Nick wrote

> "Does paraffin dipping make boxes heavier?"
>
> As Peter Edwards says, there would be some weight reduction through the
> driving off of the moisture in the wood - I'm not sure if that has ever
been
> quantified.

With my background in timber, I find it hard to reconcile how the heating
will drive off all the moisture in the wood when the timber is at
Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) which is normally around 12 -15 %.  I
know from the temperatures that we used in timber drying kilns that it was
very hard to get that last bit of moisture out, particularly from about 8%
down..  Also there is the heat transfer factor.  How long would it take to
transfer the heat from the surface to the inside of the timber?

I would not dipute that there could be absorption of the wax by the timber
as a piece of timber at EMC has a lot of space in it from the previous loss
of free and bound moisture during seasoning

I have no reason to doubt that this wax treatmENt will help combat AFB.
There was research published from Argentine (I think) on temperature time
realationship for killing the AFB spores.  Even if they were not killed, any
spores on the box would be enveloped by wax and the bees would not be able
to get at the wax to start an infection.

> I'd reiterate the importance of the wax temperature (for both preservation
> and disease treatment) to avoid the 'wax envelope' effect.

Can someone give me references to show that the wax treatment preserves the
timber?  There is a reference out of the USA where it says it does not work
and I have plenty of anecdotal evidence in Australia to show that the wax
dipping does not preserve boxes.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA