This is my first message on this or any discussion site. Does anybody out there have susggestions as to making sure wood worms are eliminated in hardwood.
Last year, I bought some hard wood boards that did contain a few worm holes. After having brought these boards into my shop (heated) and planning them for a project that I was working on, I discovered that there were more holes hidden inside the outer layers of rough board.
I don’t mind some worm holes but how can I tell if the worms are still present and active? Also, how can I eliminate them? The worms not the holes.
Thanks.
Replies
If they are active you will see saw dust around the hole or on the floor where the wood is stored. Several years ago I made some drawers from air dried soft maple and about a year later I saw a small pile of saw dust in the drawer back and a hole above it, the drawer had two coats of poly on it at the time. I removed the drawer and with a eye dropper I applied methyl alcohol to the hole and since then I haven't seen any more saw dust, maybe the worm changed into a beetle and escaped. I am very leery of using air dried wood for this reason. I remember when I was planning the wood I exposed an elongated worm hole with a worm in it but I thought it was a random thing and not finding any more I proceeded to use the wood for the drawers. Hope this helps you.
Kiln drying should kill them, so heating the wood would work too. I built a highboy in 1990. Last week I pulled out one of the drawers and a side was riddled with holes & tunnels. I must have built with infested wood; I know I used air-dried stuff. I had to replace both the side and the back. There doesn't seem to be any other infestation. Sure takes awhile to show up. Rick
Thanks
Jean, generally speaking , borers attack the sapwood, which contains the nutrients they need. I suggest you cut off all the sapwood and burn it-that is a sure way to eliminate them. If there are eggs in the pores or in seasoning cracks the heat of kiln drying may or may not be enough to cook them.Timber with high moisture content, sapwood and bark is more likely to be attacked by borer beetles which lay eggs which later hatch into larvae which eat their way through the sapwood until they mature and emerge, leaving tunnels and powdery dust or frass. If you keep the timber , or make furniture from it , the process can continue.
It is best to avoid using sapwood. What species are you using?
Thanks for the response.
I'm not really sure what species of wood it is. The wood was cut into boards several seasons ago. It was air dried both inside and outside as well as being outside during subzero weather for at least one complete winter.
I'm not sure if the beetles are still alive and the cycle of reproduction continuing or not. I can get rid of the boards in question, What I don't want to do is get my other hardwood boards infected. In reading your response I understood that a change in weather or humidity could reactivate the reproduction cycle of these insects.
Jean Guy
Two options that I'm familiar with: Freezing and Pesticides.
We have a high profile restoration/conservation shop in our town and they have what can only be described as a rather extraordinary freezer. About the size of an average room. Pieces are arranged with one layer - no pieces can be touching. The temps are lowered slowly and kept at sub zero for a time (forget how long) then allowed to naturally return to room temp. If the door to the freezer is opened too soon, allowing normal moisture into the frigid, dry air, a frost forms in the room and the pieces can be ruined. The process can take weeks.
You can do some simple web searching and find commercially available chemicals that will do the job. Maybe someone here knows of a brand name.
I know the freezing works having had a period table "frozen" to preserve - or stop - the progression of beetles. I've heard mixed results about the chemicals. Obviously, it would be easier to chemically treat lumber than to chemically treat a writing desk...
Here's a link to just about everything you never wanted to know about wood beetles:
http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/l-1784.html
Thanks for the information.
Before I brought the boards into my heated shop, I had left them outside for the winter. Our temperature in eastern Canada is welll below freezing for several months. I wonder if this would have been enough.
Jean Guy
"Our temperature in eastern Canada is welll below freezing for several months. I wonder if this would have been enough."I don't recall the exact temperature used in the freezing room, but do recall it was severe. The freeze period is at least several weeks. Here in Maine, beetles can and do make it through the winters. If I were you, I would look into pesticides.I'm not a fan of Home Depot, but they carry a product that I know others have used with success on wood boring beetles. Here's a link:http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/jsearch/product.jsp?pn=163235Regards.
Since posting my request for suggestions re: Wood Worms, I have received some suggestions plus I did a little research on the internet. Here are some of the products that I have been given or have come across. Each is suggested for different applications and I don't know what the results will be.
Timbor, Terminate, Boracare, Borasol, Pheromone Traps, Baygon Aerosol and Jecta Gel.
Thought I'd pass it along.
JeanGuy
Any lumber that has been air dried I treat with Timbor and let sit outside for a day. Any wood that I plan on storing in my shop, Kiln dried or air dried, I spray with tempo on and around the wood. It is a very effective and safe residual pesticide. Never have had a bug problem. The Timbor is for wood boring insects and works good for getting rid of a suspected infestation. The tempo works good to keeping from getting one. Shane
Thanks
JeanGuy
I've air dried local walnut, olive, oak, and eucalyptus, some of it with active termites. I freeze the boards in the freezer for a few weeks, then put them in a warm place for a few weeks, then freeze them again. My wife is a little bemused at times when she goes into the freezer and finds her turkey's under a stack of walnut.
I've been using local wood for a dozen years now and so far so good. I did have a termite infestation on the porch where we stage firewood between the wood rick and the stove. They're gone now, it seems, and I hope.
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