I am scheduled to wax dip my flow hive at a local apiary this weekend, and was wondering if anyone has experience with this? Should I dip the whole thing, including the base? I know I should take off any plastic or metal I don’t want to be affected, is there anything else I should be aware of? Does anyone have experience removing the small plastic level in the base? Should I take off the plastic stand support? Should I remove the roof and paint it separately (I know some people paint right after dipping). Thank you so much! Any tips are greatly appreciated! I’m so excited to start bee keeping in the spring!
I removed all plastic and metal (bubble levels, knobs, screen, observation window, etc.). If it was wood, it got dipped, including roof, boxes, base, and leg covers. I was a little nervous removing the bubble levels but they popped in and out pretty easily.
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Did the same for our training one - dipped by commercial beekeeper.
If you want to paint the lid you’ll need to do at least one coat while it is hot.
Adam
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Thank you so much! I’m glad the level was easy to get back in- I was worried about that. I’ll start removing all of the metal and plastic pieces (my husband is a little annoyed he had to put the whole thing together for me to take some of it apart- but I know it will last longer in the long run!). Both of your hives look amazing, I’m grateful I have a local apiary to dip my hive. Thanks again!
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I also dipped my flow hives and now 4 years later they are still looking good with no signs of rot at all. I dipped everything- including the roof.
I dipped hoop pine hives and cedar: cedar reacted differently in the wax. Pine absorbs the wax and the surface is left feeling dry- cedar is left with a more waxy surface. But both held up well. I weighed my parts before and after and found one full flow hive absorbed nearly 1 kg of wax (possibly a bit more as the water int he wood is boiled out during the dipping)
What amazing results, thanks for posting those pics y’all! I wish I had known about wax dipping back when I first got my Flow hive, but now I can encourage newbeeks to do it if they have the chance to 
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That’s interesting. I thought it might just be the temperature that my cedar was dipped. It’s definitely less waxy feeling after being outdoors for a year.
Interesting, what happens to R-value after dipping? On one hand wood supposed to be drier after dipping, on other less porous.
yes- at first the wood is slick with wax- but then it kind of dries out. My brothers cedar hive is looking very good after 3 seasons post dipping. of course- my mums cedar hive was not dipped- only tongue oiled and it’s still looking OK. Cedar does not need the wax dipping like pine does- but I still think it will last longer.
@TimG I built my own ‘shallow fry’ dipper- using two deep friers- and a welded steel ‘tub’. My wax is only about 3 inches deep- and I use pure beeswax and pine gum rosin. I can only dip one side of a box at a time- commercial beekeepers have huge tanks and dip the entire box (or multiple boxes). Most commercial people use paraffin and micro-crystalline wax as the cost of beeswax for such dippers would be enormous.
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The wax itself isn’t a bad insulator, not as good as trapped air, but not shabby. Waxy wood must certainly be better than damp wood…