Wood Borers

I have just finished making a hall table (stand) which I made from some Sheoak slabs I bought from a sawmill near Jarrahdale here in WA. I've had the timber at home for some months during construction (I'm a part-timer) and am gradulally getting the finish finished! I have had the table on display in the dining room for a week or two and I've just noticed what looks like a fresh borer hole in the top (shellaced and one coat of Organoil) with a little sawdust around the opening.

What should I do? How serious is this? Will the little critters get into other furniture if I don't treat the wood? How do I treat the wood? The left overs and offcuts are stacked in the shed with my other bits of timber.

Appreciate any advice.


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Andrew Armstrong

With your stack of timber you could try the following. I used this very recipe myself which seemed to do the trick.
In water add the following; Borax,pyrethrin and.....a little houshold bleach.
I used to spray this concoction on my timber slabs against the old "Lyctid" borer.

A few notes on borers:
Many different species & sizes.
Life cycle: Eggs layed by adults which fly in spring & autumn(look like flying ants-various shapes & sizes).Prefer rough surfaces for eggs especially holes & cracks.Grubs hatch & tunnel thru your prized timber for 1 or more years- comming to surface they change to flying insects,fly off, lay eggs & die.
When holes appear in wood or furn. the borer has gone! Thus NO point treating holes. Most borers live on starch which is in sap & thus when storing wood remove as much sap wood as poss.- avoid,fill or remove cracks, holes etc. Spray boards with insecticide before fillet stacking & storage. Furn. can be treated with insecticide after sanding & before finishing. Natural insecticides like pyrethrum preferable as modern chemicals HIGHLY TOXIC. Always wear gloves & GOOD respirater. Treating furn. will not stop existing infestation but will kill borers before they fly off & infest more.
In living trees the sap contains natural insecticide which is why only dead wood is infested.

Well done humidor. Good information.

Hey Ubeauts where did the " apprentice" tag come from - 16+yrs longest app/ship ever!
I will admit I'm not a tradesman but was taught by one who made me read all his trade books each time we came to a different task - Borers was day 1!- knew it would come in handy 1 day.
Take care - Humidor

Gooday.

You are an apprentice until you have posted 20 times, after that you become a full member.


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Ian () Robertson
"We do good turns every day"

Thanks Humidor. Good advice. For those of you interested in how things turned out: It appears that the bugs are Lyctid Borers (longish beetle like critters). I sprayed all the active holes with Baygon and that popped them pretty quick. I monoitored for a week and got a few more surfacing - same treatment. When all seemd to quieten down I filled the holes, re-sanded and re-polished the table finishing it with some of that ubeaut traditional wax! Re-assembled and sat back and admired my handy work. Damn fine too!

About a week later another little critter stuck his (or her - pretty hard to judge the sex of these little guys) head up and got zapped. Will fill the hole with some wax in due course but it is not very obvious.

I did consider planing off the sap wood as this seems to be the only place they inhabit, but I didn't want to narrow the table top and I had specifically kept the bark edge on the slab for good effect.

Thanks again


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Andrew Armstrong

Hi, I know this is an old thread but it's very relevant to what I'm working with at present.

I have been very lucky in getting the equivalent of 40 slabs of camphor laurel for a really good price. They have been cut well, firstly stored properly, but in a move to another place, not stored well. Some now have bows, twists, warps, shakes, what looks like drywood rot and those pesky borers, oh and water marks, creature crap and mould. It's not all doom and gloom though, underneath I found some beautiful figurings and various shades of red.

I have 'processed' half of the slabs by:
1. washing (scrubbing) with a weak bleach & water solution
2. thorough rinsing with fresh water
3. towel drying, then air drying out of the sun
4. laid flat in the shed with packing shims between them
5. painted the ends with some left-over paint
6. lightly covered with a big tarp and then am going to put some heavy tyres on top to keep the top layers flat

Some borers are still active. Do I treat with Baygon and turps or simply cut out the worst eaten areas of sapwood?

Is ordinary paint ok to use on the ends or are there better products available?
Is it too late to treat the ends when they are already spitting?

How do I treat the dry rot without ruining an internal section of the board? The dry rot is around the inside of some knots and on some edges.

How far down will the bleach sink in, i.e. how much surface will I have to remove to get back to the nice colourings?

Once the wood has been treated with baygon, turps, pyrethium etc, how do you safely work with it, cutting, sanding etc?

Thanks
Wendy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rufflyrustic

1. Is ordinary paint ok to use on the ends or are there better products available?
2. Is it too late to treat the ends when they are already spitting?

3. Once the wood has been treated with baygon, turps, pyrethium etc, how do you safely work with it, cutting, sanding etc?

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1. Get an empty 4-litre tin and stuff as much broken up polystyrene (the foam stuff used in packaging and eskys) into it as you can. Add about 1/2 litre of cheap thinners (Supa Cheap sell it) and leave overnight. Resulting goo is flexible and sticky. I think this recipe comes from this site but I can't remember who posted it. Paint works but isn't as thick or flexible.

2. Probably! So 1. is superfluous unless you re-cut. May as well leave them as they are now. If cracks gt longer re-cut and seal (same day).

3. Not an issue in my opinion. Wood dust more likely to get ya.

Thanks Rusty

I've just been able to get some polystyrene today. I'll let you know how the mix goes when I get to finishing the rest of the camphor laurel slabs.

Cheers
Wendy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rufflyrustic

1. lightly covered with a big tarp and then am going to put some heavy tyres on top to keep the top layers flat

2. Some borers are still active. Do I treat with Baygon and turps or simply cut out the worst eaten areas of sapwood?

3.How do I treat the dry rot without ruining an internal section of the board? The dry rot is around the inside of some knots and on some edges.

4. How far down will the bleach sink in, i.e. how much surface will I have to remove to get back to the nice colourings?

Wendy

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Good luck with the goo. If it's too runny add more poly.

1. What's with the tarp? Best to let the timber sit unexposed IMO.

2. Treating is the main thing, but cutting out the worst bits is probably a good idea.

3. You using uranium?! I wouldn't have thought any dry rot treatments would damage/stain clear areas of wood.

4. Not very. You could probably sand through it with 120 grit paper in a few seconds. Usual problem with bleaches is the effect is lost if sanding is done after applying it.

Re 1. The Tarp - protect my assets, sorry, wood from prying eyes and grease, dust etc. Hubby has been touting off that he's gonna use the best slabs for a bar. Humph!!!! not until he helps me get my woodshed first.....

Re 2. Groan, where's my jigsaw

Re 3. LOL!!! I think the staining occurred when it was moved and got water damage mixed with creature crap. Sorry if I wasn't clear before, I don't think the dry rot was ever treated (still searching for the jigsaw)

Re 4. Funny how things work out, I don't want the slabs bleached but didn't have anything else on hand that would kill the mould. Ah well, looking for the right grit of sandpaper and that dratted jigsaw..

Thanks Rusty

cheers
Wendy