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Paint/Stain What do you use/How long is it lasting?

21K views 68 replies 43 participants last post by  toekneepea 
#1 ·
Got a bunch of new equipment (ponderosa pine from Kelleys) for the spring and want to get opinions on what you use and more important, how long it lasts.

Thanks
 
#38 ·
I go to either Lowes or Home Depot several times a month, when I go I always check the oops paint area. This is a shelf where they place any paint they messed up in mixing colors. I just look for exterior grade paint, they will always place a drop on the lid so you can see the color. If its a light color then I will buy it, most of the times they are $5 a gal. I have even seen the 5 gal buckets of paint for $25. I then paint 2 coats on each hive body.
 
#44 ·
Thanks for the info. I have emailed the company inquiring about this issue with Pine. Been using ECO for 3 years on Pine products and this is the first I've heard about it not being recommended. Also, Boric Acid is used as an insecticide, so I don't know if there would be any complications with the bees.
 
#52 ·
I used Eco-Treatment on one of my PINE hives last spring. It's been less than a year, but so far, I am satisfied. It continues to change color.

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Bob, I am curious about the dull, gray/brown finish that I see in your photos. Before applying the eco-Treatment were the unpainted boxes new wood? Does the finish create the dull look? I don't dislike the look, but it almost looks like unfinished weathered boxes.

Phil
 
#46 ·
Exterior parts of the box will last pretty well if kept painted. Where I have a problem is with the edges. When two boxes are stacked, moisture gets in the cracks between them and over time decays the wood in that area. I've repaired a lot of 20 year old cypress equipment with this particular kind of damage over the last few days. Years ago, I learned to paint these surfaces with latex paint to extend the lifespan. Now I am using very hot melted beeswax and a small paint brush to apply wax to the join surfaces. I'll know in a few years if the wax is effective in reducing this decay.
 
#48 ·
I think people tend to worry to much about the small things! Remember painting is not brain surgery.
My advise is to buy some ext paint or some ext paint and primer in one. Buy a good name brand apply a couple of good coats. And worry no more about it...

The only thing IMHO you must worry about is what color you use. I advise white if you must use colors stay with light colors or pastels... Those hives will get hot this summer.
 
#58 ·
With all due respect, it's back to all beekeeping is local, I guess. In northwest Washington state, I'm less than a mile from salt water, and the sky is grey, grey, grey. I like DARK colors, even have a BLACK hive (flat black oops paint). I can count the days over 80 degrees last year on one hand, and not a single day did that hive beard or fan. The thermal gain from my black and dark green hives seems to help the bees cleanse at 41 degrees, while my lighter colored hives don't fly until 45. The only reason to have WHITE hives here is tradition or paint cost.
 
#55 ·
After reading this thread, I've come to the conclusion that most of us don't take into consideration that all habitats are local. I read about rotting hives and warping problems that here in southern Alberta don't exist or are minimal. I have out back an old grainery that I use for junk storage, it is at least 60 years old and has never had a lick of paint. The building is still sound with absolutely no rot because of low humidity and moderate rainfall. This is not the only building like this, there are thousands like it across the prairies. Just an observation.
Colino
 
#57 ·
You might be able to get away with no paint on the plains, but here the humidity is much too high. A 50 year old unpainted building here will be a pile of rotting wood -- there are several barns in the area that have not been painted in the last 30 years and they are all falling down.

Unpainted pine around here exposed to damp rots in a couple years. In the desert southwest, probably would last 100.

Peter
 
#60 ·
Unpainted pine around here exposed to damp rots in a couple years. In the desert southwest, probably would last 100.Peter
I reclaimed pine studs and siding that have been sitting outside for 40 years. They are straighter than studs and 1 x 10 you can buy at Lowe's. The only problem is they are super dry and that makes machining them a bit more difficult. That was the lumber that wasn't sitting directly on the ground.

Don't buy cheap paint.
 
#61 ·
Do not yet know how long it will last but I am using Ultra Premium Red Label Penofin on cedar hives. Time will tell in this wet (western Washington State) climate. My neighbor used it on his cedar fence about 5 years ago... It still looks great. A bit pricy but after all the money I have put into equipment the finish is the least of the expenses...
 
