Official Luthiers Forum!

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.

Sounds cool! I'd love to hear/see how that goes.

_________________
Pat

I've used propolis as a tackifier and anti microbial additive in adhesive formulas, but I'm not sure I see the utility of propolis in a finish. Left in it's raw form it does not really crystallize or harden, and when I think of propolis as a finish I imagine an instrument covered in a thin layer of chewing gum that is 10 times more sticky and never fully hardens.

It wouldn't surprise me if it were included as an additive in other traditional varnishes, and perhaps when boiled with resins and gums it may become denatured, loose it's tackiness, and crystallize as solvents gas off, but the utility and goals of using it still (aside from pure novelty) aren't readily apparent to me.

Again though, I've never used it for anything beyond adhesives, and I don't know how it's properties may be modified with heat or other means. In my limited experience working with it though, I'm not sure I see what benefits it would bring.

_________________
Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

In my hives, the propolis varies from a hard shiny substance, in some, to a sticky toffee texture, in others. This suggests different sources. I have read that they sometimes collect melted tar off roadways so that would certainly make a mess of a guitar.