Pine or Cedar (western red) for boxes

[Jen]

? Why ? 

[pistolpete]

I have both pine and cedar boxes (all home made).   Cedar wood has a lot of essential oils in it that are anti fungal and anti bacterial.  This makes cedar far less susceptible to rot in wet climates (provided it is the darker heart wood, not the light sap wood).   Cedar is not very prone to warping once dry, but kiln dried cedar is hard to find.  Most of the time you have to buy your cedar and let it dry out for a 1/2 year before building with it.  Cedar is soft, you can dent it with your finger nail.  That's fine for hobby use, not so much for commercial operations.    Pine is a tougher wood, but much harder to find good quality stuff around here.  The lodgepole pine around here has a lot of knots and most commercial woodenware is made from eastern white pine. 

For me cedar is the winner for a couple of reasons:  I can get mostly clear rough sawn 1x12 for 1$ per linear foot from a local log house builder.   I love the way cedar looks and smells.  It is very light weight.   You can kind of see some of my 1.5" cedar brood boxes there. 

[pistolpete]

Here is a picture of my laminated south american pine supers.  Since I house my hives in sheds weather resistance is not an issue. 

[Marbees]

Pine boxes and cedar bottom boards combo here. BB built from 2 x 4's, and 1 x 4's. Like it.

[keeperofthebees]

? Why ?

toothe ache

[Jen]

Keeper ""You ought to take a run at those naga chillies.""

  So the theory is that there is so much burning heat in the mouth that the tooth ache doesn't matter any more? 

[riverbee]

great pictures pete, you too ablanton.  i don't make any of my equipment anymore, except nucs, and they are all out of pine, had too much trouble with plywood.  there's a beekeepeer in iowa who does some nice carpentry work on woodenware with different woods; basswood, ash, aromatic cedar and maple, and in pine.  not sure i would pay the price of maple woodenware, rather have it somewhere in my house....

[Jen]

Riv- ""not sure i would pay the price of maple woodenware, rather have it somewhere in my house.... ""

I looove the hughes in Ash, so beachy, I had a desk once made from Ash. I would have a beehive in Ash any day!

[keeperofthebees]

Keeper ""You ought to take a run at those naga chillies.""

  So the theory is that there is so much burning heat in the mouth that the tooth ache doesn't matter any more? 

 


Yup.  Don't you see those weird knee-arthritis creams with capsaicin?  Capsaicin is pepper oil.  You don't eat the whole chillie...Daub some on a q-tip/wear some latex gloves(we keep them in the kitchen to keep from getting chilli finger eye rubs)...  Squeeze a chilli/bhut jolokia, naga jolokia, caribbean red habanero, etc...the oil will run out/drip on the nasty ones.  Target the one tooth and keep some strong espresso to swish your mouth out when it gets too hot.  Instant coffee mixed strong.

Or let it burn good, and flood your brain with endorphins.  After awhile, you get used to the heat....  It makes you breath heavy, you flood your system with oxygen...etc   A good hangover is worse than a bad chilli pepper lol  It sounds stupid, but it works well.  Then cap it with propolis....  Throw a handfull of propolis into a bottle of everclear(or other 190 proof alcohol).  The pure grain spirits, dissolves the propolis...Put it in an eye dropper type bottle, and drip it on a sore tooth. 

[LazyBkpr]

  You can kind of see some of my 1.5" cedar brood boxes there. 

   That box is inside of a shed? Garage?

[Jen]

Keeper ""Or let it burn good, and flood your brain with endorphins.  After awhile, you get used to the heat....  It makes you breath heavy, you flood your system with oxygen...etc   A good hangover is worse than a bad chilli pepper lol  It sounds stupid, but it works well.  Then cap it with propolis....  Throw a handfull of propolis into a bottle of everclear(or other 190 proof alcohol).  The pure grain spirits, dissolves the propolis...Put it in an eye dropper type bottle, and drip it on a sore tooth.""

 GOOD GRAVY!! I can get the same effect with putting one bee on the outside of my cheek where the tooth ache is. I don't swell anymore, so it works fine.

And I have a recipe for propolis on Products Of The Hive, pretty much the same as yours. I don't use a dropper tho I just dip a Qtip in the bottle and place it right on the ache.

[keeperofthebees]

Keeper ""Or let it burn good, and flood your brain with endorphins.  After awhile, you get used to the heat....  It makes you breath heavy, you flood your system with oxygen...etc   A good hangover is worse than a bad chilli pepper lol  It sounds stupid, but it works well.  Then cap it with propolis....  Throw a handfull of propolis into a bottle of everclear(or other 190 proof alcohol).  The pure grain spirits, dissolves the propolis...Put it in an eye dropper type bottle, and drip it on a sore tooth.""

 GOOD GRAVY!! I can get the same effect with putting one bee on the outside of my cheek where the tooth ache is. I don't swell anymore, so it works fine.

And I have a recipe for propolis on Products Of The Hive, pretty much the same as yours. I don't use a dropper tho I just dip a Qtip in the bottle and place it right on the ache.

Good repeat...Guys that are sharp will hear the cross-topic conversations and drill it into their own brains.  Getting propolis out of boxes comes down to what you make your hive boxes out of.  If you use some thick sap covered pine, that's just plain nasty to scrape off with the propolis and put it in your mouth.  I'm a big one for 50+ yr old used boxes...It's all what your end goal is though.  Good clean dry wood that's rot resistant is the best.  I could tell you to soak the new box sections in linseed & turpentine....Dry it for a couple months, then paint the outside with oil-based tractor enamel.  That will last you 30 yrs in the weather, no bs. 

If you have a commercial beekeeper out there, have him soak some new select pine/bee store boxes in the wax melter tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  All day & all night is the trick/weigh them down with bricks.  Then you know what you're scraping off for propolis is clean & food safe.  I started 10 yrs ago...The guy that got me into beekeeping had hives like that(soaked in hot beeswax) long before I started.  The box will come out heavier when you're done...So be forewarned, but it's worth the lifetime investment of the occasional manual rub-on-recoat IF YOU NEED TO.

Make sense?

[Jen]

Yah! It does make sense! especially when the prop will come off clean. Thanks! 

[blueblood]

Pete, those some handsome deeps there.