advice needed about worm

[stewart]

I've brought home some cedar from my mother in law's which was toppled by the storm in 1987 and sawn into boards and thick beams by a mobile sawyer, sticked and stacked for the last 18 years!! I guess this is nearly enough drying time. However, there are some worm holes in the pieces - is there an obvious way of telling if the worm is still there? I've ripped the beams into about 1 1/2 inch boards from 4 inch thicknesses to see if any worms are there, but no sightings yet. I don't want to keep ripping the wood thinner and thinner as I see myself ending up with nothing more than some very nice smelling sawdust!
Any tips??
An almost complete novice,
Stewart

 

[Losos]

Hi Stewart - There's another thread on this site titled W.O.R.M which has a lot of info and a good link to a site which describes the three main types. Apparently you can freezr them to death but you need to get down to minus 18 C which I can do here in CZ but it's probably not possible in England.

 

[stewart]

thanks, losos
certainly lots of advice there. i guess i'll have to investigate the wood a bit more and cut into some of the holey areas.
thanks again
stewart

 

[Argus]

Generally speaking, if you can see the clean holes, they have been and gone.

If there is a quantity of fine dust, then they may already be in residence.

Sometimes worms go for the standing tree, ususally in the sap wood.
If this is the case, discard the sap and use the harder heart wood.

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