woodworm solution ?

[Calgach]

Hello hows it going,

Im looking for a solution here for woodworm in beechwood slabs that i intend to use for table tops

I bought 2 slabs of beechwood last week. About 40"long 16"wide, maybe 1.5" thick. Theres about 4 or 5 woodworm holes in each of them.
As it stands it doesn't look bad but from what i can gather it could be littered with holes over the next few years if the wood beetles are still alive in there.
Is there any way to kill the beetles and eggs before the slabs are ruined?
The other thing is, the slabs being for table tops, any treatment would need to be compatable with some form of finish, e.g. lacquer or oil and wax. most commercial solutions iv come across seem to be intended for structural timbers

Any help much appreciated! go raibh maith agaibh

ÁD

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Check out these threads for potential solutions. Slainte.

post785403.html?hilit=woodworm#p785403
everbuild-woodoworm-treatment-permethrin-on-dining-table-t70902-15.html?hilit=woodworm

 

[tobytools]

inject the hole using a syringe and good woodwork killer (not the cheap crap).
i have heard before you can freeze the timber to kill the lava or put in the microwave,
a quick google and you will find alot of ways
hope this helps
TT

 

[marcros]

Big microwave required!

 

[tobytools]

for the pieces in question i would agree but for a woodie block or some other smaller pieces worth a try,
i once brought a load of woodies (junk) and have a serious infestation lost many soldiers that day and spent a fortune on saving what i wanted.
i have my great grandfathers tool box that has 100000 holes init but i didnt have the heart to throw away and if i was to replace parts i would end up with a new box

if its only a few holes just inject and should be fine, fill in the holes once cured and that way if more appear you will know straight away

TT

 

[Calgach]

Dia daoibh,
Thanks for all the responses!
I thought i posted the reply last night but it doesn't seem to have worked..
I see you say to avoid the cheap crap stuff TT, is there any specific product you would recommend?

Since there are only a few holes at the minute the injection route seems the most sensible solution

Sgian I read the threads you linked there- really useful, thanks. I see some people advise avoiding insecticide chemicals (marcros would you feel strongly about this as a beekeeper?) and that a centrally heated dry home should be enough to prevent further damage. However it seemed to me the furniture ( in the other thread) was in a centrally heated home at the time the problem was found. I was just a bit confused on this point

Anyway thanks for all the responses

 

[tobytools]

Cuprinol is what I've used in the past and it works really well, no further problem, when you inject hole leave and let soak in then repeat as many times as you see fit. Be carful as these products can darken wood so bear that inmind
Thanks
TT

 

[Shrubby]

I would finish the piece first and then use historyonics constrain
If you use a chemical read the safety data on it - they work by poisoning things
Matt

 

[MIGNAL]

Leave the wood in a dry environment. End of.
Let the nasty chemical companies drink that sht they produce.

 

[Calgach]

Thanks everyone for all the advise

in between times i'v bought the Rentokil woodwormer..but am now in two minds whether or not to use it
Mignal, what you suggest would suit me perfect as im always suspicious of chemical killers.
However after reading the thread linked above by Sgian dubh im a bit confused about this approach. From what i gathered from that thread, a home kitchen table was discovered to have serious woodworm problems. Now i assume that a kitchen table in use in a home is in a heated damp-free environment-therefore does that not imply that woodworm can still do their work in this type of environment?
The reason im really trying to sort this out is that the tables will hopefully be sold and i don't want it turning into a disaster with returns etc..

Any clarification/ assurances most welcome!

 

[RogerS]

I can never fathom the logic of injecting into the flight holes as they have already flown. I guess one is hoping that the fluid might be absorbed a tiny tiny tiny bit into the surrounding timber and that the God's are smiling and that the remaining bugs are within that tiny tiny tiny bit. Meanwhile, in the other 99.99999% of the timber ......

I go with Mignal's suggestion.

 

[Paddywack]

I would finish the piece first and then use historyonics constrain
If you use a chemical read the safety data on it - they work by poisoning things
Matt

I am with Shrubby on the Historyonics, I spray every bit of Timber that I buy, easy to use and after 4 years I haven't had a problem that I can see.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I can never fathom the logic of injecting into the flight holes as they have already flown. I guess one is hoping that the fluid might be absorbed a tiny tiny tiny bit into the surrounding timber and that the God's are smiling and that the remaining bugs are within that tiny tiny tiny bit. Meanwhile, in the other 99.99999% of the timber .......

Chemical poison treatment (permethrin, for example) for common furniture should kill adults as they emerge from wood after their larval stage because it is a contact pesticide that passes through the insect’s outer layer or cuticle into the body and primarily affects the nervous system. It is not a poison that needs ingestion; emerging adults merely chew their way out from their pupating chamber just below the wood surface and they do not feed, hence the importance of using a contact type poison. The same poison will kill larvae emerging from the egg assuming the egg is not too deep and the grub makes contact with treated wood, and it can kill larvae near the wood surface, and it does discourage adult females from laying eggs. A typical flooding application of the poison to the whole wood surface results in penetration into the wood of between 2- 6 mm, depending on wood porosity, and frequently two or three floodings are required to achieve this sort of penetration into the wood fibres. Repeat doses are required over a long period to be effective; a heavy infestation of woodworm can take three to five years to eradicate. Slainte.

 

[RogerS]

Don't have any issue with anything there. It was the suggestion of injecting the flightholes that I was querying.

 

[Calgach]

RogerS, thats the same thing i was wondering.
Some of the holes only became appearant as I planed down into the wood, so i thought maybe they're not exit holes.?
I might be completely wrong about this though

 

[tobytools]

i only gave a suggestion as i cant see the piece in question. im sure everyone has there own way of going about wood worm same with sharpening a what not,
just do whats best in your own eye

TT

 

[Calgach]

Thats right; time to stop fishing for info now and just take the plunge

Thanks everyone for the input!

ÁD

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Don't have any issue with anything there. It was the suggestion of injecting the flightholes that I was querying.

Injecting the fluid into flight holes will help the poison penetrate a little deeper locally into the wood: just how much deeper and widespread this penetration might be is debatable, but any extra penetration could help the poison make contact with any grubs munching away inside the timber-- and the adult females will lay eggs in existing flight holes, so an emerging grub from the egg is more likely to contact the poison. Slainte.

 

[srp]

I can't imagine offering a piece of furniture for sale which has any woodworm flight holes in it. In my view the best treatment for timber that is affected is to heat it - around 500 C should do the trick. I find my log burner is the thing to get the temperature needed.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I can't imagine offering a piece of furniture for sale which has any woodworm flight holes in it. In my view the best treatment for timber that is affected is to heat it - around 500 C should do the trick. I find my log burner is the thing to get the temperature needed.

Does that apply if the piece of furniture is considered to be a valuable antique with a provenance, and perhaps a connection with an important historical event? Antique furniture may well have experienced household conditions conducive to attack by common furniture beetle because the internal conditions of many houses, even up to only about forty or fifty years ago, were damp enough in places to harbour the pest.

Your post I suspect was made tongue in cheek, although heat is one way of dealing with insect infestations-- the Thermo Lignum system of treatment is one. Slainte.