Hey all,
I’m posting to offer my experience, and a yet-untested idea to kill insects that have infected your dried (not green/wet) lumber.
I have a few CA black walnut boards, resawn from a portion of a residential tree that was taken down last year. It’s obvious that some insect life-cycle has made a few rounds during the 8+ months I’ve had these since re-saw (which occured 4+ months after bucking): tiny little holes, tiny little piles of sawdust/frass. I’m assuming they are cycling in the same boards, as slowly the hole count is going up.
Anyway, in searching this and other forums, there are various suggestions, but they boil down to heat and chemicals. Here’s what I tried:
I injected mineral spirits into the existing holes, using a syringe without a needle (the type that might be used to feed medicine to a small animal/pet.) I saw both immediate (20 minutes) and long term (36 hrs.) positive results: both “adults” (hard-shelled) and larvae (white fuzzy blobs) emerge from a hole to keel-over and die. Larva are no more than 1mm, adults 1.5-2 mm.
Very gratifying, I must say :^)
While the above worked, it’s probably less practical w/ larger quantities of boards, so then I had this idea: depending on geographic location and time of year, most of us have an oven on 4 wheels. Probably not too tough to get the interior of my Yukon up to 130 degreesF for 8 hours on a summer day here in the Sacramento Area! Put in the buggy wood, maybe an oven thermometer to monitor, and close the windows.
So, that’s it. Just thought it might help someone out, and/or stir some debate/conversation.
-Chris
Replies
Had the same bugs - powder post beetles. Do a WEB search on the little beasts. The chemicals which do them in are fairly tame - boric acid, I believe. Tim-Bor is the brand name what I used. It may require more than one application. You may have to find a commercial dealer to supply it. It blocks digestion in the larvae thus killing them. Don't treat this as a casual infestation. They could eat you out of house & home if you don't get them first. Watch everywhere for the frass.
Cadiddlehopper
IT HAS BEEN MY EXPERIENCE THAT POWDER POST BEETLES ONLY ATTACK THE SAP WOOD. THEREFORE I ONLY USE THE HEART WOOD FOR CABINET MAKING
TWOTRACK
You should worry about your house & shop. They can take out your rafters, floor joists & studs. Also, eggs laid in wood may not produce larvae for years then hatch (I guess that is the word). Treatment early with sprays may work. If you do nothing & they multiply, it could cost tens of thousands to have your house fumigated. LOL.Cadiddlehopper
POWDER POST BEETLES ONLY ATTACK THE SAP WOODI am not sure about that. It is probably true for most woods that have good resistance to decay and insects, but some of the white woods that make up the bottom of the list like Sycamore, Gum, Hackberry, etc. are pretty prone to attack, especially when moist.
I HAVE ONLY EXPERIENCED POWDER POST BEETLES IN BLACK WALNUT AND THEY ONLY ATTACKED THE SAP WOOD. FORTUNATELY THE SAP WOOD IN THE WALNUT I HAVE USED WAS ONLY A SMALL BAND ON THE OUTER EDGE OF THE BOARDS, WHICH WAS EASY TO RIP OFF AND THUS HAVE THE BEAUTIFUL HEART WOOD TO WORK WITH.
Hey DT, all caps is hard to read, can I encourage you to toggle that caps lock key?
Powder post beetles are very destructive and difficult to erradicate, especially in large timbers and/or in homes. Their habitats in general are not limited to heartwood.
I found powder post beetles in an oak porch swing. Never be confident that you have no problem if they have ever been on your property. I again highly recommend a search of the Internet for data on these little beasts.Cadid
I built my woodshop at the edge of the woods and out of rough cut pine boards for the exterior. Lately I've been wondering if perhaps I should've used iron. I've got carpenter bees-you know the type that repeatedly drill perfect little 3/8 holes in the soffit. Any suggestions on what I can do to eradicate my visitors?
I believe I read that you can just spray insecticide into the hole and plug it. They are not eating the wood, just tunneling out a nesting cavity.The ones that hover around the outside "protecting it" are the males, and can not sting.If you choose to kill all of them off, you should expect to not get all of the plants around your place to get pollinated, so everything comes with a trade-off.
froe,
The little buggers also eat their way into antique brick. I'm gonna say just one word-- Sevin. Death to bees. Okay that's more than one word, It's four. No, now it's 12. No....
Cheers,
Ray Pine
As I write this, there's an exterminator in my shop using methyl bromide on any pests, real or imagined, that just might be in a pile of cabinets that will be exported to the US next week. I should add that the cabinets are almost entirely plywood and veneer; it would be hard to find some solid wood in there, let alone sapwood. However, the whole thing is a necessary requirement for importing any wooden objects into the US, and I completely support it. The regulations are tight because these pests, powder-post beetles included, are really nasty things and should never be taken lightly. I have seen them make a bookcase into sawdust in just a few months. Your home-made recipes may or may not work. The US customs doesn't accept anything but chemical overkill.
DR
I have seen them eat into plywood. I was most impressed to see them in oak -- alive at that!Cadiddlehopper
These are not powder post beetles, it's some other borer.
Powder post adults lay their eggs in the pores of the wood, at this stage they are very tiny and far too small to observe. The larvae then tunnels in and lives for up to two years growing and munching. They then bore out of the wood, pupate, breed and start the cycle over again. In other words, for powder post beetles if you see holes you're not seeing evidence of current infestation. There are three insects that are called powder post beetles but only one is actually accurate, Lyctidae or Lyctids. The other two are Bostrichids and Anobiids. Anobiids have an enzyme that allows them to convert dryer wood and heartwood to the starch they need. Anobiids are the ones that we see in dried lumber, heartwood and furniture. They are also known as the Deathwatch Beetle because you can hear them at times late at night when everything is still.
Your county agent could positively ID them for you. A borate compound will solve your problems both short and long term and the toxicity of borates is classed as low to none.
Lee
Thanks Lee and all others chiming in here. I didn't mean to imply, with my "home remedy" ideas, that I took the bugs lightly - I regularly inspect my lumber for any "changes" - whether it be signs of bugs, or other, dimensional/structural changes that can come on the dry/wet wet/dry seasonal swings (no environmental control in the shop). I was very certain they weren't PPBs - I've researched them enough on the web from a past run-in. I was just trying to give some ideas for treating a few boards - with and without chemicals. I still like my vehicular-kiln idea :)Regards,
Chris
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