#64 ·
I have not tried it but I have seen some suggestions on how to build a dipping tank that reduces the amount of wax required to fill it. Since you do not need wax in the center portion. place blocks bricks of fashion a box to fill that space reducing the volume that needs to be filled with wax. basically you are creating a channel that the hive box will fit down into and be submerged.

Now having said that I will also add that if wax seems expensive to fill a tank it will still be expensive when coating a hive. I have heard it works well but you want to use a paraffin wax or a mix of paraffin and beeswax. I have also seen comments about sources for wax that are much lower price than would be typically found. I would have to go do some searching to find that information again if i was able to find it at all. I have seen several conversations on wax dipping of hives over the past couple of years though.

I will also add this which is something I have not seen anyone else comment on. With my experience of wood and wood stabilization. That means taking out the properties of wood that cause it to con tract and expand. Which is actually pretty extensive. I not only see reason for wax dipping to be a far better treatment for wood. But if done at high enough temperatures and with the addition of pressure I think you could come very close to removing the expansion and contraction from your hive bodies.

Lumber expands and contracts with moisture changes because the cells within that wood are still in tact. They act something like little bottles that will fill with water when they get wet. when they get wet they swell.

There are two ways to prevent this swelling. One prevent the cells from getting wet. or two rupture them basically breaking the bottle. Since the cells being intact also gives wood it's strength the second option is not a very desirable one. So taht leaves us with preventing the cell from gettign wet.

You can prevent a cell from getting wet by trying to make a water tight barrier between it and the water. that is what paint is basically doing. Or you can fill the space the water would go with something else. Like wax. Filling the cell with something else is called stabilization. It can actually be done with plastics with the correct equipment. I suspect it can be done with wax with far less precision.

In all done correctly I believe wax dipping would go far beyond simply painting to preserve equipment. But it woudl require it is done in a way that allows the wax to penetrate the cells of the wood.
 
#65 ·
In all of my woodworking classes and personal experiences you won't eliminate the expansion and contraction with wax. YOu can reduce it and protect it so that it beads off and doesn't penetrate, however if in the summer it's humid that moisture will get into the wood. As in the winter when it's bone dry that will dry out the wood also. I have also read of wax dipping and it seems great. The issue in my mind isn't the wax, but the tank and element / elements to heat it. The tank would need to be stainless or it will rust over time. Also the heating element would need to be protected so that the wax doesn't touch it, or it needs to be a burner under the tank. I was a cabinet maker for several years, and now am a welder. It's interesting knowing stuff from both sides.
 
#66 ·
Delber, Have you ever used stabilized wood? Since the term has begun to be used to refer to multiple process of varying degrees of effectiveness I offer this as the standard for what I considered stabilized.
http://www.stabilizedwood.com/

It does remove all the typical properties of movement from the wood. I have been using such wood for nearly 12 years.
 
#67 ·
Daniel, Thanks for the education. I haven't seen this at all. In rereading your above post I do see your mentioning it, but you don't seem to go into detail as the website does, but I can see your point. Do you use this for your boxes? It seems to me that it'd be a good way to protect the wood, however it would be a expensive way to go and increasing the boxes from 50-150% in weight could also be a issue. They'd be more durable which is a plus. If you do use this for your boxes, do you ship it to them assembled or unassembled? If it's unassembled, I assume you can assemble it after it's done, but how do you do that? The process is a pressure application of resins that totally fills all of the cells of the wood making it both heavier and much harder. They say on one place that the wood can actually split if you hit it with a hammer seemingly similar to hitting a rock with a hammer.
 
#68 ·
I go to the local paint store and buy the highest quality paint they have in the miss tint bin it usually around 10/g for the high end exterior paint that is usually 50/g, i dont care what colour the boxes are, i almost always end up with a green beige type colour (i am sure my gf can tell me what it is actually called)
I use this cheap paint all over my farm and everything matches

it is very damp rain forest where i live so any unprotected wood doesnt last more than a couple years, pine and hemlock are the worst around here, western red cedar is not too expensive here so many build hives with that and dont paint them.
 
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