Hallo Everyone! I´m new to your group, I´m English with a German wife and
have lived in Germany for 31 years - otherwise known as a European. I have
kept bees in the UK and now in Germany for 7 years.I kept black devils in
the UK 45 years ago - long before varroa, the talk then was of acarine.Now I
keep Buckfast bees in Dadant hives - much easier than the old double-walled
WBC hives so long ago and the bees are docile.I trained first as a chemist
then studied surface coating technology for 4 years. I worked 20 years in
the paint industry UK & Germany.Now for my 2cents worth: When it comes to
painting hives I still think that solvent-based coatings are superior to
aqueous dispersions. The Scandinavians have long experience in painting
their houses constructed of softwood. They use what the Germans call
Holzlasur - based on long-oil alkyd resins pigmented with ultrafine (
micronised ) iron oxide pigments and solvated with mineral spirit ( white
spirit, paraffinic hydrocarbon solvent ).The coating penetrates the wood
deeply and sticks like s**t to a blanket, a cross-section of painted wood
shows pigment deep in the pores, this you can NEVER get with even the finest
aqueous polymer dispersions.The paint films are semi-transparent, not as
thick as conventional paints and not so inclined to crack, embrittle and
flake. Think of Scandinavian winters, temperatures of -30°C and below.Of
course these Holzlasur contain fungicides - a bone of contention for the
bio-beekeepers, these people make their own varnishes of vegetable oils and
beeswax and without pigment; as a paint chemist I simply do not believe that
such coatings are UV resistent.I do not think that the low levels of
fungicide employed are likely either to harm the bees or contaminate the
honey; I have never seen a honey analysis indicating the presence of such
fungicides.
I have seen aqeous dispersion paints blistering off hives in Portugal.
Whilst they allow the escape of water vapour, their wet adhesion to softwood
is I think questionable.Brother Adam of Buckfast Abbey UK had Dadant hives
painted with solvent-based paints which lasted 60 years - OK the wood was
probably better than one gets nowadays.The Lasur I buy is called Bondex but
there are many others.Hope you are still awake.
Regards Derek Steed

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