> She showed that bees will  coat rough wood, but not necessarily 
> smooth wood, with propolis.  Mann  Lake, Dadant should take note. 
> Plane the outside of the board to  facilitate paint, etc., but leave 
> the backside (inside) rough.

I think old beekeepers all know this and prefer smooth lumber for that 
very reason.  In addition to filling the pits of rough surfaces with 
propolis, bees tend to build more wax attachments on rough wood.

When beekeepers made frames in the home shop, especially before the 
widespread availability of cheap planer blades, beekeepers discovered 
that their bees loved to gum up the rough surfaces left by rough saw cuts.

For that matter, I have plenty of boxes with smooth interiors that are well 
varnished over the entire interior surfaces, but without propolis build-ups.

I think that there are various degrees of smoothness depending on 
the wood and the machinery used in production.  Excessively smooth 
exterior surfaces are a problem, too, since they do not hold paint as well.

So, I guess we have to decide how rough is rough enough.  I think that 
it is more important that the surface be porous than glossy.  I suppose that 
brings up the question of plastic boxes and frames.  In my experience, they 
both get completely varnished in time.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm