Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: Doc Pat on January 23, 2009, 04:15:52 pm
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When I'm painting my new hive bodies and supers, do I paint the tops and bottoms of each side -- the part that will abut the super above or below it? (does that make any sense?)
Thanks for clarifying this for me.
Pat
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paint it wont hurt ,or dont paint it should not matter if it was me i would paint it since its still cold out and not in any hurry
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Thanks!
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I paint both sides of tops and bottoms as long as they have a couple of weeks to dry and air out. I don't paint the inside of hive/super body's.
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I also paint the edges. Parts of them are inevitably exposed to the weather at some point.
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I was wondering about this as well. My concern was that the paint would be scraped off and flake inside the hive when you have to pry them apart. I had painted a couple and let them dry for a week. I then stacked them up in storage. The next time I went to move them they were stuck together from the paint. I had to force them apart and some of the paint came off one and stuck to the other so I was wondering if that was always going to happen.
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I was wondering about this as well. My concern was that the paint would be scraped off and flake inside the hive when you have to pry them apart. I had painted a couple and let them dry for a week. I then stacked them up in storage. The next time I went to move them they were stuck together from the paint. I had to force them apart and some of the paint came off one and stuck to the other so I was wondering if that was always going to happen.
Try letting them dry before you stack them.
...JP
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I never do, mainly because I stack suppers up 6 to 8 at a time and take the Wagner power painter to them.
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I was wondering about this as well. My concern was that the paint would be scraped off and flake inside the hive when you have to pry them apart. I had painted a couple and let them dry for a week. I then stacked them up in storage. The next time I went to move them they were stuck together from the paint. I had to force them apart and some of the paint came off one and stuck to the other so I was wondering if that was always going to happen.
Try letting them dry before you stack them.
...JP
You don't think a week is long enough to let them dry? I refinish furniture all the time and a week has always been long enough to let the paint cure.
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I had the same problem when I painted mine. They were plenty dry before the got stacked and still bonded together, and they would rebond just as hard when restacked. Maybe the type of paint I was using. Behr latex with the primer built in. I probably won't paint the top and bottom edges on my new stuff this year to avoid that. It made taking the hive bodies apart last year a real pain. As if the propolis wasn't bad enough my own paint was acting like glue :-\
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latex paint takes time to cure. heat and humidity will make it a longer process. ever notice that when you paint a wall with latex paint, it will be easy to ding for awhile, then will harden? i use latex paint too. i just buy the oops paint for 5 dollars a gallon, or the paint from the city recycler. in the winter, i dry them in the house. in the summer, in the sun. if they stick or ding, i'll just touch them up next year if they need it.....
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I was wondering about this as well. My concern was that the paint would be scraped off and flake inside the hive when you have to pry them apart. I had painted a couple and let them dry for a week. I then stacked them up in storage. The next time I went to move them they were stuck together from the paint. I had to force them apart and some of the paint came off one and stuck to the other so I was wondering if that was always going to happen.
Try letting them dry before you stack them.
...JP
You don't think a week is long enough to let them dry? I refinish furniture all the time and a week has always been long enough to let the paint cure.
Natalie, I realize after re-reading this post that I overlooked where you stated you had painted and allowed those supers to dry for a week. I missed this point totally and I see how my comment may have come across as sarcastic. I sincerely apologize if I offended you by with comment.
...JP
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Thank you Jp, I appreciate that. I know it wasn't intentional, sometimes you just skim the posts and miss things.
Fermented hiker, thats what I was wondering. If it was always going to keep happening each time they are stacked and getting stuck. Then I figured that it would make them look lousy faster than they normally would with having to pry them apart and the paint getting scraped off each time.
I didn't paint the edges on the last ones I did.
What I used was the colored block stain. It looks like paint but its stain so it doesn't peel as quickly.Its the same one I painted the exterior of my house with. When I went in to buy some for the supers I saw that they had an environmentally sound brand now and I tried that one. Maybe there is a trade off there I don't know. But the rest of the equipment and the fronts of the supers look great.
Kathy you are probably right, just has to cure longer in this weather.
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I'm a bit surprised that you had that much trouble with a solid body stain. Stains should have much less affinity for getting stuck. Mine were completely cured, and even now(they were painted in May) I can stack two supers even 90 degrees on top(so they are kitty corner) which mean there is only a couple of inches of surface contact and if I pick up the top super the bottom one comes with it and won't come apart without grabbing onto the bottom one to pull it apart. It only takes a day for them to bond this well. Of course the supers just have foundation in them so not a lot of weight to pick up. I've been giving some thought to using bleaching oil on some hive bodies. It what gives the houses with cedar shingles in the New England that silver look. That way I could let the unique imperfections of each hive body show through allowing the bees(hopefully) to easily tell the hives apart. Not sure yet, just a thought in the corner of my head at this point.
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One way to speed up the drying time on any paint is the thin it. A few tablespoons of paint thinner to a quart of paint does wonders for drying faster and also has the advantage of making it less tacky. I use thinner in my pneumatic paint sprayer all the time. I stack the boxes about 8 high and spray one side top to bottom at a time. By the time I''m done painting all four sides the 1st side is almost completely dry. After a few hours I can move and restack without trouble. This works for oil and latex paints both, the the oil base will take a few minutes longer.
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I recommend sanding surfaces of hive wood with 80 or 100 grit sandpaper to remove the surface sheen before coating, priming or staining - this opens the surface pores of the wood to accept the coating an increases adhesion. It's extra work, but worth it in the long run...
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One way to speed up the drying time on any paint is the thin it. A few tablespoons of paint thinner to a quart of paint does wonders for drying faster and also has the advantage of making it less tacky. I use thinner in my pneumatic paint sprayer all the time. I stack the boxes about 8 high and spray one side top to bottom at a time. By the time I''m done painting all four sides the 1st side is almost completely dry. After a few hours I can move and restack without trouble. This works for oil and latex paints both, the the oil base will take a few minutes longer.
Funny you say that, I was just talking to a retired Benjamon Moore Latex paint chemist. Thinning defeats the entire chemical and thickness properties that the paint is designed to provide. Once latex is completely cured it will not stick.....then there is the propolis that will cover everything I am sure. thinners are just more volatile and are necessary for most solvent based paints, but I thought we were talking latex up to now.
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My general experience with paint is this
If it is on something that you don't care if its sticky it won't be.
If it is on something and you'd rather it not be sticky it will fuse to anything.
If its on something you don't want it to ever come off of it will peel like crazy.
If its on something you don't want it to be on in the first place you'll never get it off.
I hate paint. :'(