ADVERTISEMENT WARNING
A customer of mine ordered some of our Pure Tung Oil and just called me to say he had used it on his hive and was very happy. He urged me to advertise on the forum which may or may not be possible or welcome.
In any case a heads up that we have marketed Pure Tung Oil across Australia and the world for many years. Be very mindful of the fact that nearly every product claiming to be Tung Oil or Tung Oil Finish is cut with extender oils, solvents and toxic dryers. Our tung is the genuine Pure Tung oil and cures by reacting to the oxygen in the air. We sell it to horse stables and into many markets which are sensitive to additives. Pure Tung is safe for kitchen woodware, kids toys and, it now emerges, bee hives.
I apologise if this offends forum rules but it seems logical to alert users to the availability of Tung Oil from a long standing Australian based supplier
Pure Tung is mailable and we supply in containers well suited to the scale of sealing bee hives.
Find us here
http://www.thewoodworks.com.au/technical-data-sheets/188-tung-oil-aka-china-wood-oil
Yes I saw your page on the net whilst trying to source some however the freight cost to over here in the West blew the budget so have sourced elsewhere locallyā¦ Great range of products though.
Your Tung oil in Oz seems really expensive!
Agreed would not suggest buying tung oil from the big hardware stores as they are most certainly not 100% pure. There are a few supplies though in aus who supply pure tung oil and ask you local paint supplier to get it in for you to save on shipping direct. Our local didnāt realise how thick pure tung oil is until they ordered some for me. Now they stock it and recommend it over the big brands.
Valli,
We charge $35 flat rate Australia wide for 500mls of Pure Tung oil delivered using Australia Post Red satchels.
Some of the commercial formulations contain as little as 7% tung but our slack labeling laws let them get away with it.
We can also ship internationally as Pure Tung is non flammable and has no Dangerous Goods classification
Usually things in the UK are dearer - But your Tung Oil is way dearer
$35 is just how expensive it is here. 
Even Bunnings (possibly adulterated) stuff is $35
It doesnāt appear to be, as you mentioned in another post. I looked up the data sheet and although it was marked as flammable, it did seem to be pure.
The Bunnings over here in the West only stock a ācontains Tung oilā product and when I did find it in another hardware store it was only available in 4 litres.
I finished up getting a litre off the net and only used maybe 200ml to oil the brood box so a little bit goes a long way.
We ship nationwide 500mls of Pure Tung oil for $35 via Australia Post red satchels. True Tung is non flammable and mailable
Terms such as ā contains tung oilā and a classification as a schedule 3 flammable good on the MSDS suggest it is not suited to coating beehives. True Pure Tung oil is an organic,bio degradeable product (and yes I also have seen these descriptors a million times - but in this case true)
Iāve contacted Feast Watson to ask them what percentage of actual tung oil is in the one I bought.
It is listed as flammable, but the only other thing mentioned is that d-Limonene stuff - which is listed as less that 10%. But Iām guessing labelling laws donāt require that they say anything else.
So Iāve asked, and weāll see. 
If it contains an unsuitable amount of the drying agents, Iāll reserve this one for my new outdoor setting, and buy some of the stuff from thewoodworks instead, but if I can get away with this, Iād rather not buy it twice 
Hi @thewoodworks, I went to buy the Tung Oil (delivery Brisbane) and it only gave me a courier option, totalling $44.94. How do I access the flat rate for $35 you mentioned?
Hi all
Another safe, organic, possibly cheaper and possibly low carbon miles is using bees wax to treat your new hives. As you might know, bees wax was (and still is?) used to treat furniture and maybe wooden floors.
Iāve just finished melting down all the black wax Iāve been removing from the three run down hives I purchased in April from a retiring bee keeper. I have 10 kg and have the last six frames being cleaned of the remainders of honey by the bees as I write. This is in time for my Flow Hive arrival scheduled for mid December (Summer in Australia).
My local bee equipment supplier suggested I use an old electric frying pan to heat the wax and dip the wood into it. I thought it was a good idea and intend to do so.
Best wishes
That will be a big frying pan Brother Joe
Hi Valli
Itās not clear to me from how he was talking, if he meant treating the parts disassembled or assembled. As I read in other posts, treating parts disassembled would mean the glue would not work.
He said to dip one half in, then turn it around and dip for the other half.
The electric fry pan my brother has is 33cm x 33cm x 6cm. There is also a solid stainless steal roasting tray 30 x 37 x 6. The dimensions for the Flow Hive Langstroth 8 Deep are: standard size box width ā 35cm, box height ā 24.5cm, box length ā 50.5cm, base length ā 57.5cm. So looks like Iāll try the roasting tray over a gas flame.
best wishes
I have an āindustrialā Sauce pan holds about 50 lt - that would work - You could always ask a local pub if you could borrow a large pan?
Hi B. Joe, I heard that a method of getting wax to soak further into wood is to mix it with turps, I donāt know what % turps to wax. A customer who bought wax from me to treat the ends of logs with wax told me this. He told me that turps draws the wax into the timber.
Jeff that is the basic mixture for furniture polish 50% each White spirit/Turpentine and bees wax melted
I have had several conversations with hive owners about using tung oil with a solvent. The majority, if not all, solvents including citric terpene, which we sell for wood finishing, are schedule 3 flammables and I would think are not good to use around bees because of the off gassing. Citric Terpene off gases are the same as nature releases over orange orchards so are comparatively benign but, regardless of this, there is no need to use any thinners or oil concoctions based on a drying oil which contain volatile solvents.Pure tung oil reacts with oxygen to cure to a very tough maintainable seal and is quite usable neat and un-thinned.
Have to disagree here. Seen lots of tung oil performance in the marine environment. Thinner coats create a smoother more durable finish, with out any gumminess, which I have see occur when the oils was applied neat. The solvent aids the oil in soaking into the grain and establishing a deeper layer of protection.
You can of course do heavier coats but it wonāt look as nice, or wear as well in my experience.
The citrus turpentine solvent does off-gas, but is relatively harmless. You could drink it if you really wanted to. You do drink it when you have a glass of orange juice. Go stand in an orange grove and take a deep breath, especially during harvest ; -)