I have a full scale professionally equipped wood shop and have build a variety of rocking chairs (a walnut and a teak Sam Maloof rockerS), gates, furniture and have done some pretty elaborate carving projects. Meanwhile my wife and I have a good set of antique furniture, some of which appears to have powder post beetles. I have tried fumigation companies where pieces are locked in a chamber and even had a warehouse where all of my antiques were stored while building a house was fumigated for termites. Yet I still have powder coming out of the antique items. Does anyone know a way to kill the pests reliably? I want to keep the critters from spreading to the house and shop.
Thanks.
Replies
I seem to have gotten rid of them with Tim-bor. It is a borate substance which soaks into wood. You may see frass years later though. The larvae can stay dormant for long periods then come to life and eat. Eating the borate is what kills them. I can't understand why fumigation did not work. Perhaps the item must be in a vacuum chamber which is then filled with fumes to make certain that the wood is penetrated.
Good luck!
Cadiddlehopper
Can you paint the liquid on the antique without hurting the finish and wood or is it worse?thanks for the response.
Edited 4/20/2007 8:02 pm ET by DoninFortLauderdale
I pumped Tim-bor into bug holes on a piece of work I was doing. Any finish will probably interfere with its penetration. The heat idea is probably the best. My workshop and its attic can get very hot on a sunny day if I do not open it up which happens if I travel somewhere. That probably helped me in my battle with the little buggers. Tim-bor leaves a white residue on some finishes which probably indicates no penetration at that point. It washes off easily.BTW, powder post beetles aren't supposed to be able to penetrate a finish unless coverage is not complete. I can't vouch for the accuracy of that supposition. You might want to consult a pest control company for more information about the product. I would not suggest the same one that failed to get rid of them by fumigation.Cadiddlehopper
The Borate stuff will only keep them from entering the wood, because it is only treating the outside of the wood.
If they are already in there, it won't help. If you can build a heated chamber that can be heated up to 130ยบ for a day, this will kill the ones that are already in there. Then, you can treat the outside with borate to keep them out.
If you choose to use the heat, you should try to find a way to keep the humidity high during the process, to keep from causing drying problems.
Thanks, building a heat chamber is a relatively simple thing to do....Thanks much....
Yes BUT, don't overlook causing other problems by over-drying. I am sure that you know that you can get end splitting, surface checking, and cupping by over drying too fast.After re-reading your first post. I have to wonder about the exterminator not killing them by gassing them. That method should have killed them. If it didn't, I would be working to get them to take care of finishing the job. He could work these pieces by putting them in the next house that he treats.
The powder is falling from the exit holes, the larva live in the wood, then as they begin pupating into adults they tunnel to the surface and bore out of the wood. Often the adults will seek the same wood for laying eggs. Sealing the pores will prevent this relaying of the eggs so a varnish will prevent re infestation as will a borate compound. These larvae cannot survive in wood with moisture content below 8% and even at this MC they will not thrive, only survive. Of the three insects called powder post beetles there is only one that has the enzyme to convert the dry starch of dry wood to glucose. Unless you're seeing new holes it's pretty safe to say the problem is over. Again, the holes are made as the grubs exit, the eggs are extremely small so you'd never notice the holes made by the larvae as they actually tunnel into the wood.Keith, borates are effective, the larvae will consume it as they surface to pupate.I'm copy and pasting part of an article I began on this topic,Lee---------------------------------------------------------Powder Post Beetles There are three families of insects that fall under the umbrella of the name Powder Post Beetles. Lyctidae are the only true Powder Post Beetles. The other two families are Bostrichidae and Anobiidae. It is the larvae of all three families that cause the most damage to the woods they infest. These insects are named for the fine powder, called frass, left by the larvae as they feed and tunnel through the wood.
Infestations are generally discovered when adults pupate and leave the wood. Signs of infestation by Lyctids are round exit holes 1/32รขโฌย to 1/16รขโฌย in diameter. Lyctids prefer the sapwood of open pored hardwoods such as oak, ash and hickory. Rarely will they bother the heartwood. Sapwood has the higher starch content they need to sustain themselves. Adult females lay their eggs in the open pores of exposed wood. The eggs hatch and the larvae will bore into wood where they live for a year generally. This time frame will vary depending on the conditions. The larval life cycle can be extended to over two years in less than ideal conditions.
Anobiids can infest both hardwoods and softwoods. Anobiids, also known as deathwatch beetles and furniture beetles are the ones that do the most damage to furniture. The name รขโฌลdeathwatch beetleรขโฌย came about as a result of the sound produced by the feeding larvae heard late at night when other noise had diminished, frequently during bedside deathwatches. Infestations are recognized by the exit holes of the adults as they pupate, 1/16รขโฌย to 1/8รขโฌย in diameter, larger than the Lyctids.
