Someone asked me to assemble some hives that have been wax dipped. He would also like them painted. I told him I wont attempt to paint them. I heard you can paint wax dipped hives if you paint them while it’s still hot. If so, do you use water or oil base paint. @Semaphore, you might know the answer.
If the bloke really insists on painting, I’m thinking of applying heat to the boxes before painting.
I’m not sure- if a box was waxed a long, long time ago- the surface might have ‘dried’ out enough to paint. But you can only paint a freshly waxed hive whilst it is still hot. As to applying heat: when they are wax dipped the boxes are painted whilst still over 100c. The heat (and wax) have penetrated right through the timber. You’d really need to heat it a lot before it could be painted. Not sure how that could be done short of wax dipping them again.
Hi & thanks Jack These boxes came from China. In some places the wax is thick, other places don’t look like they’ve been waxed at all. I was thinking of enough heat to burn the wax & scorch the timber, then wire brush, or steel wool it before painting. I could warm it up again directly before painting. I’m not keen on the job. However if I was going to proceed, I’d do a couple of test bits before going ahead with it. There’s 3 complete hives involved.
well it may be that they have only applied wax t the outside of the boxes. If they were properly dipped they wouldn’t have areas that didn’t appear to be waxed… Not sure how you will go- good luck Jeff 
I just took a look because they take pride of place in my lounge room. The boxes that are thick with wax are waxed inside & out. You can scrape it off in your finger nails, white stuff. Without saying too much, the bamboo QEs are not waxed.
Chalk paint apparently works on waxed wood Jeff. Google has alot of examples.
Hi & thanks Dean, it’ll be interesting to check it out if the occasion arises in the future. I wont take on painting these boxes. I’ll let the owner worry about that.
In reply. Actually the owner is my latest “brush with fame”, a former well know politician. I have 3 nucs to go into his 3 hives in the coming days. One is from the compost bin I recently talked about. Another one is from the hive that recently swarmed that I also spoke about. The third one is from that aggressive hive that I split 3 ways & brought one home.
Well as it turned out this former well-known politician didn’t get any of the colonies I spoke about. On roughly the day of my last post, I informed him, as instructed that his hives were ready to pick up. I haven’t heard a word since. Consequently 2 of the colonies went to someone else, plus I used the third colony as a resource hive, so it needs to build up again.
How long should I give someone to pick their bees up after informing them that they are ready to pick up? I sold his 2 colonies & removed brood from the third one 13 days after my phone call to him.
I guess that depends on what you agreed with him when he asked you for bees in the first place. I would think that a week is reasonable if no other agreement has been made. 
I agree Dawn, about a week. I don’t like nagging people about bees. If you have to nag people about bees, they shouldn’t be keeping them in the first place. He has a working Flow hive, of which he only knows how to harvest the honey. This is true, he didn’t even know where the entrance was. A couple of young blokes set it up for him in the first place.
Never trust a politician . I think 2 weeks is long enough. If he/she does come back educate them on manners and respect.
Hi Dean, it’s too late for this bloke, he’s now working as a lawyer. I hope I haven’t given too much away, re his identity. I wonder how many former Aussie politicians are working as lawyers.
For me now it’s just a curiosity thing. How long before he contacts me.