covers where the weight isn't that significant.

[hemichuck]

I probably wouldnt be mixing wood in an individual box.There always seems to be a bunch of oak around for little or nothing.A little harder to work but it would make some beautiful boxes.

[Dave W]

White oak will last "forever". But you better own a crane :)

[hemichuck]

I'm 6'2" and weigh 365 so I can probably lift them.

[sqkcrk]

I'm 6'2" and weigh 365 so I can probably lift them.

I don't care how big you are or how young you are, after you build one hive out of oak and another out of poplar you will wish you hadn't built the oak one. Un;ess you never move the thing. But hey, go ahead.

Do you suppose that there is a reason why the equipment companies, such as Root and Dadants, have used pine varieties down throuigh the years? I'm sure that there is more than one reason, but relative lightness is probably way up at the top of the list.

Whatever floats your boat, hemichuck. I'm sure you aren't concerned about the resale value. :)

[fish_stix]

hemichuck; it's far easier to learn from other peoples mistakes, rather than your own! Oak is not good for beehives!!! ;)

[indios]

i use eastern white cedar, for my honey supers, mediums, and clients claim they can smell the cedar in the honey?? , use a breathing filter when you cut the wood, its not good for your lungs. AND I have tried to lift a full super, (9 1/4 ") from the top of four others, its heavy! so forget the oak.

[Ted n Ms]

I use eastern red cedar never had any complaints. Use an air stapler no splits.

[Alex Cantacuzene]

I would like to try eastern red cedar with MitrLok joints done on the router table. It would be interesting how that material behaves being routed. Right now we have enough equipment so I will not be making any more, but some day.....The beauty of those joints is that there are no nails, no screws and no endgrains showing, just water proof glue. Our existing pine supers and some hardwood plywood supers work great with these joints. Take care and have fun

[hemichuck]

I'm not really that bullheaded but I was trying to get by cheap by using what I have access to.I wasnt really concerned about resale value because I dont plan on selling any of them.I'm just kind of doing this as a hobby(beekeeping and wood working) and I just get some satisfaction out of knowing I built the stuff myself.I would imagine that the commercial outfits use pine because it is cheaper and more readily available not to mention a lot easier to work with than the harder woods.The one question I was really concerned with is whether the cedar would leave some residual taste in the honey which someone already mentioned.The cedars around Kentucky are very aromatic so I wondered what effect it would have on the honey.I know the bees dont mind oak because there is a feral bee hive in my oak tree out back.I also noticed that in the UK thay build a lot of cedar hives.It is probably different than the cedar we have here.I also need to get a bunch of supers built over the winter because I have 10 more hive of bees coming next spring from a buddy down south(who told me he builds his hives from cedar)
My wife cant even pick up my shallows now when they are full of honey.Most of the deeps I have built are out of old shelf boards out of my pallet racking at work.Thus far I've built screened bottom boards,inner covers,outer covers,feeder boards,and screened dividers.I'm just starting to do my frames and shallows.I also built a bee-vac.Thanks for all of the answers here,I'm just trying to learn something.

[Ted n Ms]

No residual taste or smell with red cedar.

[Myron Denny]

I build bottom boards from eastern red cedar, they are very aromatic when first built, after 2 weeks on a hive the bees mask the cedar smell.

We have lots of eastern red cedar, I would like to try building medium supers, I read all the information on this topic, any more suggestions. It is my intent to use plastic drawn foundation, is this going to create problems?
Myron Denny

[fafrd]

I have access to some inexpensive redwood and am thinking about building a hive body out of it - anyone have any experience wth redwood for beehives and/or opinions on whether redwood is OK or should be avoided?

-fafrd

[Joseph Clemens]

I build some tops and bottoms out of redwood. I don't see why it wouldn't be good for supers too.

[Cacklewack]

I use Western Red Cedar for all of my hive bodies and Douglas Fir for top bars and they both work splendidly.

Matt

[Jeffzhear]

I prefer pine. White pine is popular here in the NE and light. Dip it in rosin and wax and it lasts and lasts.

I stay away from pressure treated as well.

[fafrd]

Thanks Joseph. Anyone else have an opinion on whether Redwood would be OK to make a hive body from (I want to make a double wide box - 33.5" wide - to hold 21-23 frames, and I will not be moving it much once it is in place)? Any other experience or thghts appreciated.

-fafrd