ID on woodworm

[Beau]

Went to a chaps house today and mentioned I was a furniture maker so got dragged in to see their butcher block. He said it had woodworm so I was expecting to see the usual little exit holes but nothing of the sort. It had one big hole in the top which looked like old rot and they said they would here it scrunching in the wood and it would then push dust out this hole overnight. It came from France and the woodworm was first noticed in Spain but the woodworm is still active now they are in the UK. Anyone heard of a woodworm that works like this and any bright ideas how to kill it without chemicals baring in mind it's a working butchers block?

Thanks

 

[marcros]

how big is the block? I would put it in the freezer if possible for a few days to kill it.

 

[pollys13]

There was a post recently about killing them off in the freezer, seems to have to take down really low.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I guess it won't fit in the microwave ... works great for wooden planes though.

 

[Ttrees]

The deathwatch beetle ...
There's one little f****r in the wall 3 feet away from me, has been one there for near two years.
There's another that is in the kitchen beside the light, possibly where the wire is coming through the wood.
The dog noticed another one seeking the one in the wall out ...big things they are !

Does it sound like you dragged your thumbnail of a zipper... one two three four five,
then a pause for a while ?

That's the 4 species of boring beetle in my house, hence why I'm mad for toxic timbers...
When you get grubs in your tea box migrating slowly towards the roof,
grub cocoons everywhere in your clothes and furnishings and frass about the place
Even crawling up the laptop !
You really begin to hate,em

Tom

 

[custard]

It had one big hole in the top

Pearwood from central Europe is frequently steamed during kilning, I've heard that it's done to ensure the complete destruction of the very large borers that favour that particular timber. I've seen Pearwood boards with woodworm type boreholes that are about 6mm in diameter. In tropical timbers you get even bigger bore holes, even in ultra hard exotics like African Blackwood and Ebony you sometimes find holes large enough that you can poke your finger in them. Termites perhaps? I don't know, but I'm glad they don't survive long in our climate.

 

[Beau]

how big is the block? I would put it in the freezer if possible for a few days to kill it.

Probably get the top in a chest freezer at at a push but it will be a bit of handfull

 

[Beau]

It had one big hole in the top

The hole in the top is not from a borer as far as I can tell. It was not regular in shape and big enough for a mouse to get in. Think it just had a patch rot out but not certain.

Only idea I have had was to vacuum bag it but no idea on what affect it would have on these little critters.

 

[sunnybob]

It'll soon be november the fifth.
Just saying, like.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Beau]

It'll soon be november the fifth.
Just saying, like.

Well yes I would agree but they are clearly very attached to it having dragged it around Europe so would like to find a solution for them.

 

[sunnybob]

Tell them that the beetles are alive and hungry, and will infest every other piece of wood they possess untill their house falls down.
That might change their minds.

 

[Beau]

Joking aside do we think vacuum bagging would work?

 

[whatknot]

The solution seems obvious to me ;-)

Its a French beastie of some description, so find a small piece of succulent wood offcut, soak it in garlic and leave it outside the hole

Arm yourself with a large baseball bat and wait

(if it was mine I would set fire to it pronto)

Joking aside do we think vacuum bagging would work?

 

[whatknot]

Do you mean those plastic bags you suck the air out of?

I would very much doubt they would work, they are not good enough to extract every bit of air, so whatever is in the wood would continue to live quite happily until you remove the bag again

Even freezing it may not kill it and if it does you have a nice rotting beastie in your block, doesn't sound very appetising :-(

Joking aside do we think vacuum bagging would work?