What is Accoya?

If you had a blank sheet of paper to design the perfect material to make beehives from, Accoya would be it. Genuinely.

Accoya outperforms Western Red Cedar on all measures: hardness, thermal properties, service life.

I’ve been aware of Accoya for a few years now. My parents are furniture makers in Australia and a client requested they use this “super timber” for an outdoor furniture project. The local supplier made some incredible claims about the performance of the timber which seemed to be either a typo or a misunderstanding by the marketing department.

Accoya is a softwood that has undergone a process called acetylation. Without getting too technical, the timber is effectively pickled - a bit like a gherkin! - in an acid called acetyl anhydride. The resulting timber is a softwood that performs more like a hardwood which repels water.

Accoya has been commercially available since 2007 and is the timber of choice for joiners and architects thanks to it’s mechanical properties and sustainable credentials.

The only drawback is the price - it’s comparable to some exotic hardwoods. Can’t have everything though, eh?!

Here are the benefits of Accoya:

  • Extremely durable:
    Guaranteed for 50 years above ground and 25 years in the ground or in fresh water, and that is without any preservatives or paint! And it’ll last a lot longer with a little care… who will you leave your Noochii Hive to?!

  • Dimensionally stable:
    Accoya is unaffected by water. It doesn’t twist, splinter, shrink, swell or warp.

  • Rot-resistant:
    As Accoya absorbs almost no water it does not rot.

  • Improved thermal insulation:
    Accoya is 8% better than softwoods, like Western Red Cedar, and up to 30% better than hardwoods. The bees will use less energy keeping the hive at the right temperature.

  • Non-toxic:
    Actually, Accoya is food-safe. You can eat your dinner off of it! There is a very small amount of acid left over after the treatment which is a similar level to the acid found naturally in some hardwoods.

  • Insect resistant:
    Termites and other wood-boring insects turn their noses up at Accoya - they obviously don’t appreciate pickles in their sandwiches!

  • Improved hardness and compression strength:
    Accoya is approved by the German Institute for Building Technology for load bearing structural applications that other softwoods are not.

  • Sustainability:
    The big one. Everything and everyone everywhere is claiming to be more sustainable. Green-washing is real and I’m really conscious of not jumping on that bandwagon! And neither are Accsys, the company behind Accoya. They have been audited by numerous third party organisations. Their claims have been scrutinized and verified, and they have been awarded a smorgasbord of accreditations!

Please check out the Accoya website, there is a lot of information over there: https://www.accoya.com/uk/

In summary, all of this is pretty good if you plan to make a box from Accoya, fill it with bees and leave it your garden for decades!

P.S. I’ve made a note in my diary to update this post sometime in the mid 2060’s with a report on how the Accoya furniture that my parents made is holding up!