Woodworm - Should I panic?

[marcros]

I bought a board of elm last year. Admittedly I got a trade price but I paid about £25 a cube- I dont think that there was VAT on that, but there may have been. Yours worked out about £78. I think that the price I got was cheap, and £35-40 was about the going rate. (I worked out yours as a little over 1.5cube).

with the pets... depends on how usable it is. If it isnt, it is worthless, if you can use half of it, then...

 

[tomatwark]

I bought about 50 cuft air dried Elm about 4 years ago only to discover just before Christmas that it had worm.

Luckly I had not used any of it for customer work yet.

My father in law had a good supply of wood to run his stove on over Christmas.

This was the second time I have come across live worm in Elm in the last few years, the last time when I customer asked me to make something from their wood and as I unloaded it from the van I could see the beetles coming out of the timber, that stuff did not even make it through the work shop door.

£120!! the tree surgeon has seen you coming that is £ 78 per cubic foot, Kiln dried Euro Oak is only about £40- 45

I paid £250 for my lot with worm which is about £ 5 per cubic foot it was air dried and needed to sit longer before I could use it, this is why I was not to upset about it.

I notice that Marcos Paid about £25 per cube which is somewhere near.

I am now being very careful about making sure I cut all the sapwood out of anything else out of the store and keeping a close look out for any holes as I plane it, but so far I have found nothing in any other timber.

Tom

 

[orchard]

Thanks guys...jebus, an innocent newb trying to build up his store for the future when he's ready to use it...
Hahaha, the worst thing is, I still owe the chap £15 which he'll receive whilst I grit my teeth, lol
I'll see what he has to say and let you know.

 

[mickthetree]

Sure its a high price, but lets not jump to conclusions here. Maybe it was an out of the ordinary request for the tree surgeon or something he was not setup for, particularly nice figured piece etc hence the high price.

Probably not so much comeback on a tree surgeon as a full on timber merchant with a reputation to uphold, but I would still ask.

Don't be put off Orchard this is all a learning curve and you may still find a use for it.

I had some large beetle holes in some oak I got a good few years back. Only in the sapwood. Kept it in stick, covered outside and have never seen evidence of surviving since or transferring to any other wood. Not sure what temperatures they can survive down to, but at minus 12 last year I would have thought they got a little bit chilli.

 

[mickthetree]

If it is useless, I would give it back to him and ask for my money back. I certainly wouldn't be giving him any more money into the bargain. Unless it was sold with any caveat about possibly being infected.

 

[orchard]

It does have figuiring...

 

[marcros]

All is not lost, and I apologise if I was a bit dismissive. Elm is one of my favourite timbers.

You could always make a feature by cutting out the holes, and inserting some dovetailed butterflies.

this is one thread that I am thinking of that may be relevant brown-oak-coffee-table-t57368.html?hilit=epoxy black table

Alternatively, you could put a decorative inlay over the holes, or even drill it out and put a dowel in- contrasting or otherwise.

 

[tomatwark]

Have to agree the at all is not lost.

I burnt my stock as the infection was right through 3" thick boards into the center and I could not take the risk of a client having beetles exiting after furniture was delivered.

And as the timber was only £250 to start off with it would have been more expensive to replace a piece I had made.

I would question the price with the tree surgeon, he may have miss measured it, and see if he can give you a bit more wood into the price but maybe a different one.

Tom

 

[orchard]

The thing that bugs (see what I did there...) me, is I was going to make a couple of natural waney cheese/chopping boards to fund further interesting timber purchases...this is now impossible with this piece...
Money's tight, like everywhere, but we've just dropped a salary to care for our baby and buying wood for the future's a real luxury, hence trying to get direct from a wood surgeon and putting to store
Sob story over!

 

[orchard]

I would question the price with the tree surgeon, he may have miss measured it, and see if he can give you a bit more wood into the price but maybe a different one.
Tom

I think this is the best tack thanks -- btw he has some really nice Yew that's cheaper than the Elm, shame I don't want to work it at home with a young daughter...

 

[devonwoody]

If the timber is teated with woodworm killer and then only the unmarked timber used for carpentry would not this be OK?

Also can treated timber be finished with final treatment finishes after woodworm killer has been applied?

 

[orchard]

After com's with my supplier he's happily discounting the affected volume, and said he must have miscalculated the original volume as his wide figuired English Elm board and lumber's 45/cuft. Happy all around, just need to make sure there's no one at home in my wood stash!
Thanks for your help

 

[tomatwark]

Glad it is sorted

Tom

 

[orchard]

Glad it is sorted

Tom

Thanks mate )

 

[marcros]

good stuff.

 

[orchard]

good stuff.

Thanks, I put a url in your acquisition thread to check out and see if you're interested