Ambrosia Maple Question

[Grimmy2016]

I am looking at utilizing some air dried ambrosia maple. It does show little holes in the wood where I assume bugs got into the wood (was there from the day it was freshly cut) and I am curious if I should put epoxy or some other filler into these whole before using for a table? I like the look but want to be sure no bugs come crawling out later.

Thoughts on what, if anything, I should do with the bug holes?

 

[Mike Davis]

The holes were made by the ambrosia beetle, also what makes the colored streaks in the wood.

It needs to be heat treated to kill the eggs and larvae inside. I think it is 130°F for 8 hours to reach the center of the board.

Then you can fill with wood dough or epoxy if you like.

 

[Grimmy2016]

The holes were made by the ambrosia beetle, also what makes the colored streaks in the wood.

It needs to be heat treated to kill the eggs and larvae inside. I think it is 130°F for 8 hours to reach the center of the board.

Then you can fill with wood dough or epoxy if you like.

Do I need to do that if the wood has air dried for 4 years? No new piles of dust or holes have appeared from what I have seen.

If the length of the wood is 8ft plus, any way to treat it without going to a kiln?

 

[Mike Davis]

If you search here you may find where people before have made tents from plastic and used electric heaters and a small fan to raise the temperature inside the tent.

From what I understood it doesn't matter how long it air dried, it still needs to be sterilized.

 

[sawman101]

I remember a man that built his small kiln in his shop, it was made so it had a workbench type top, had some doors in the front and on the ends. For heat he used light bulbs and a small fan. That setup, though small, kiln dried a lot of lumber over the years. BTW, the bench top tilted open.

 

[SabertoothBunny]

A pure black wood filler mashed into the holes will work or a dyed epoxy. As talked about, those whole a bug tunnels that caused the discoloration. Find someone with a kiln who that can hold pieces that large to kill the little critters off otherwise you will conitnue to have issues with the wood.