Bostrichids leave exit holes 3/32รขโฌย to 9/32รขโฌย. Bostrichids rarely infest heartwoods preferring the higher starch content of the sapwoods. One difference between Bostrichids and the other two families is the habit of the adult females of boring into the wood to lay eggs. While the other two families seek open pores and crevices in the wood Bostrichids bore in to lay their eggs.
All three families of Powder Post Beetles prefer wood with a moisture content of between 13% and 20%. These beetles cannot survive in very dry or very wet woods so the easiest form of control is to dry out the environment. If this is not possible sealing the wood with varnish, paint or wax will prevent reinfestation. A low impact chemical solution is to apply borates in a solution of water. The borate solution will be drawn into the wood and feeding larvae will die when eating it. In the case that none of these solutions are feasible a professional fumigator should be called in.
Edited 4/21/2007 12:13 pm ET by LeeGrindinger
Lee,I was going to ask you to post a pic of the beetles if you had one, but googled it instead. Uh, oh. And just out of curiosity, are the adult Bost variety about 3/4" long and extremely hard and crunchy?I wa moving a stack of oak in the shop and noticed a few boards had some suspicious looking holes of about the right diameter. The holes did not line up from board to board, so I took that as a positive sign.I flooded the areas of the holes with mineral spirits. I recall hearing something about that killing the larvae. No sign of live adults or larvae, but I will keep an eye out for them.http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=powder%20post%20beetles&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wiAndy
...something is bugging me
Edited 4/21/2007 7:13 pm ET by AndyE
Here you go, Andy, a description of all three C & P'ed from my files. Also and again, if you're seeing holes they are exit holes, not entry holes. The insects that will infest dry lumber are very few, they simply cannot live in dry lumber any more than we could. Since this country has gone to air conditioning in the summers it's quite rare to see infestations of any sort in furniture. Moister places like crawl spaces are a different matter.With oak your concerns are less yet. The sapwood is the only part that contains enough starch and oak is not generally a wood of choice when others are available.Okay, here are the descriptions;Lyctus beetle adults are 3-5 mm (1/8-1/5 inch) long, reddish-brown to black, and somewhat flattened, with the head distinctly visible from above. Anobiid beetle (furniture beetle and death-watch beetle) adults are 2-5 mm (1/10-1/5 inch) long, reddish-brown to dark brown and covered with fine yellow hairs. Anobiids are cylindrically-shaped--the head is hidden by the thorax when viewed from above. Bostrichid beetle adults are 3-6 mm (1/8-1/4 inch) long, dark brown to black, cylindrical in shape, and have an enlarged thorax which gives the beetle a humpbacked appearance. The larvae of these beetles are seldom seen because they live entirely inside wood. Mature larvae are 5 mm (3/16 inch) long and are white with brownish heads and dark mandibles when mature.
Thanks, Lee, for the descriptions, but that leaves me stumped. I know when I brought the boards in from the pile there were no holes. And exit holes are all well and good, but exit-ed to where? I will have to get a pic of the holes for an expert opinion.Andy
Okay, I had to go down and look.The holes in the boards are considerably larger, some as big as half an inch. And I was wrong, these four boards are sequential from the log. But I will stick by where I said that they had no holes when they were cut. Did I say that? Who knows. I just got home from work and it's late, but if you can identify what made these holes, I will owe you one. Perhaps I could slap a mailing label on them an send you 10' of holy oak.Andy
It looks like the Red Oak Borer to me,http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidls/red%20oak%20borer/redoak.htmGoogle Red Oak Borer for more info and pictures. I used to live in Saugerties. I bought, dried and sold lumber from the local mills and I used to see some of this damage. It can be difficult to see the holes when they are packed with frass.Heh, heh, he...,now you owe me one, we just got back from visiting family in Cooperstown but the next time I'm visiting old friends in the Woodstock Saugerties area I'll collect a beer or three from you. In that fairly civilized part of the planet I'd bet we could find some Boddington's on tap.Lee
Hmmm. Woodpecker, woodpecker, now where did I put that woodpecker? I'll need to stock up on those. I wonder if Lee Valley carries them?Damn if those pictures don't match up to what I got. Not much info on control in cut lumber and management other than "a few beetles are not too damaging, while mass attacks are difficult to treat. "Call before you come, and I'll stock up the Boddingtons.Thanks again.Andy
Andy, it's highly, I mean ***HIGHLY UNLIKELY*** you have a problem.
The bugs have flown, I'll stake my Boddington's on it and that is not something I trifle with.
Just keep the wood dry.
Lee
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