staining instead of painting

[filmmlif]

i want to stain my deeps instead of painting (i want them to stand out less). does anyone have a suggestion what to use? i was told the girls don't like certain staind/varnishes. what have beedn used that work?
thanx.

[tejas]

I used no stain just exterior polyurethane on my hive and it worked and looks great. Just apply one coat; after drying sand then apply two more coats.

[filmmlif]

thnx for the tip.
do u think it lasts as long as paint?
do u buy 5 gallon cans of it?
tom

[Anonymous]

Stain unlike many paints soaks into the wood fibers so they tend to fade over time rather than peel as paint. When they have faded to a degree your no longer happy with them just a very light cleaning with mild soap and water and your ready for another coat.
I buy mine in the gallon can at Lowe's, It can be mixed to a color from one of their charts then darkened to a shade more excepiable to you. I think the stand out less statement you made meens camofluged to an extent? Ask the person mixing the stain if they can do a match from a picture of a color. Once you get the color you like get the mix ration sheet and store it for future mixing ratios of new cans of stain.
By the way I am not trying to make my own hives less noticable so I buy the cheap miss mixed oops stuff. Just bought 3 gallons of Olyimpic at $5.00 from Lowe's and got $3.00 back per gallon rebate. Not a bad price for $24.00 exterior stain.
  Al

[Beth Kirkley]

Al made a good point - something for everyone to remember or ponder.

Looking for mix-up colors. I don't feel there is any reason (unless you're just extremely particular) to buy paint or stain "brand new & perfect". You can get someone's mess up for WAY less. At the hardware store here in my town, I've only found 1 gallon cans. But if I needed more than 1 gallon, there's no reason why I couldn't just mix up several cans to get one final color.

Beth

[TwT]

one thing to remember when staining your hive vs painting , the darker the color the hotter the temp will be in the hive thats why they say dark colors up north and lighter colors down south and since you live in texas it get kinda hot there, just my thought's.

[buzzybody]

Hopefully it won't come out tie dyed.

[Beth Kirkley]

I don't know..... that might look kinda cool. You know those old "hippie" buses? Imagine doing a hive like that! LOL Personally I'd enjoy making a "statement" with my hives, but when I've built them, I just didn't have the extra money to work with.

Beth
Just an old hippie at heart!

[tejas]

thnx for the tip.
do u think it lasts as long as paint?
do u buy 5 gallon cans of it?
tom

The hive I put out last April still looks the same as it did then. I assume it will last a long time. I just bought a quart and it was plenty to cove entire hive including two deeps and two shallow supers.

[Jay]

The stains and urethanes that are being made today all contain u.v. blockers so they should last just as long as a good paint job!

[Anonymous]

Looked at a 5 gallon pail of exterior house stain by Berh at Home Depot (YA I KNOW BOYCOTT) and it was nearly full I guesstamated at least 4 gallons left. It was listed as Alantic Blue but looked a bit to dark. The cost was $15.00. This is $75.00 a gallon stuff normally.
No I didn't buy it. I went there only to see if they had a repair kit to fix a Delta single lever faucet. Since they didn't have the parts either the boycott is still in effect.
   Al