Replies

1. 
   Bengst | Jul 25, 2002 04:48am | #1

   You could try taking the chairs to your favorite resturaunt and asking if it would be ok to have the chairs sit in their walk-in freezer overnight.  Or find a huge oven and bake them at low temperature for a while. 

   Jeffrey

    

2. 
   goldhiller | Jul 25, 2002 06:32am | #2

   You don’t say what wood these chairs are made of, how long they have been in the states (this is an assumption on my part), where they have been stored or if/when the client was aware of the evidence of infestation. They could be infested with powder- post beetle, carpenter ants, common furniture beetles, deathwatch beetles, European longhorn beetles, or any number of other wood-consuming pests. You have three basic options to kill any of the insects that may or may not yet be inside those pieces of lumber:

   #1 – Micro- wave the piece on high for about three to five minutes. For various reasons, this is not likely your best option.

   #2 – Vacuum out the holes and then inject an insecticide in each hole via a syringe. For this, I would use an insecticide containing pyrethrins (sp?) . This insecticide is commonly available as the active ingredient in products sold in liquid form in hardware stores. Plastic hobby type syringes are also readily available.

   The downside potential of this is that if you apply too little insecticide, you won’t get the job done and if you apply too much insecticide, it will interfere with your gluing and finishing unless you allow the excess to evaporate until the wood is dry.

   #3 – Build an appropriately sized temporary containment in which you can place the chairs, all at once or one at a time, along with an appropriate heat source (electric space heater?) such that you can attain and maintain a temperature of 180F. Leave the chairs in this arrangement for a minimum of one hour per one inch of material thickness. You would use the thickest part of the chair to determine your time. Make certain that the chairs are inside the arrangement as the temperature is raised to the target temperature. Design this arrangement keeping safety in mind and do not leave the area while the process is active. You can use an oven or candy thermometer to assure that your target temperature has been reached. Plywood or rigid foam insulation might be used for the walls of the containment box.

   And no, I wouldn't feel comfortable bringing this material into my house or my shop without taking precautions. Place each chair into a plastic garbage bag and seal it up until treatment time. To be on the safe side, I'd spray some insecticide into each bag just prior to sealing it.

1. 
   SgianDubh | Jul 25, 2002 06:54am | #4

   GoldH, '20's/30's chairs from France full of worm holes are most likely to be European beech throughout and faked up to be European walnut, or a mixture of beech with walnut 'trimmings' and solid bits-- I've repaired and restored a bunch of them, and the timbers I mentioned are typical. Both timbers are favourites of the common furniture beetle. Anyway, the visible holes indicate that whatever was infesting these chairs has hatched, pupated, and the adult has munched its way out of the timber and moved on in an attempt to find and lay eggs in fresh pastures. Common furniture beetles are not fond of timbers like European oak, nor mahogany-- hence my suggestion of beech and walnut being most likely--- but they do like ash, and they'll make an exception for the sapwood of either mahogany or oak. Anyway, the bugs emerge in the spring in temperate climates in both the northern hemisphere and southern, so the trick is to poison any of the little b-uggers that were laid as eggs last year, and your treatment suggestions seem helpful. personally, I don't worry too much about bringing obviously previously bug infested furniture into my workshop. Been doing it for years, and no doubt I'll continue to do it 'till I pack up hacking away at furniture. Slainte, RJ.RJFurniture

3. 
   Dale | Jul 25, 2002 06:43am | #3

   Call several pesticide companies to see if they are set-up to gas the chairs with methyl bromide.  Let them handle this as it's not a diy job.  Have the chair owner pay for this service.

   
   

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   Edited 7/25/2002 2:58:15 AM ET by Dale

4. 
   forestgirl | Jul 26, 2002 10:08pm | #5

   Nisus Corp makes a product called Bora-Care, containing a form of boric acid made specifically for this purpose.  It may be available at a big box store or hadrware store.  If not, try their web site or call (1-800-264-0870):

   http://www.nisuscorp.com

   According to the article I read, it will remain in the wood for a period of time, getting larvae that hatch after application.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)