Boiling Bee Boxes

Bought a bunch of bee stuff from a guy who tended bees with his dad years ago.  Got the stuff relatively cheap but it was in need of some serious attention.  It has been up in my barn for months, till this weekend.

4 deeps for raising brood, and 4 supers for honey storage.... and the frames to go with them. 

Decided to tackle the boxes first.  Wanted to boil them in a combo of wax and rosin instead of painting them, but had to scrape and sand them to get all the remaining paint off so the wax could penetrate the wood.  Ended up mostly sanding them with a palm sander using coarse paper.  One of the boxes was riddled with wax moth gouging.  The larvae will eat into the side of the box and form it's cocoon.  It was a neat pattern.... if you can call an infestation of wax moth "neat".  The box had to be empty, cuz the bees would never have allowed this to happen.

I did this over at BeeBoys restaurant while he was doing the deposits for the week.  Melting the wax with a chunk of rosin.  Kept it at a constant temp of 300 degrees.

Boxes in the brew... with a closeup.

Each side was immersed for 10m and I was able to do a deep and a shallow at one time.  They smelled like pine, and had a smooth feel to them when done.  BeeBoy took a series of pics when i pulled one out and we watched the wax just absorb into the wood.  The boiling draws out the moisture (although these were pretty dry) and as it cools, the wax is sucked into the grain, replacing the moisture.  There are plenty of videos on youtube showing the process.

Notice how a drop of water just beads up.

And the completed pile... very pleased with how they look... but alot of work to do on the frames.

Very antique and folk looking.  Just like me... an antique and folk looking.  :-)