Reclaimed lumber and bugs

[Rob Price]

I wonder what you guys recommend re: dealing with reclaimed wood and potential insects. A friend of mine is renovating his 1870's home and in the process has pulled several heart pine beams out. I've been helping him with a small end table and in return he's given me some rough sawn 4x6 posts I plan on using for table legs. He hasn't had any issues with bugs. We've resawn/jointed/and worked several pieces without a single bug/larvae/worm hole. I don't see any obvious bug damage.

But a fellow woodworker, who I respect, swears that I'm asking for trouble by even letting this stuff in my shop if I don't treat or somehow cook the wood to kill any hiding critters.

Curious about what you guys think.

[Tom M King]

If you don't see little air holes, there probably aren't any in it. Treating it with Borate won't hurt anything but bugs though. I work with that stuff almost every day, although not usually anything that new.

[Danny Hamsley]

The lyctid powderpost beetle that we hate so much in hardwood does not infest pine, although some other beetles do. If it is heart pine with true heartwood, The heavy pitch deters the beetles, and you are likely OK. However, heating the wood to 150 degrees to set the pitch to keep it from oozing out in use would be the thing to do, and in the process, that will kill any insects as well.

I had a customer purchase a heart pine mantle beam from me while it was still green. I recommended against it as the pitch had not been set, but he had to have it pronto as the builders were waiting for it. Everything was fine until he fired up the fireplace. Yep, the pitch oozed out and dripped on the hearth.

[Tom M King]

Pitch will ooze out of knots a couple of hundred years later in a heated house :). I have some on a set of Heart Pine stairs in my house from recycled really old timbers, and they still do.

[Michael Zerance]

What method is used to heat it to 150°?

[Chris Hachet]

What method is used to heat it to 150°?

I put smaller peices in my oven when SWMBO is out of the house....

[Cody Colston]

What method is used to heat it to 150°?

A wood kiln.

[Michael Zerance]

I put smaller peices in my oven when SWMBO is out of the house....

Ha...nice!

[Allan Speers]

Lack of little "air" holes means nothing. (As far as PPB's go.) Those aren't air holes, they are escape holes, which you only see once the little critters leave home. - And they can live inside the wood for 2-3 years! I dunno about other bugs & Pine, but it's probably a
similar situation.

If you can't heat it, and you want to be sure, then use Bora-Care, or a home-made solution. Don't just use a Borax & water solution, (such as Timbor) as that will not penetrate enough. It must contain glycol.

See this sticky:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?233066-Home-made-bora-care-amp-timbor

[Ed Bath]

Heat the wood to 130 degrees for at least six hours to get rid of bugs & larvae. A kiln works best...

Ed

[James W Glenn]

What method is used to heat it to 150°?
I've wrapped suspect wood in black plastic trash bags on my asphalt roof. I checked the temperature with an electronic kitchen thermometer.

[David Helm]

As has been already said, Lyctids (commonly called powder post beetles) are not the culprit here. They attack hardwoods, and yes, the holes are exit holes. Anobiids, which as far as I know only occur in the Maritime Northwest, attack soft woods, i.e. framing lumber. They are a major problem in moist wood (13% and above) as, over time they can turn a beam into the consistancy of styrofoam. Most beetles that attack standing wood do not reinfest and short of any evidence there is likely no issue with your heart pine.

[Art Mann]

I use a lot of real 100+year old heart pine carving rustic signs with my CNC router. The wood came from a 19th century school house on our farm. I have yet to see any damage from any insects. This wood is so saturated with pitch that the sawdust is sticky. You are absolutely not going to have a problem with insects (or anything else for that matter) if your material is really old growth heart pine. We used some of this wood to build a tractor shed about 30 years ago. We also bought some pine lumber from a sawmill. At this point, the newer wood is almost rotted away but the heart pine looks just like it did when we built the shed.

[Allan Speers]

Most beetles that attack standing wood do not reinfest and short of any evidence there is likely no issue with your heart pine.

David, can you clarify that? Everything I've read (more than a few sources) says that the females come back to where they were born to look for a suitable spot to lay eggs. - Or are you only referring to anobiids?