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I have a piece of 8/4 x 12” x 10’ lumber that has been in a barn for several years. I am hoping to make a mantle out it. I see numerous worm holes and other evidence in insect activity. How can the wood be treated to kill off the insects? I wish to keep the nice patina on the wood.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

paul269 wrote:I have a piece of 8/4 x 12” x 10’ lumber that has been in a barn for several years. I am hoping to make a mantle out it. I see numerous worm holes and other evidence in insect activity. How can the wood be treated to kill off the insects? I wish to keep the nice patina on the wood.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Not being an "expert" exterminator, I did not respond to this post earlier; however, as no one else has responded either, I will give you a couple of "far-fetched" ideas that I came up with.

The first one, is probably the safest: I do not know what your time frame is for your mantle project, but if it is going to be a little while, you could try to suffocate them: Put the piece (or cut it into smaller pieces that you can still use) into a plastic bag that has no holes in it (except the one hole that they all have:) ). Suck all (or as much as you can) of the air out of the bag with a vacuum cleaner, seal the open end and wait. I have no idea how long the wait must be, but a little bug research should answer that for you.

The second one...well, I don't know; I did say far-fetched: Drown them. Find a container that you can fit the piece in; you could use a piece of PVC or ABS pipe of the proper diameter and cap one end. Put your wood in it, fill the tube with water, or? and seal the other end and wait. Again, I do not know how long, but a little research.....

Hey, you could suffocate them in that tube too!

You didn't say the species of wood. Also a photo would help. My guess is that it is oak and the "worm holes" are about the size of thin pencil lead. Is this correct? If this is true, you do have a worm (probably quite a few) in the wood. Sorry, can't recall the name of the little critter, but I had a few in oak I used to make cabinets from, while in South Texas. After finishing the oak panel doors and molding for table tops, I was surprised 6 months later, to find new holes and worm kerf coming from the wood in several spots. These little buggers came out through 5 coats of polyurethane (oil based).

I ended their reproductive and chomping careers by flooding the holes with "Black Flag".

There a quite a number of insects having life cycles in dead wood.

Another oak story of worms is contained within a 2 foot long chunk of oak log, my Great Grandfather used in the construction of his barn, in Basel, Ohio. The barn was built in 1790 and destroyed in 1998. The worms were long gone, but the log is filled with holes and kerf (worm excrement). I have used parts of this log for carving relief pictures. This is challenging, because of the areas that fall apart. But sometimes giving interesting effects.

Are you sure the bugs are still active? It may be old damage and can be ignored.

If you have access to a walk in freezer you could wrap the board tightly in plastic and leave in the freezer for a while. Unwrap the board once the it reaches room temperature. I have used a zip lock bag and this method to kill termites in a wooden box and I know it is used by libraries to remove pests from books.

Otherwise with a large board you might consider letting the professionals have a go at it. A customer had powder post beetles in his antique tall case clock. The pest control folks sealed it in a room with other items and pumped in some toxic gas. No stains, residue, or lingering smell and all bugs were quite dead. I don't think it was too expensive.

Troy

Also not my expertise. Since many bug sprays contain oil, I think I would first try soaking or injecting denatured alchohol into the holes. Then back in the barn till it drys out.

One more wierd idea if you've got some plywood, black paint and a large piece of plexiglas or real glass lying around.. Build a solar oven just a bit larger than the item in question -- just a big box painted black on the inside with a sealed glass/plexiglas lid.. Put it in the sun and if you like, you can insert a thermometer into it to watch the sun do its work.. It's not uncommon to have a solar oven that gets close to 150 degrees during the day..

On the other end of the extremes, you might be able to buy 30-50lb of dry ice and put it into a similarly sized 'box' with your wood to freeze them out that way -- or use liquid nitrogen? Just my $0.02 worth..

I once heard a story of placing the lumber in a tent or the like then pump in exhaust from your car. (with you outside the tent) But that was only a story. I have no first hand experience in this. May try a Internet search for better information.
I also have heard of the Freezer idea.

Cincinnati- is this what your wood looks like? I'm shooting in the dark here, thinking you wanted an oak mantel.
http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/de ... um=3056010

http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/su ... m?SUB=2145
If it is you probably have some of the oak timberworms.
If you do, I suggest you contact your local County Extension office for assistance on how to get rid of the little buggers.

I think the female weevil has to lay eggs on sapwood and then the eggs hatch and bore into the wood. I'm not positive the adults will continue to lay eggs on lumber, but in my case the larvae were still in the wood after being milled. If you have weevils in your barn that look like the adults in the above photos, it would be best if you get rid of those, or move your wood - then observe to see if there is any more activity.

I have found an occasional piece of oak that had insect holes like pictured above. I have hesitated to bring those pieces into the shop. Instead, not being sure of the life cycle of these things, I have sawed up those pieces and trashed them.

charlese wrote:Cincinnati- is this what your wood looks like?

Hey! That is kinda a personal question. LOL!!!!
It is Paul269 asking the question.

cincinnati wrote:I once heard a story of placing the lumber in a tent or the like then pump in exhaust from your car. (with you outside the tent) But that was only a story. I have no first hand experience in this. May try a Internet search for better information.
I also have heard of the Freezer idea.

This may work, but as I hear it told, now that we use UNleaded fuel, it is a lot harder to die from inhaling the exhaust. I personally know someone who tried to end his life this way, unsuccessfully. I also knew a man that accidentally died this way: Maybe he heard the same thing that I had about unleaded fuel??