What is the best wood for hive body construction - not cheapest - BEST!

[dfizer]

Hello all -
I am going to be building some deep hive bodies and honey supers.  I've looked at the ones on the market and all seem to be made of pine.  Is this optimal?  I want these hive bodies to last - and when i mean last - I mean decades not a couple of years.  I plan to dove tail the corners and paint/stain the outsides.   
Assuming the sole intent was to build hive bodies for length of service and the price of raw materials was not the driving factor - what type of wood do you think would be BEST for constructing deeps out of?  If pine is the answer, all the better since its readily available and most hardware stores etc. 
Does it make sense to use hardwood?  Please advise.
David

[flyboy]

You don't mention your age but if you want them for decades then I suspect that making them with hardwood would be a regrettable decision as when they are full of honey you'll need a forklift to move them around.

I used douglas fir and pocket holes (Kreg) Had two hives whipped up in a few days.

[Robo]

what type of wood do you think would be BEST for constructing deeps out of? 

Composite

Traditional dovetailing may not be optimal (too much end grain exposed).  You would be better with a locking corner or even a half-blind dovetail.

Pine will last decades if properly taken care of.    I have some 1/2 blind dovetail pine supers (painted with used motor oil when built) that are over 15 years old and although faded a bit,  are still like the day they where built.   They actually have more damage on the inside from scraping with a hive tool than damage from weathering.

[iddee]

Teak. Not the cheapest, but holds up very well.    :evil:    :-D

[OldMech]

   You may also want to consider the cost of replacement in your equation.  Making my own boxes I have about $7.00 invested including paint. Replacing them when they do start to get bad corners is cheap and easy. Boxes can last five or six years if well cared for.
   If you only want a couple of colonies and don't want to worry about them again..   Listen to Robo and Iddee.  I have some Cypress boxes, and they are holding up very well so far. I have seen Cedar boxes in other apiaries, and Walnut boxes in one of those places.
   I am unsure how the bees react to the smell of cedar, and know that the walnut boxes took a lot of extra work, pre drilling holes etc..  I have to say that both cedar and walnut boxes LOOK like art, as both are coated with One Time Wood stain, supposed to last 7 years?  At 85 bucks a gallon I would hope it does.

[RHBee]

Cyprus? ? Supposedly will not rot.

[flyboy]

Cyprus? ? Supposedly will not rot.

The difficulty I have with non-rotting types of wood is that the reason it doesn't rot is that it has natural antibacterial agents in it that might have the same effect on the bees.

Bees just like humans have bacteria in their bodies that do all kinds of things such as aiding with digestion. Humans for instance have more bacteria than cells. Wipe out our bacteria and we are dead.

These antibacterial agents might not kill the bees, but just weaken them so that other things can attack them.

[RHBee]

Ran Cyprus hives for two years with no ill effects. Sold by Rossmans and Brusheys. Only used stain. Pine untreated started to come apart. Pretty sure that cyprus didn't hurt the bees.

[iddee]

Cypress old growth won't rot. Cypress new growth will rot as quick as pine, maybe quicker.

[loumaro]

How about REDWOOD, light and rot resistant?

[richter1978]

I have seen others mention that redwood has a tendency to split.

[Jim134]

Pine will last decades if properly taken care of.   

The something you might like to consider doing.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,36143.0.html




               BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)     

[BeeMaster2]

I am now using cypress. Here in constant high humid areas it will last the longest. Red wood, and cedar will also hold up well. Since you are in NY pine will probably last pretty well. I constantly see on TV where they use wood outside that would not last 1 year here. Just do not use anything that is treated with chemicals. Teak has a specific gravity of .55 to .66 where cypress is .42  to .55 so it is a little heavier.
Jim

[Variable]

Can not say it is "the best" but cedar is sure nice.



Good luck to ya.

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

Black Lotus. now go get a bunch and make 100,  multi level hives with it.

[RHBee]

Can not say it is "the best" but cedar is sure nice.



Good luck to ya.

Those are beautiful.  I don't see building like that if you got 100 colonies though.

[BlueBee]

OK, I'm not going to ask where one finds Black LOTUS wood, but those Cedar Hives are way too pretty for bees.  Wow, what beautiful woodworking Variable. X:X 

I don't know how long the OP plans to keep bees, but there are houses around here with the original clapboards over 100 years old.  In Michigan those are usually white pine since the state was once covered with them.  Maintenance is usually the key to making anything last.

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

well even though you are not asking, I'll give the obvious answer...from a black locus tree...duh...(Actually my auto correct keeps changing black locus to black lotus. it is locus,and bees love them also btw. ) It is actually, a fast growing and stable wood that has been used by people for a long time, for outdoor use, making fence posts that are still around today/etc. and in other countries is very popular. It also grows quite well in MI. and can easily be planted and harvested for use on a 30 yr cycle. which is pretty fast. In MI a lot of wood siding is Eastern White Pine for sure, but  it only grows really in the north east, and has a 80-100 year cycle and shake and still a lot of clapboards were cedar or redwood.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinia_pseudoacacia
"Black locust is a major honey plant in the eastern US, and, having been taken and planted in France, is the source of the renowned acacia monofloral honey from France. "

"The wood is extremely hard, resistant to rot and durable, making it prized for furniture, flooring, paneling, fence posts and small watercraft. Wet, newly-cut planks have an offensive odour which disappears with seasoning. As a young man, Abraham Lincoln spent much of his time splitting rails and fence posts from black locust logs. Black locust is still in use in rustic handrail systems. Flavonoids in the heartwood allow the wood to last over 100 years in soil.[7] In the Netherlands and some other parts of Europe, black locust is one of the most rot-resistant local trees, and projects have started to limit the use of tropical wood by promoting this tree and creating plantations. It is one of the heaviest and hardest woods in North America."

Those cedar hives are pretty nice though. If I was a Bee I'd live in em.

[BlueBee]

A LOTUS is a car or a flowering water plant.
A LOCUS is a term from Geometry describing a set of points.
A LOCUST is a tree  X:X

Yes, Better Bee, I'm familiar with Robinia Pseudocacia.  I just planted 50 of them last week.  I would like to throw in a couple of the "Purple Robe" cultivars for a little color, but it looks like that is usually a graft.  

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

it's this stupid autocorrect...lol. anyways you get the point. Black Locust. Robinia pseudoacacia. yes, that one. I've thought about planting a few hundred of them myself. I have two of them right now. Which as you may know, if you have one mature one, you have as many others as you want, whenever you want. although if I didn't anyone can buy like 1,000 seeds off Ebay for like $5, anyways.