Can this furniture be saved from woodworm ?

[heimlaga]

Note that I suggested putting it in a freezer if you live in a "tropical" place where you don't have freezing winters.
One freeze and thaw cycle is enough and outdoors under cover in such weather is dry enough for furniture. Actually one will normally leave the furniture in a tractor shed or old barn or something where the temperature is the same as outdoors but no rain will reach it should the weather turn for the worse.

To my knowledge both France and Britain seems to have areas with freezing winter weather for a couple of weeks or so every winter.....or am I incorrectly informed?
That is a good deal less than the four months of freezing weather we typically had before global warming struck and the two and a half month we typically have now.

This method works only with the most common woodworm species found in furniture. It is called Anobium punctatum in latin if that helps. I don't know it's English name but the picture of the damage looked like that species to my eyes.

Another more costly method to kill of the same sort of woodworm is to heat up the room where you keep the furniture. Keep at least +20 degrees celsius and the relative humidity below 50% for a month or so. Then the worms all dry out and die.
This is also normally done in winter when to cold temperatures outside condense all humidity as snow and hence the heated air indoors becomes very dry.

 

[TheTiddles]

Yes, the UK gets cold and regularly drops below zero in winter... we still get common furniture beetle. So either they’re migrating in with the geese each spring or... they’re rather more hardy than you think.

20 Celsius is a not particularly hot living temperature and the country will hold that or above for several days during the summer... we still get common furniture beetle and I’m still not certain the geese are involved.

This may be why most sources say the cold needs to be -30 for hours to effectively kill them, or over +50. Those conditions commonly happen in counties that aren’t the UK, but we’d need a big freezer or an oven to get furniture to those temperatures which is, exactly how they conserve antiques in this country that are affected by furniture beetle.

If you’ve not got that on hand, you can buy the pesticide you brush on for about £5.

 

[eribaMotters]

If it is not of any financial or sentimental value then I'd use paraffin and a source of ignition. Otherwise soak it in the likes of Cuprinol 5 star, leave to dry and then wax to get a finish back and fill all holes. If any holes appear after this then revert to paraffin and a source of ignition.

Colin

 

[Arnold J]

Most worm only attacks wood with moisture in it. Was the furniture damp or in a damp place? Dry it out and the infestation should/will disappear.
No idea about the viability of the wood that’s left.

 

[Ozi]

Most worm only attacks wood with moisture in it. Was the furniture damp or in a damp place? Dry it out and the infestation should/will disappear.
No idea about the viability of the wood that’s left.

following your post I found this

Woodworm prefers timber with moisture content over 18 %, although it can tolerate moisture contents as low as 12 % for short periods. At lower moisture levels, however, the rate of colonization tends to be low and infestation will die out with prolonged periods of reduced moisture levels.

Compares to <20% to stop dry rot

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

We have had woodwork in the mill at Nutley, East Sussex. Unheated of course so follows the outside ambient temperature so I'm not sure that putting your furniture outside in the UK will help. Others have given their opinions of what to do so I'll not comment further. A tip given us though from our local post eradicationcompany is to wrap the item of concern in cling film. If the worm is still active during the hatching season it will bore holes in the cling film. Remove the film in June/July (I think that's the right time) and see if the beggars have eaten their way out.
Martin

 

[bryan267]

I think the only sure way is with chemicals which can be sprayed/painted and injected into holes to saturate the wood. I have done it with old furniture. It killed the woodworm, but the 'low odour' still left a dreadful smell and made the unit useless for storing anything which would carry the smell. That was 40 years ago, so I'm sure there are better woodworm killers now.

I’m often picking stuff up from auction, holes are common, i use sikka treatment, they have a few, it does smell like old water for a while, but it only kills the bugs as they try to leave the wood via a new hole, treatment is on the outer few millimetres only. I had success in removing the smell much faster with boiled linseed oil, though i’m sure most protective finishes would significantly reduce the odor. I keep dog towels in a monks bench I treated and they dont smell. Either that or i am completely nose blind to smell of old water now.

 

[bryan267]

I’m often picking stuff up from auction, holes are common, i use sikka treatment, they have a few, it does smell like old water for a while, but it only kills the bugs as they try to leave the wood via a new hole, treatment is on the outer few millimetres only. I had success in removing the smell much faster with boiled linseed oil, though i’m sure most protective finishes would significantly reduce the odor. I keep dog towels in a monks bench I treated and they dont smell. Either that or i am completely nose blind to smell of old water now.

I did not type old water, lol. What goes into a urinal. Clever program though.

 

[1steven]

Our frosts perhaps do not compare with long periods of sub zero weather as in Finland, it has been 10 years or more since any real prolonged freezing weather around my neck of the woods . A continued freezing and thawing as we get here would as you say be unlikely to work
As it appears to be the normal way of doing things in Finland , heimlage and the others Fins may know something that we dont ,after all we live and learn something new every day

If I left furniture outside it would blow away.

 

[1steven]

I have woodworm mainly on some panelling in my dining room my wife would not be pleased if I dismantled it and took out outside. Will have to treat it in situ. Found it behind some hardboard this week.

 

[TRITON]

What about using some sort of stabilizer ? Or if you can disassemble into small enough parts maybe try to force it to absorb epoxy under vacuum.

 

[David bonner]

Another bit of advice leave out of the way and leave till the critters have disappeared then get to work on it use plenty of woodworm killer and as for filling the holes up use some dark wood filler and try and get something to match the colour of the unit ok.

 

[Arnold J]

Tragically the critters can sit in the wood for up to 5 years.
Chemical attack is limited in its success as it doesn’t absorb into the wood by more than a millimetre or so. And I think that the surface tension of the liquid means it doesn’t go into the holes that the worm create.
Best to create a hostile environment by drying it out. And to boot you you won’t have the chemical leaching into your environment

 

[David bonner]

Tragically the critters can sit in the wood for up to 5 years.
Chemical attack is limited in its success as it doesn’t absorb into the wood by more than a millimetre or so. And I think that the surface tension of the liquid means it doesn’t go into the holes that the worm create.
Best to create a hostile environment by drying it out. And to boot you you won’t have the chemical leaching into your environment

well it looks like you’re at a dead end loss anyway but the only way I can think of is to saturate the whole stuff in a big bath or large vat of some kind in wood worm killer and leave it till everything has done that’s all but it’s very costly to do but that’s the only solution I can think of or just get shot of it ok.

 

[JimB]

One method used out here is to put items in black plastic bags and leave them in the sun.
A friend of mine swears by a borax based treatment while others use kerosene/paraffin either alone or as a carrier for other chemicals. For small pieces you could try microwaving.
However, as others have said, the real question is "How important is the piece to you?"
Is it important enough to undertake a full-scale restoration, to warrant dismantling to simplify treatment and patching/recarving the worst affected areas?
It could be a satisfying project or, a source of kindling.

 

[David bonner]

well it looks like you’re at a dead end loss anyway but the only way I can think of is to saturate the whole stuff in a big bath or large vat of some kind in wood worm killer and leave it till everything has done that’s all but it’s very costly to do but that’s the only solution I can think of or just get shot of it ok.

It’s your item to deal with it ok there are many ways to overcome the problem but it’s going to be an arduous project to do also could be more expensive than the item that was brought in the first place so you’re back at square 1. That’s if you don’t know much about chemicals and there reactions to wood do you know what methane chloride dose to wood?! This stuff is dangerous in the wrong hands if you are not acoustomed to it ok.!