# Is this a Half baked (wood treatment) idea?



## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

I guess I am getting old, but I wouldn't work with wax near a heating element. One of those heat guns that blow 1200F air might be safer. If you place the wood in the oven at about 200F and then treat with wax only one time away from the oven the wood may stay above the melting point of beeswax (143-145F) long enough to work with. I would try a scrap peice and see what works safely.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

It doesn't sound undoable. Just keep in mind that melting wax and rosin is a risky undertaking that requires careful monitoring of temperature and I would guess heating wood in an oven would as well.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

> One of those heat guns that blow 1200F air might be safer


If I were to use an oven I would have it outside:scratch:


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

If you do this, please let us know. Hambone will act as the bookie for purposes of the bets on whether you burn down your house and/or get divorced over this one.


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## SwedeBee1970 (Oct 26, 2008)

Why would you want to treat the wood ? Bees propolis everything that's not waxed or combed. And you don't risk trying flammable rosins in your oven. 

If you must do this, I'd keep the oven off and turn on the oven light. That may produce enough heat to achieve 120-150 degrees. Paraffin wax won't burn unless there is a wick or flammable, igniteable source. Good luck working with hot wax. What ever it touches cooler than 140 degrees will harden almost instantly.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

> Hambone will act as the bookie


And NeilV will handle the D I V O R C E :lookout:


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

I'm sure I would watch the oven closely as I did for warming Honey Super Cell for dipping in wax.

Mann Lake's catalog has the following info:



*GUM ROSIN:*

3 parts paraffin to 1 part gum rosin.
Heat to 180°F - Dip for 5-15 minutes.
Used Equipment heat to 200-215°F
Dip for 15-20 minutes.
Approximately 1/4 - 1/2 lb. of mixture per 9 5/8” box.
*If the rosin will melt below 212° then I might try this out.*


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## rwlaw (May 4, 2009)

Have a BIG fire extinguisher handy and a Zanax for the little woman when she gets home, after your first box I'm thinkin' you'll need both.


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## NeilV (Nov 18, 2006)

There won't be much property left to fight over.


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## 11x (May 14, 2009)

i would like to go halfs on uping his home owners policy, and split the check when it comes.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

Gee, sounds like it might be a little boring at home...:lookout:

Considering the three flash points: gum rosin, paraffin, and the wife's... I believe I'll be fine.


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## Scrapfe (Jul 25, 2008)

BeeCurious said:


> ...I'm thinking I could warm a few hive-top feeders in the oven and ...coat them with the hot paraffin or paraffin/rosin blend.... approximately how much wax/rosin will be required to coat 6 nuc feeders and 4 8-frame "Miller Style" feeders?


Try this link. A lot of good information here. http://www.beekeeping.com/goodies/conversions_bee.htm

I understand about 1/4 pound of wax/rosin total per 10 frame deep hive body. Remember, you also need enough extra wax/rosin to completely submerge your last and largest piece of woodenware in. 
http://www.beekeeping.com/goodies/conversions_bee.htm

I seem to remember paraffin is the British English equivalent of kerosene in American usage. Chill kerosene enough and it looks just like our paraffin.

Gum rosin I believe is a form of highly condensed and hardened turpentine, highly flammable stuff all. 

The Idea I think is to dip the woodenware in hot wax/rosin leaving it in the vat long enough for the heat to expel as much moisture as practical, so that when the woodenware is slowly withdrawn from the dip tank the rapidly cooling boards will suck hot liquid wax and rosin into the wood’s capillary tubes filling the vacuum created when the moisture in the woodenware boiled off. This seals and protects the woodenware from decay promoting water while the heat from the hot liquid wax kills all the pre existing decay and disease causing organisms. Fat pine knots or roots (naturally impregnated with rosin) can lay exposed in wet, humid Southern forests for decades if not centuries after the exterior sap wood rots away. 

PS: Pine knots (in the days of wooden sailing ships) is the raw material for naval stores and burns as furiously as gasoline. Hence the fear of fire at sea among sailors since time un-remembered 

PPS: Please be careful, and if you are not, post a copy of your 911 call on beesource.com.


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## DavidBee (Oct 15, 2009)

Homedics makes a "paraffin bath" that melts wax safely in the home. My wife used one for physcal therapy when she injured her wrist. It would melt enough wax to mix with linseed oil, just to paint on, or other relatively small scale needs. Costs around $30. Easily googled, but Bed Bath and Beyond sells them.


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## LenInNorCal (Feb 28, 2009)

Have your neighbor outside with a camera rolling, then he could sell it to that TV series, Tragedies Avoidable.
If you are willing to go the extra step, get a slow cooking crock pot at a garage sale and mix your stuff outside. Dip brush, paint. Only I used boiled linseed oil and bees wax.


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## Axtmann (Dec 29, 2002)

Why you’re not using a linseed oil and wax mixes with turpentine? This used beekeepers for hundred years to protect there hives inside from moisture (condensation). Give the hive several coats inside and let it dry during winter. 

First coat, linseed oil + turpentine 1:1
Second coat, linseed oil + turpentine 1:1
Third coat, linseed oil + turpentine + wax 1:1:1

When adding wax, you must solve warm wax first in turpentine and than mix with linseed oil.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

LenInNorCal said:


> Have your neighbor outside with a camera rolling, then he could sell it to that TV series, Tragedies Avoidable.



OK folks! The camera is rolling!

I skipped the rosin and I'm using just the paraffin.

The oven warms the feeder to 150 to 170F and I melted the paraffin in a rice cooker.

The hardest part so far has been cutting the block of paraffin. I heated a Chinese chopping knife to melt groves around the block and then broke it on the edge of the table.

I'm providing details for the benefit of my fellow hobbyists who might also be inclined to put woodenware in there ovens. 

I haven't checked the temp of the wax but I will.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

The camera crew left.

The paraffin in the rice cooker was over 220F when the rice cooker turned off.

I finally bumped the temp up on the oven to about 220F but there is evidence of the Titebond beginning to melt at that temperature.

There was essentially no odor. I even turned off the exhaust hood fan because it wasn't needed.










You can see the Titebond III fillets on all of the joints.

I just need to install my wire-cloth.​


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Don't let Murphy near the house that day and you will have a place to sleep that night. Bar the doors and windows because he gets in most of the time! Call your insurance agent a few days before to max out your coverage too!


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

AmericasBeekeeper said:


> Don't let Murphy near the... Snip


AB,

In November some members had fun commenting on my idea. 

My last posting explained that not only was the process uneventful, it didn't even require my using the exhaust hood.

As a hobbyist who wanted to seal the interiors of my homemade feeders I expect to be quite satisfied. I only regret that MannLake didn't sell rosin in small quantities. 

I have three more nuc feeders to do, and then I'll be putting the eight-frame Oven Stuffers in.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

Here's a little update...

The photo shows an 8-frame feeder warmed to about 200 degrees F.

You can see the paraffin melting. 










A good bit of paraffin is absorbed into the plywood bottom. After a good soaking of paraffin, I give a top coating of beeswax by brush...


I will set these up as "restricted feeders" for spring feeding as I did with my nuc-feeders.


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## joncro55 (Nov 16, 2010)

What size wire mesh you going to use here?

(using these measurement principles, for those unfamiliar....

http://www.bwire.com/resources.html )


Are you using something like a 4 x 4 or a 2 x 2 wire mesh?

I was thinking of using something a little finer like a 30 x 30 mesh, but I am still unsure as to what will work best here, any ideas?


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

8x8.....

http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/8-Mesh-Hardware-Cloth-1-Linear-Ft/productinfo/539/


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