Worm holes in rough sawn oak, what to do?

[Travis]

Last August had a lot of fun slabbing oak into lumber. It has been a year now and I am looking at bringing it into my basement to further season. I noticed that there are small worm holes on the edges of some of the boards but not really on the board faces. This leads me to several questions that I hope forum can help answer.

1. If I bring these boards into the basement, can the bugs migrate to my house framing?

2. Is there a chemical to spray to kill bugs/larve that might be in the boards.

3. Since I have not noticed holes on the face of the boards could just be where insects bored into the tree at the edges.

4. Do I now have a big pile of fire wood?:BangHead::BangHead::BangHead:

See pics below:

hard to see but you can make out the dark dots which are small holes.

Typical picture of the face of a board with no holes.

 

[jeff...]

Travis bugs are a natural part of wood. I got a load going to Scott's in a few weeks, check with Scott about slipping yours in with mine to be KD.

Thanks

 

[Travis]

Forgive me, but who is Scotts. BTW, I live in Hickory, but I am from Creedmoor.

 

[adowden]

Dear Travis,

I recently asked a professional woodworker of 30 years some of your questions. He said that chances are the powder post beetles are long gone. As long as you don't see piles of dust under the area around the holes, you are probably O.K.

There is a chemical that you can use to kill the beetles and larvae. It is called Boracare, but it is liquid gold. The smallest quantity that I have seen is 1 gallon and I think it is around $100. They claim it will soak up to 4" in the wood. You can also subject it to 140 degrees for two weeks (I think).

I have some walnut in my workshop loft that I bought at an auction. It is 3 or 4 inches thick and it has worm holes only in the sapwood (the outside light wood) and not in the heartwood. I'm not sure why.

I have read up alot on the powder post beetles and they say that they only leave the wood once a year in June. Based on this you could at least store the wood in your basement until spring :lol:.
I would think that they like termites would need a certain moisture content to survive, but I couldn't find any information on that. I have also seen somewhere that you can put masking tape over the holes and check it periodically to see if it has been bored through.

Please do not throw away the wood. People pay big money for fake worm holes and you have the real thing!

Amy

 

[Kyle]

Heat is your best chance of eliminating recurring PPB. It needs to be KD to above 135 degrees for a minimum of 24 hours.

 

[scsmith42]

Hi Travis - I'm the "Scott" that Jeff referred to. I have a wood kiln and work with Jeff to provide kiln dried lumber. Typically I put a new load in the kiln about every 30 days or so.

Kyle's advice is right on target - the way to treat powder post beetles is to kiln dry the lumber and put it through a sterilization cycle at 135 degrees F or above for at least 24 hours. I tend to be conservative and will usually sterilize the load for at least 48 hours.

Jeff is planning to bring me another load of wood in late August. Depending upon the sizes and quantity of your boards, we could include it at that time. My farm is about 50 minutes south of Creedmore in New Hill (in between Apex and Sanford off of US1).

Kyle also has a kiln, and he may be closer to you (he's located outside of Charlotte).

Let us know if we can help.

Scott

 

[DaveO]

Travis there was some discussion on this subject a while ago. Now that I have figured out the search engine I was able to find it http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5324&highlight=killing+bugs+wood

HTH, Dave

 

[jeff...]

Just as a side note PP beatle holes are quite a bit bigger than termite holes. I wouldn't let either stop me. Heat kills the bugs and a little sanding dust and CA fills the holes. Worm holes gives the wood character you won't find at BORG. The important thing is to kill the bugs, once that's done your good to go. You might want talk with Scott or Kyle about putting the lumber into the kiln. I've got a load going into Scott's kiln in the next few weeks, I would be more than happy to share some kiln space with you.

Thanks

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

They are bug/worm holes . . . . they are "character" :-D:-D

 

[Travis Porter]

I am with Alan. I have had quite a bit of white oak that I air dried in a tobacco barn for years and have had zero issues with the beetles, and I don't fill the holes anymore. Filling them can make them stand out more IMO.

 

[McRabbet]

I had some beetle holes (roughly 1/16" in diameter) in some beautiful quarter sawn white oak I recently bought. Here's what Ozzie-x recommended to me: After I finished sanding them with my ROS at 220 grit following glue-up, I used the saw dust mixed in with my Seal-A-Cell sealer coat to form a slurry to fill in the holes. I wiped off the excess and then sanded the surface with 220 grit 24 hours later. I works well and has a pretty close color match since it is from the same wood. After three finish coats of Arm-R-Seal, the holes are almost imperceptible.

 

[Travis]

Scott,

Thanks for the offer. See the Pic below of how much I a have to treat. I would be happy to bring some by to you if you have room. I am more than happy to pay for the service as well. Fuel ain't cheap these days.

Travis

 

[Kyle]

I have a load of walnut to run the next 2 weeks then after that if you want to kiln dry it closer you are welcome to bring it to Iron Station.

 

[scsmith42]

Travis - if you've been drying the oak outside for a year, it's probably down to around 16% or so. Typically wood destined for indoor use is kiln dried below 10%, in addition to the sterilization. Would you want to bring yours down below 10, or just sterilize it?

Also, what are the dimensions on your stack (length, width, height). That will help Kyle and I determine if we can slip this in with an existing load in the kiln.

Kyle, is there any chance that you could slip it in with the last few days of your walnut and take it the rest of the way down and then sterilize?

I've got about 3K bd ft of oak in mine right now; once Travis responds I'll have to measure to see if there is room to add it at the end of my load.

Scott

 

[Kyle]

I would need to know the length of the wood to be able to determine that. The load I am running is 10-12 foot and 1400 bf for a customer which is a very odd size. Good thing is that it is thoroughly air dried and should be complete in about 4 -5 days. That would mean next week the kiln is open for whatever I want to dry.

 

[jeff...]

Make sure you got your favorite snake stick handy (shot gun), when your unstacking that lumber. This time of the year snakes like to get inbetween the rows.

 

[zimman20]

I'm with the others who said they're character. I make no attempt to fill them, if they happen to land in a part of a board that I want to use then they stay where they are, as they are. ;-)

Same goes for knots and sapwood, BTW...

 

[Travis]

Scott & Kyle,

I guess the best thing to do would be to kill bugs and dry it out so I can use it right away. The first project that I have planned for it is the work bench that Monty built. I have been watching it dry for a year and I am becoming impatient.

If you guys can take it and process it that would be great. The hack is 4'x4'x9'. Kyle I checked Mapuest and you are only 23 miles from house, it would probably be easier to bring to you since I do not think I am going to be able to haul the stack in one load with my F-150.

Thanks.

Jeff,

Thanks for the tip. I think I will have the wife and kids unstack the boards while I standback with a shotgun.

Travis

 

[FredP]

awww shucks! just ask jeff what ya can git on a f-150.:rolf: you would be surprized how much lighter it is after drying for a year or so. [ i think you said it was a year old? ] my wife once put almost 2 tons of gravel on mine [ i could a kilt her! ] and drove it 25 or 30 miles over country roads!8-O. no harm done.:rolf:

fred p

 

[jeff...]

Yeah my 98 GMC 1/2 ton has seen a little weight in the bed :roll: