Replies

1. 
   cadiddlehopper | Jul 25, 2006 03:46am | #1

   Don't recognize the bug, but the larvae sound like powder post beetle. Do a search of "powder post beetle" on the Internet. There is a lot of info there including treatment materials you may order. I don't know how long the wood laid on the ground, but if you will treat it with a borate solution like Tim-bor pretty quickly, you may stop the infestation. If you ignore it, they may come to life years in the future from inside onr of your masterpieces. Don't ignore them. They can be as bad as termites.

   Cadiddlehopper

2. 
   PeteBradley | Jul 25, 2006 04:21am | #2

   I agree that the larvae are most likely not related to the beetle. The beetle might be:

   http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/homehort/pest/long-horned_beetle.htm

   Pete

1. 
   zombeerose | Jul 25, 2006 08:43pm | #8

   Thanks for the link. I searched for the Banded Alder Borer and found this link (http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/plantclinic/resources/pdf/pls55bandedalder.pdf). The larvae in the picture look just like the critters I've found.

   "100 Years" -- scribbled on the wall by a woodworker to remind him to do his best and as a warranty on his work -- "If anything I make fails in the first hundred years, bring it back, and I'll take care of it. After that, there will be a small charge. (Original purchaser only)"

3. 
   pins | Jul 25, 2006 04:21am | #3

   Looks too big for a powder post beetle (but that my be the beetle and what I describe below may be the result of the larvae, but I have never seen a bug that looks like that and I don't think the larvae do the boring). Many years ago I was driving my JD 970 through the woods and there was what appeared to be a rotten log in my path. I lowered the bucked and proceeded to drive through it. Much to my surprise the log stopped my little 4WD in its tracks. Upon further examination it was a walnut log, all the sapwood rotted off. I cut the log to length took it to my shop and sawed it and the heartwood was perfect, not a bug hole, and I still have that 'boule.'

   An observation: Sawing the dead and dry log yielded typical walnut colored lumber. The first time I sawed a green walnut log the wood appeared to have a greenish cast and it freaked me out. Of course later the lumber assumed the correct color.

   Now I have a lot of lumber stacked in a shed behing my shop, all of which is over 10 years since it was sawed and stickered, some 15 years, and I still see evidence of powder post beetles especially in the poplar and white ash. The holes are about 1/16" round and after planing you will see 'channels' in the wood below the surface which look like they are filled with sawdust, apparently the excretion of the bug.

   I don't have any idea how to stop them and I am surprised that they attack wood that is that dry. Maybe a little work on google will yield the answer.

   John

4. 
   mapleman | Jul 25, 2006 06:20am | #4

   Zombe,

   Kiln drying will stop the larvae from hatching. I have seen powder post beetles emerge from walnut heartwood before, though it is not as common as from the sapwood, as you mentioned. I left some curly maple in my shop after I noticed signs of powder post beetles on the boards, and the damn bugs infested some of my other lumber. Tim-bor, sprayed on the boards, or kiln drying will stop them dead in their tracks.

   Lee

1. 
   TrueGentleman | Jul 25, 2006 09:54am | #5

   Walnut has a very very high tolerance to bugs I understand.  That tree must of been dead for some time I think.

   Rich

    

5. 
   KeithNewton | Jul 25, 2006 05:15pm | #6

   Almost any of the normal wood boring insects can eat the sapwood, and as you have already stated, that part is wasted, and needs to be sawn off and burned.

   If the insect in the photo was one that was eating the sapwood, it has pupated and is out looking for a mate. Those long eyebrows would have been in the way while tunneling through wood, but would be helpful in finding and dazzling a mate.

   If you are planning on having the wood kiln-dried, that will take care of the larva. If you are going to air dry, you will need to get the temperature up to 120º for a few hours. I have read some post over on the woodweb forum that you can get your stack up that high by wrapping your stack with a black plastic out in full sun for a few days.

   Here is a link. In the upper right hand corner is the search archives window. If you will type walnut, beetle, sapwood, it will lead you to plenty of good info.
   http://www.woodweb.com/

1. 
   zombeerose | Jul 25, 2006 08:41pm | #7

   I was planning on air-dried to help preserve some of the colors of the wood. Being in AZ and summer-time, I will move the wood out to get it baking. :)

   "100 Years" -- scribbled on the wall by a woodworker to remind him to do his best and as a warranty on his work -- "If anything I make fails in the first hundred years, bring it back, and I'll take care of it. After that, there will be a small charge. (Original purchaser only)"

6. 
   Rennie | Jul 25, 2006 08:44pm | #9

   Where in ID did this walnut come from? I have a few hundred bf drying right now that I got from trees felled in Nampa - I stickered it about 18 months ago in winter - did not notice any bugs....but now you have me thinking. Yikes!

   Regard it as just as desirable to build a chicken house as to build a cathedral.
   Frank Lloyd Wright

1. 
   zombeerose | Jul 25, 2006 08:58pm | #10

   My trees came from Twin Falls, which is about 2 hours East of Boise. I am guessing that if yours is already stickered, then you already removed the bark. As long as you did that and didn't find any "tunneling," you should be ok.

   "100 Years" -- scribbled on the wall by a woodworker to remind him to do his best and as a warranty on his work -- "If anything I make fails in the first hundred years, bring it back, and I'll take care of it. After that, there will be a small charge. (Original purchaser only)"