Redwood hive bodies

N4NV · August 06, 2014, 10:09:40 PM

I came across a large quantity of redwood planks, never painted or treated. Will redwood work for hive bodies? What about frames?
Thanks,
Vince

BeeMaster2 · August 07, 2014, 12:35:19 AM

Redwood will make great boxes and frames. I made my first hives from cedar. I still use them. Like redwood they are light and last a long time. I would not make them into frames. Cheaper to buy them, especially in 100 pack boxes. If I had redwood readily available, I would make all of my hives out of it. Right now I am building with cypress.
Jim

10framer · August 07, 2014, 10:44:57 AM

redwood will last a long time without paint and it's light. i wish i could come across a bunch of it.

JWChesnut · August 07, 2014, 12:36:23 PM

I build hives out of redwood fence boards all the time.

If you have old-style KD vertical grain all-heart Redwood, I would recommend you sell the wood at market price ($$$$) and buy hives (or pine to make them). With the money left over you could take a first class Hawaiian vacation.

Redwood is brittle, and machining the finger joints will be tricky. The fenceboards (which are not KD) I use cabinet biscuits to reinforce butt joints.

rober · August 07, 2014, 01:43:52 PM

"redwood will last a long time without paint"

& it will last a lot longer if you do paint it. on some western cedar supers that I built I inset flat steel repair hardware corners at the top & bottom corners of the back of the boxes. that's where you do most of the prying with your hive tools & cedar & redwood are pretty soft woods & hive tools can do a lot of damage.
note: this bracket is sitting on a 2" spacer for the photo. on a hive box the bracket would be 'let in' to the box so it's flush.

BeeMaster2 · August 08, 2014, 12:34:12 PM

Quote from: rober on August 07, 2014, 01:43:52 PM
"redwood will last a long time without paint"

& it will last a lot longer if you do paint it. on some western cedar supers that I built I inset flat steel repair hardware corners at the top & bottom corners of the back of the boxes. that's where you do most of the prying with your hive tools & cedar & redwood are pretty soft woods & hive tools can do a lot of damage.
note: this bracket is sitting on a 2" spacer for the photo. on a hive box the bracket would be 'let in' to the box so it's flush.

If you do that here in FL, that gap that is left will bee full of small hive beetles.
Jim

JWChesnut · August 08, 2014, 03:18:33 PM

A hive design that works in redwood is to reinforce the frame rest area with a sticker of wood. This style needs to have a custom sized top cover.

rober · August 08, 2014, 03:38:17 PM

"note: this bracket is sitting on a 2" spacer for the photo. on a hive box the bracket would be 'let in' to the box so it's flush."

there'd be no gap. the brackets are mortised flush into the box. those brackets are sitting on that frame for photo purposes only. all the hive bodies I've done this to are on hives so it's not convenient to photograph them

BeeMaster2 · August 09, 2014, 12:34:20 AM

Quote from: rober on August 08, 2014, 03:38:17 PM
"note: this bracket is sitting on a 2" spacer for the photo. on a hive box the bracket would be 'let in' to the box so it's flush."

there'd be no gap. the brackets are mortised flush into the box. those brackets are sitting on that frame for photo purposes only. all the hive bodies I've done this to are on hives so it's not convenient to photograph them

Thanks Rober. That would work.
Jim