woodworm

[Gordon T]

Hello all,

I have been moving round and reorganising my workshop/garage for the last two weeks. I thought that pulling a muscle in my back moving the fox lathe around AGAIN was bad but that was nothing compared to finding woodworm in a laburnum log that I had been storing for the last three years.
When I moved it I found the tell tale piles of sawdust on top a sycamore log, which was also riddled.

After setting fire to the laburnum and making a pile of affected timbers ready to take to the tip, I checked all my bits of wood and could not find any more holes.

Can anyone think of anything I have missed???? or anything to prevent a reoccurance?

GT

 

[TEP]

Too late Gordon, when you can see the holes the wee beasties have gone.

You often find worm damage on Laburnum, especially if one of the branches is diseased, but in my experience it is only the sap wood they attack, the heart wood is usually OK.

Sycamore, that's different the little b*****s will be all over it. Don't be too worried though you can still use the timber, and use woodwork killer.

For the future, as long as you bring tree wood into your workshop there is the possibility of bringing these things. There just ain't nowt you can do about it. IME

 

[Anonymous]

I understand that freezing the wood (if you can get permission to put it in the freezer :wink: ) will kill off any that remain in the wood

when turning there's nothing worse than the splash when you incise a tunnel complete with a grub... :shock:

 

[Bodrighy]

If the wood is treated and the little darlings are dead and gone, the wood can sometimes make some fascinating turnings. The tunnels can be filled with brass or a contrasting sawdust to good effect.

Pete

 

[dickm]

Discovered a lot of wormy stuff among the timber I'd accumulated before we moved house . Some of the little b...lighters had even chewed into the heart of a piece of laburnum.
Before re-starting my collection, I was wondering about using woodworm killer as it goes into store. Anyone got any ideas about the hazards of turning timber that has been treated? I can imagine it's not a good idea?

 

[Gordon T]

Thanks for all the advice, I will be checking every piece of wood l have left this afternoon....with fingers crossed, obviously!!

GT

 

[Whitley]

In response to Dickums' concern about turning wood treated with woodworm killer, there are one or two points to consider.

The first is cosmetic, the wood may discolour, usually darken a bit. This could be a good thing if you are after 'effects', or bad if you want continuity of colour in the wood.

Second, remember that any treated wood need several weeks to dry out before turning, depending on the environment the wood is kept, it may take 6-8 weeks to dry.

Thirdly, health issues. Most proprietary woodworm killers contain organic compounds like permethrin which is known to cause lung and breathing problems, so wear adequate respiratory protection, not just a dust mask.

Finally, linked to health, remember the wildlife. In the wet state, woodworm killer is lethal wildlife, especially to insects, that is what it is designed for, but even when dry it is lethal to insects so do not use wood treated for things like beehives etc. Keep freshly treated wood away from any wildlife, better still, wrap the treated wood in polythene until dry.

Sorry this is a bit long winded and I hope it will be of some help.

 

[Gordon T]

Thanks Whitley,

all advice greatley appreciated. My memory worked the other day and I remembered turning a goblet out of a piece of well riddled.sycamore.
It was awful, on the lathe the wood came off as dust, very very dry, the wood was almost white with dark streaks. The goblet didn't look too good either, mind you that was probably my turning!

GT