Woodworm holes in tool

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Gravers007

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Hi all,

I was recently given an acquaintances wooden marking gauge, but it appears to have quite a few holes that appear to be from woodworm. Is there an easy way to know if the woodworm is active? Alternatively is there a way i can treat the wood to ensure that there is not active woodworm?

I'm a bit nervous about the holes as i haven't had any experience in dealing with them. Part of me is thinking of just getting rid of the gauge rather than take any risk - but appreciate that this may be overkill.

Thanks in advance,
Gravers
 
Knock it against something and if "dust" falls out of the holes it is more than likely an active infestation. The best course of action would be to coat it in some Woodworm killer, even if it doesn't seem like an active infestation.

I've made the mistake before of saying "this piece should be alright, seems ok" and having worm eating up quite a lot of my timber, stored bowl blanks etc not more than a month later. The woodworm (Which are actually little beetles) were actually on the outside some of the pieces. Since I kept all infected pieces in a shipping container, I fumigated it twice which killed the live external beetles and then painstakingly painted (took hours) all decent timber with woodworm killer just in case.
 
If you fill all the holes with wax, you'll be able to see if any fresh ones appear. I use a set of three shades of brown, by Liberon and melt it into the holes with a small screwdriver, warmed in the flame of a lighter.
In my experience, with tools stored in a warmish, dry place, I've never had any reoccurrence of damage or cross infection.
 
Put it in a freezer bag or container and put it in the deep freezer for a couple weeks. Take it out for a couple weeks and put it back into the freezer again for another couple weeks. If any survive after that then they deserve to live. ;)
 
Great advice!!! I’ve wrapped it in cling film asi didn’t have a feeezer bag big enough. Then I’ll be off to shops tomoroow for freezer bags. After a couple of weeks in the freezer I’ll fill them up with wax. Which will help check none of the blighters are still there but will also get rid of the unsightly holes! Thanks guys :)
 
I have to ask.... whats the value of this item,compared to the value of whats around it?
I made the mistake of trying to save an old Edward Preston beech plane. 2 months later I found piles of sawdust under the plane and several pieces of nearby timber with holes in.
I burnt the lot, and history be damned. 2 years later, not a hole in sight.
 
At the moment I can keep it completely separate from everything else and have another gauge I can use. So once I’ve done the steps above, I can keep it in a zip lock bag for a while to make sure no new holes appear.

It’s not expensive at all, but I feel a bit ungrateful to burn it after someone’s home to the effort of giving it to me.
 
I was recently offered a 100 year old work bench by a friend's father who wanted it to go to a good home where it would be used. I had to say 'no thanks' and I felt somewhat bad about it but the bench had several issues.
Ther main issue was that it was riddled with worm holes and I didn't want it anywhere near my tools or wood stock. The second problem was that the surface was badly chopped up and needed about an inch taking off to make it flat and thirdly, the vices were missing.
 
For smaller tools like moulding planes with no metal parts (take the iron out), a few minutes in the microwave will sort anything alive in there. Take care not to heat the wood too much, the moisture content of anything living will be higher than the wood, so it will absorb more of the energy.

The trick of quarantine in a ziplock bag for a few months to be sure is not a bad idea.
 
Steliz":1nlp003d said:
I was recently offered a 100 year old work bench by a friend's father who wanted it to go to a good home where it would be used. I had to say 'no thanks' and I felt somewhat bad about it but the bench had several issues.
Ther main issue was that it was riddled with worm holes and I didn't want it anywhere near my tools or wood stock. The second problem was that the surface was badly chopped up and needed about an inch taking off to make it flat and thirdly, the vices were missing.

I bought a 13' bench, well worn with huge two baulks of beech on 6" square legs. It was alive with worm (it came from an undertakers - it was probably the most alive thing there). It was £30 quid's worth of fire wood........ and the two 53e's came free. :D
 
Harbo":35oduy03 said:
I’ve read that freezing works too.
Rod

I've read it too, but I'm sceptical. Wood eating beetles survive in the outside world even when there is a severe spell of freezing weather in the winter. I think it's one of the big advantages of the egg-grub-beetle life cycle. Lots of woodworkers could be freezing tools which had already been abandoned by beetles which have emerged and flown away. No damage recurs, so it looks like the freezing worked.
Does anyone know of any proper research?
 
You can buy woodworm treatment (chemical) and inject it directly into individual holes with a syringe. That isn't practical in, say, a house restoration, but for a tool it seems like the most sensible and safe approach. A kitchen equipment-type approach wouldn't be my first choice.
 
AndyT":rg97201x said:
Harbo":rg97201x said:
I’ve read that freezing works too.
Rod

I've read it too, but I'm sceptical. Wood eating beetles survive in the outside world even when there is a severe spell of freezing weather in the winter. I think it's one of the big advantages of the egg-grub-beetle life cycle. Lots of woodworkers could be freezing tools which had already been abandoned by beetles which have emerged and flown away. No damage recurs, so it looks like the freezing worked.
Does anyone know of any proper research?

I too am sceptical of freezing especially of killing off any eggs.

Personally I'd use paraffin / kerosene if it warranted keeping. That said, not sure the slight adverse feeling of disposing of an infested tool because it was gifted would be enough for me to take the risk.
 
