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  • Painting Cedar hives

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More advanced beekeeping discussion forum.
 #1136  by Chrisbarlow
 19 Oct 2018, 21:02
Does any one routinely paint their cedar hives and if so, what do you use?
 #1138  by nealh
 19 Oct 2018, 22:48
I do and use Cuprinol garden shades it is water based and dries quickly or the Ronseal equivalent.
 #1140  by AdamD
 20 Oct 2018, 10:41
I have never painted a cedar hive.
Other woods seem to rot and need regular treatment but not cedar. It probably means that if the wood comes from a sustainable source, it's the most environmentally friendly material we can use for a beehive. No chemicals and lasts nearly forever. The only real problem is worn corners where the hive tool goes. But still lasts longer than poly in my experience.
 #1146  by Patrick
 20 Oct 2018, 18:48
As Adam, never painted cedar for the reasons he gives and I use some secondhand boxes at least 50 years old and quite possibly a lot more - they are still sound.

Each to their own but I rather like how cedar fades to a slowly greying weatherbeaten patina. They are doing so more gracefully than I am..!
 #1147  by WalnutTreeBees
 20 Oct 2018, 19:19
I've started scorching mine to a mid brown colour.

It's traditional in Japan to char cedar and then oil it, the process is called shou sugi ban (I think!)

Don't know if my light charring will do anything, but it only takes a few minutes with a blow torch.
 #1149  by Chrisbarlow
 20 Oct 2018, 19:39
WalnutTreeBees wrote:
20 Oct 2018, 19:19
I've started scorching mine to a mid brown colour.
It's traditional in Japan to char cedar and then oil it, the process is called shou sugi ban (I think!)
I would suspect that makes for a nice looking hive. I have never been to keen on the natural fade look of cedar.

The reason I asked was that I know that the thermal properties of cedar wood are quite low and when it gets wet as in winter it goes even lower, I wondered about painting the boxes with some thing that still meant the wood was breathable but stopped it from getting drenched through and lowering the R value of the wood. It was just a thought.
 #1150  by nealh
 20 Oct 2018, 20:50
Cuprinol is I believe micropourous so still allows the substrate to breathe, I too dislike weathered cedar so paint a nice brown or green shade which doesn't look out of place.
 #1163  by WalnutTreeBees
 23 Oct 2018, 14:01
Chrisbarlow wrote:
20 Oct 2018, 19:39
WalnutTreeBees wrote:
20 Oct 2018, 19:19
I've started scorching mine to a mid brown colour.
It's traditional in Japan to char cedar and then oil it, the process is called shou sugi ban (I think!)
I would suspect that makes for a nice looking hive. I have never been to keen on the natural fade look of cedar.

The reason I asked was that I know that the thermal properties of cedar wood are quite low and when it gets wet as in winter it goes even lower, I wondered about painting the boxes with some thing that still meant the wood was breathable but stopped it from getting drenched through and lowering the R value of the wood. It was just a thought.
I pin sheets of correx to the sides which keeps the rain off and adds some small amount of insulation.