I was wondering if anyone out there has any experience using bee propolis as a finish? It's something that I have thought about for a while. I was cleaning out some of my hives today, and thought maybe it's time to look into this (as a disclaimer I'm not sure if I'll really try to finish a guitar this way, but I'm curious, and maybe, I currently have a build going on for the local wood challenge and if I was going to try this would be the build for it
).I've seen some recipes on the web for various varnishes etc.. I'm hoping to find something simple. On a whim, I put together a 1:4 solution of propolis to denatured Alcohol, so far its dissolving out nice and looks about like the jar of 2 lb cut blond shellac on my shelf. I also read about using cold temps to drive off some wax. Anyway I'll play with this to see what I've got.
It seems like this is a finish that was once used for violins and such, but has been out of style for a few centuries, so it may be that it's just not that great, I'm trying to keep my expectations realistic, but you never know until you try.