Wood worms on spalted beech - discard?

[twodoctors]

Hi all,

Just found quite a few wood worms and holes on one of my pieces of spalted beech. Bought them almost 4 weeks ago, sawn to the correct size for my bandsaw, planed to square and left in my study for the past weeks. Just noticed them tonight when i picked them up for planning. One of the pieces is now covered in holes and worms. Worms duly discarded outside. The other half of the same piece (sawn as mentioned above) has one hole on it, and the worm has also been discarded.

I'm tempted to carry on with the one with one hole, but I'm guessing the other one is best discarded... What's the plan gang?

Adrian

 

[oakmitre]

Are you concerned about the appearance of the holes or the infestation ?

if you put the wood into a polythene rubble bag (must be polythene) outisde and spray this generously all over the wood, it will solve the infestation.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rentokil-Insec ... B005EFPF1U

Twist the bag shut and leave for a couple of days under cover.

insects and spalting is normal.

 

[twodoctors]

Thanks.

New to wood working and first time playing with spalted beech. Shocked to find the worms let alone the holes.

So just insecticide and wait? Should I "treat" the other bits that hasn't got worms? Same method?

Adrian

 

[oakmitre]

If you think it is infested then yes.

The spalting is caused by the wood being attacked by fungus.
Its a process of decay that produces the beautiful patterns.

I have the same spray and it is naphtha (petrol) based so does not affect the wood. Just leave it a day after being taken out of the bag for the smell to go away.

 

[twodoctors]

Is no hole/1 hole considered infestation? The other pieces have not bite mark like the one in picture. The one with 1 hole, only has 1 hole! The worm has left the buil... wood. Unless I have mistaken it for another one trying to feast on it.

Adrian

 

[rafezetter]

The hole is an exit hole, just in case you weren't sure; this means that there coiuld still be woodwoorm inside the bit with just 1 hole, that hasn't exited yet, so yes treat both if you still intend to use them.

Edit - out of curiosity were the woodworm holes apparent when you bought the bits 4 weeks ago?

 

[twodoctors]

No holes that I noticed.... Or at least I wasn't looking for them. Only realise I have a problem when worms appear on my desk, and don't resemble anything I've seen before.

:-(

 

[misterfish]

When I worked in Kew Gardens initially all pressed plant specimens arriving at the herbarium were isolated and treated in a gas chamber using methyl bromide. This was deemed too dangerous and they change to using freezers to kill off any infestations. Basically the specimens were sealed in polythene and left in cabinet deep freezers for a week.

With small pieces of infested timber I'm sure a freezer would work and not involve nasty chemicals.

Misterfish

 

[cedarwood]

microwave would also work if the piece is small enough to fit (cook them) probably very tasty if not burnt to a crisp, I have some kiln dried oak with holes in the sap wood and all the little critters are nice and crisp from the heat ha ha

 

[gregmcateer]

No holes that I noticed.... Or at least I wasn't looking for them. Only realise I have a problem when worms appear on my desk, and don't resemble anything I've seen before.

:-(

I'd treat all bits just to be on safe side.

I'd be tempted to ask the merchant - they are probably reasonable and may offer advice and/or refund/replacement.

 

[twodoctors]

The merchant is not very near by... Bought them in a "show".

I'm tempted to cut them up (wood not worms!) asap then microwave. Trouble is my 3/16" blade has snapped again... Only the Axminster 1/4" 6TPI to cut with. Not a bad blade when I practise with it last night but only managed 45mm diameter curves however hard I try.

Adrian

 

[worn thumbs]

Several years ago I had a similar experience with woodworm getting into the workshop from somewhere and not only did they infest a piece of hornbeam in there,I also saw dust and an exit hole in one of my wooden planes.I briefly considered pesticide but decided I didn't want to be handling anything treated with a poison.The solution I arrived at was to burn the hornbeam as the appearance would have been spoilt by the holes and to treat the plane and a few others that were nearby to a few hours in a vacuum bag.I guessed that a spell without oxygen would do away with the worm larvae and even wondered if the sudden pressure change would make them burst.Either way,the same planes have been fine since and they did absorb a drop of linseed oil when I removed them from the vacuum bag.

 

[Roughcut]

Thankfully I haven't experienced any problems with woodworm affecting stored wood.
However this post prompted a memory I have from a couple of years ago while out in Northern Thailand.
Myself and an Aussie acquaintance where invited out one evening for food and a few beers by a local Farmer to his rural farm.
This wasn't his home but the off grid timber structure built in a traditional style served as short term accommodation suitable for cooking, sheltering from sun/rain and a rudimentary sleeping space.
In between eating barbequed chicken, sipping bottled beer and swotting mosquitoes I couldn't help but notice a constant background noise.
And every so often I would notice fine dust falling down from the roof trusses above our heads.
When I stood up and wandered over to where the dust was falling the sound was very clearly of insects chomping at the wood!
It's no exaggeration that just standing there for a couple of minutes was long enough to leave a visible layer of wood dust on my head and shoulders.
I never did find out if it were a form of Beetle infestation or Termites, but I assume it was the latter.
And I do wonder if the timber structure is still standing? :shock:

 

[Alexam]

Those exit holes look quite large. I had a few in one bit of wood but exit holes much smaller, about half the size of yours. I discarded the wood as it wasn't too large. Once treated, you could enlarge the hole lengthways slightly, fill with dark filler and touch up with a fine black marker pen.
Malcolm

 

[twodoctors]

Thanks Malcolm. The worms were about 10-15mm long each

I had a feeling there's non worms in there anymore... not sure what prompted them to all pop out the other day. Anyway I proceeded to sliced the affect work in 10mm-ish pieces. Most of the tracks are no more then 15mm deep, although there were quite a few tracks. Plan now is to use it as part of a laminate. Probably put something dark like sapele, merenti or walnut in the middle. Or maybe iroko (haven't use that since my school project 25 years ago!).

Probably get a white/light filler to fill those holes. Or is dark better? I only have Rustlin "Oak" colour at the moment.

Adrian