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Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:19 Oct 2018, 21:02
by Chrisbarlow
Does any one routinely paint their cedar hives and if so, what do you use?
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:19 Oct 2018, 22:48
by nealh
I do and use Cuprinol garden shades it is water based and dries quickly or the Ronseal equivalent.
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:20 Oct 2018, 10:41
by AdamD
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.
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:20 Oct 2018, 14:55
by Jim Dunne
Another vote for Cuprinol garden shades
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:20 Oct 2018, 18:00
by Jim Norfolk
I have used Cuprinol garden shades as well this year renovating old WBC lifts.
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:20 Oct 2018, 18:48
by Patrick
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..!
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:20 Oct 2018, 19:19
by WalnutTreeBees
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.
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:20 Oct 2018, 19:39
by Chrisbarlow
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.
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:20 Oct 2018, 20:50
by nealh
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.
Re: Painting Cedar hives
PostPosted:23 Oct 2018, 14:01
by WalnutTreeBees
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.