Bugs in Wood

[Don L Johnson]

I purchased about 150 bf of walnut a little over a year ago and stickered it until now. I’m dimensioning it now for an upcoming build. I’ve noticed that many of the boards have pen holes from bugs. I’m not sure if they are active or not, as there is little if any sawdust on the boards. In case there are active little critters in the lumber, what should I do before I start my final dimensioning? Or, will the finishing process kill them all off? Secondly, althought the walnut stack was stickered on the floor under my lumber storage area, should I do something to prevent any possible infestation on my other lumber? Thanks, as always

[Jim Andrew]

You need to make sure you don't have powder post beetles. Only way to get rid of them is to burn the wood or get hot enough to kill the bugs in a kiln. Read that on wood web. And it can spread to your other stuff, so be careful.

[ken gibbs]

I always charge for furniture made from buggy wood. You can send this wood to me if you don't like it. :-}.

[Toby Bluhm]

Supposedly, products called Timbor or Boracare could safely do the trick. There's a lot of info on the web about them.

[Scott T Smith]

I purchased about 150 bf of walnut a little over a year ago and stickered it until now. I’m dimensioning it now for an upcoming build. I’ve noticed that many of the boards have pen holes from bugs. I’m not sure if they are active or not, as there is little if any sawdust on the boards. In case there are active little critters in the lumber, what should I do before I start my final dimensioning? Or, will the finishing process kill them all off? Secondly, althought the walnut stack was stickered on the floor under my lumber storage area, should I do something to prevent any possible infestation on my other lumber? Thanks, as always

Don, you need to sterilize your lumber but heating the core of the boards up to 133F or higher for 4 hours.

Several months back FWW had an article about a shop made sterilization chamber. It was a good design and inexpensive. Basically it was made from a couple of sheets of Celotex foam insulation and a space heater.

I would not suggest the use of Timbor or Boracare on dried lumber; only green lumber, as rewetting dried lumber can cause problems.