Use of CCA (chromated copper arsenate) treated wood has been discontinued
for residential and homeowner use for several years.   Most treated wood
available to the general public is now treated with a variety of copper
compounds and I see various copper-based wood preservatives for sale in bee
supply catalogs and at least one hive supplier who will pre-treat hive
bodies with a copper preservative.  My question for you chemists and
toxicologists out there is how safe is this new treated wood chemistry for
use in things like bottom boards?  My thought is to use it for bottoms and
paint it to minimize exposure to the copper compounds.

 I live in a wet climate, and yes I am aware of using various paraffin
dips, but I am curious about use of the new chemistry treated wood
off-the-shelf. I use a commercial borate product in various old house
restoration projects and it is active against insects and fungi so I would
not consider sodium borate a candidate for use in a bee hive.   A
description of the copper treatments from a large treated wood supplier
follows:

"A number of alternative preservatives are available. These include ACQ-C
(Alkaline Copper Quat Type C), ACQ-D Carbonate (Alkaline Copper Quat Type
D, Carbonate formulation), CA-B/ CA-C (Copper Azole Types B and C), µCA-C
(Azole biocide), as well as SBX/DOT (Sodium Borate) and Zinc Borate
preservatives. As mentioned earlier, each preservative usually has a number
of variations available so care should be exercised when specifying treated
wood."

Bill Lord
Louisburg, NC

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