Freezing does work, it's used both commercially and in conservation work for/by museums. But to work best the freezing needs to be swift and deep, so some sources claim that at home to be effective you need a chest freezer (professionally they use walk-in freezers). And the stuff needs to be kept cold for a good while, couple of weeks at least. A few days won't cut it.

I've frozen various pieces when I can and it has appeared to work, i.e. no recurrence that I've noticed, but as Andy rightly says it could well be that I froze wood that had no further worm in it! This is the dilemma common to all home treatments, including any well-regarded woodworm killer and can account for some of their good word of mouth.... Since frass falling from the holes isn't a sure sign of active worm and no frass falling from holes doesn't indicate the opposite, the usual state of affairs is not actually being sure there's a current infestation.

After reading up on it at lot in the past few years I consider over-the-counter woodworm killers basically a sop. I have one and use it, but unless I have no choice I don't rely on it as the sole means of treatment because it's well known that surface treatments can have no effect on active worm inside the wood and aren't guaranteed to prevent re-infestation either.

My favourite method, when it can be used, is to microwave first and then freeze. Then I treat with woodworm killer, leave for a couple of days to dry and then apply finish.
 
shed9":36dkr1i3 said:
AndyT":36dkr1i3 said:
Harbo":36dkr1i3 said:
I’ve read that freezing works too.
Rod
I've read it too, but I'm sceptical.
I too am sceptical of freezing especially of killing off any eggs.
Freezing does work, and there's plenty of evidence of its effectiveness, e.g., it's used commercially, and this surely wouldn't be the case if the method was ineffective. Below is an extract from the timber technology book,Cut & Dried.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There are several non-chemical methods used to control insects. For the woodworker, the two we are most likely to encounter are freezing and high heat treatment, although it’s possible we may come across other methods including radiation and gas treatments such as nitrogen, oxygen scavenging and carbon dioxide treatments. These gas treatments rely on the insect's need for oxygen to survive, and denying it to them by one method or another eventually kills them.

Freeze treatments to destroy insect pests, including eggs, grubs and larvae work best when the temperature drops rapidly. The target temperature should be reached within twenty four hours throughout the object to be most effective, not just the surrounding air temperature or the outer portions of the piece. Insects can adapt to slow changes in temperature much better than they can cope with relatively quick changes. The freezer must be capable of taking temperatures down to at least -18ºC (-0.4ºF) and then once the object has reached this temperature it has to be maintained for at least two weeks. If the freezer can maintain temperatures as low as –30ºC (-22ºF) the treatment period, once the necessary temperature is reached, can be as short as three days.

A difficulty to overcome using freeze treatments is maintaining the moisture content of the object being treated. Water migrates out of wood as atmospheric RH drops, and cold air has very low RH so water moves out of wood and it may become too dry. As was discussed briefly in Section 8, Seasoning, Drying or Conditioning of Wood, freeze drying is one method of seasoning timber. Small objects must be wrapped and sealed in plastic bags to help maintain moisture content levels, and if air can be evacuated from the bag prior to freezing, this further helps maintain the object’s moisture content. After treatment the wrapping needs to stay in place until the object properly reaches normal temperatures to prevent condensation onto it as this may cause damage to finishes and so on.

Even rather large furniture items such as tables and chairs can be treated successfully if they are bagged and frozen in a walk-in freezer. Relative humidity needs maintaining at a suitable level, typically approximately 50%, in order to maintain wood moisture content at roughly 10%. If the piece has a lot of decorative veneer or inlay there is a high risk of irretrievable damage to these parts so freeze treatment is very likely to be inappropriate. There may also be a risk of damage to the applied finish negating the possibility of using this form of treatment.

Freezing might also succeed if there is an infestation in unworked but seasoned wood at about 10% MC or below where the boards can be close or dead stacked, similarly plastic wrapped as a pack, and frozen. However, wood is a good insulator and a large stack of wood might take considerable time to reach the target temperature. In this case individual wrapping and stickering as for seasoning would significantly reduce the time required to freeze the wood.

Heat of 50ºC (122ºF) and higher, maintained for extended periods, kills most insects at all stages of their life cycle. As with freezing, holding the moisture content of the treated object at an appropriate level is vital. In the early 1990s the German Thermo Lignum company was a pioneer in developing insect pest control using a purpose built chamber system with temperature and humidity controls to prevent damage to treated objects. This system controls atmospheric RH at a set point decided by the customer [usually 50%] and raises temperatures to 52ºC (126ºF) in the chamber and treatment cycles last, on average, twenty four hours. House longhorn beetle is more tolerant and needs a temperature of 55˚C. Treatment times are therefore quicker than freezing and large furniture items can be treated effectively without the need for bagging.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
One method used by some over here is to seal the article in a plastic bag and put it out in the sun. Not sure how it would work in an English winter :?
 
AndyT":1gofpgl5 said:
Now that does sound like a good book!
In other circumstances I'd be tempted to agree with you Andy … but to do so I might have to declare both an interest and, perhaps, something of a favourable bias, ha, ha. Slainte.
 
Sgian Dubh":8l868i9h said:
As was discussed briefly in Section 8, Seasoning, Drying or Conditioning of Wood, freeze drying is one method of seasoning timber.

Really interesting - is it just theoretically possible or do people season wood this way in practice?
 

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