I’ve got both wrc and pine hives and the wrc is almost a year old and certainly needs a refresh of tung oil. I was reluctant to use stain on the pine hive because of the harsh tropical weather so I’ve painted them with exterior water based house paint. The problem I had with the pine hives is that they are so accurately laser cut, that a coat of paint on any of the viewing and access window joints means they have to be trimmed or else left untouched and im not sure they’ll last well.I’ve got another pine hive to assemble and I might try #Rodderick decking stain idea and see how well it weathers.