kill bugs with laquer??

[Terry Achey]

I posted this on the general woodorking forum but only got a couple responses. Thought others here may have some sage advice.
______________________
I need advice. I recently bought 5 pieces of some really nicely figured sugar maple at an auction held at a local sawmill. The pieces are about 2 1/2" thick 12" wide and 5 ft long. The wood meters over 30% moisture and is obvioulsy still green. I coated the ends with anchorseal and stored them on my lumber rack in the shop. After a few days I noticed small piles of sawdust (powderpost beetles?) with tiny bore holes. So, I always understood that the way to get rid of bugs was to kiln dry. I called the sawmill and the guy tells me that you should not kiln dry these boards becasue they are too thick and will split. He told me to coat the boards with laquer to kill the bugs.

So, I don't doubt that sealing the boards will kill the bugs, but how will the wood air dry if it is sealed? :confused:

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

Terry

[David Christopher]

Terry, lacquer dont always kill bugs....I have turned some pecan, put sanding sealer and gloss lacquer it had spun on the lathe and after a couple of weeks out came the bugs ( eating holes in my bowl ).why dont you get some good insecticide and spray the board down...it will kill the bugs that are there now and other bugs wont get on there later ( thats what I do now ) if its not for food purpose

[Gary Conklin]

"fumigation by ammonia.

Ammonia can darken certain woods, but one advantage it has over glyphosate insecticides is that it doesn't leave any residue One of the Pop Woodworking blogs noted that you can get 10% "janitorial strength" ammonia from a hardware store. You just need to stack your wood with stickers in between over an impervious surface or ground where you don't care whether it kills the plants/grass (and it will!), cover it with a tarp or painter's plastic, seal the edges by piling dirt/sand, and set a pan of the ammonia solution under the tarp.

Several hours should be more than enough to kill absolutely everything in the wood - insects, eggs, fungi, and bacteria, but you may want to go 24 hours to be safe."
NCWW

[Terry Achey]

Thankd David. Are you sure insecticide will kill the bugs in the boards? If so, I'll give it a try. I'd rather air dry the pieces inside the shop than kiln dry.

Terry

[David Christopher]

Terry, I use some stuff called demon and it works

[Terry Achey]

Thanks, Gary. Have you tried this method yourself? Sounds like a fairly simple method. I may give that a try before first.

Terry

[Gary Conklin]

No, but it has been used very successfully by several members of my club.

[Peter Luch]

Place it in a freezer.

If its real big just find an ice house and ask what they want for a week in the freezer. Should not be too much.
Everyone does it with funiture here as we get stuff from Asia and most is buggy.

Aloha, Pete

[Nathan Hawkes]

I've used a borate solution on termites successfully that is supposed to work just as well on powder post beetles. I got the recipie from Woodweb, but the jist of it was boric acid powder and borate soap--20 mule team or borax, in a mix of glycol antifreeze. I neglected to use the antifreeze. If the solution freezes, it will crystalize, and will NOT go back to a liquid when it thaws. Its a supersaturated solution made by heating. It did work quite well, and doesn't discolor the wood though. My wood was considerably drier--somewhere around 15% or so. I don't know if enough will go down into the wood at 30% MC, but that's really just a guess.

Good luck.

[Jeff Nicol]

I was wondering if he meant to use lacquer thinner? It would soak in the holes and into the wood and the fumes would kill just about anything. I have not had any direct experience with the powderpost beetles after a piece is complete. They are like all the other bugs that attack our wood "Nasty Little Critters". Good luck on your eradication!

Jeff

[Alan Trout]

I have a wood destroying insect license where I live. Personally I would not use Demon. I hate insecticides particularly on wood that you intend to handle cut an work. they can be incredibly dangerous and the effects on you or your family may not be know for many years.

I think Jeff is right I am sure the guy at the saw mill intended for it to be lacquer thinner. I live in mesquite country. Every piece of mesquite has a type of long horned beetle plus other critters. We have always of course in a well ventilated area with proper gloves soaked the wood with lacquer thinner. It works amazingly well at killing the bugs and leaves no residue.

Good Luck

Alan

[jason lambert]

If you decide to go the lacquer thinner rout be sure to get a good organic mask with new filters that stuff will also kill you. Almost knocked me out one time and I was using it outdoors.

[curtis rosche]

heres what i do. if you can catch them quick before they are in the center of your wood, which yours is to thin to have to worry about, take a squirt bottle of bug/insect killer. i use one of the ones in a gallon container that has a squirtgun handle on it, then find the holes. gently spray a stream of the killer into the holes. if you use a aero can you will end up getting it all around the hole which is useless. squirt it in the hole, it will run down the hole and kill the bug. if it does discolor the wood, it will only be in the area right around the hole, and it will give it a cool efect. its not like youcan get rid of the holes once they are there anyways

[Mark P. Brown]

The method I use is cheap and simple. Put the wood in an old chest type deep freezer, add a few pounds of dry ice. The dry ice is carbon diaoxide it is heaver than air. in 12 - 24 hours the bugs will be dead with out any harmful residue or discoloration. As a safety precaution lock the lid down to keep kids or pets out. (3 minute life for them) If not to be used again for debugging turn open freezer on its side to dump the CO2.
Mark

[Leo Van Der Loo]

I've used and have always had good results (no more live bugs) with Moth balls, I double bag with plastic bags, adding a few moth balls to the turning and closing the bags, then have them sit for weeks, if you don't have that time the dry ice would probably work well also, but I never used it.
I have used things like paint thinner on thinner turnings, left it sit for a day and then take it out of the thinner and let the turning air-out, it works well also, but more of a mess than the moth balls, but quicker ;-)))