sterilize a turning blank??

[Nathan Hawkes]

So, I got a piece of cork oak from another member here (thanks Tom!!) The piece is great, but as I sat at my desk yesterday I noticed a slight ticking sound that I realized soon enough was coming from the blank!!! It is no doubt some sort of beetle, but I don't want to realease a potentially harmful insect to my area from another state. I'm thinking about putting it in the oven for an hour or two at the lowest setting--200 or lower. Anyone ever done this?? I'm only worried b/c of the Emerald Ash borer---don't want any invasives coming to VA, but I don't want to destroy the blank either. Don't worry-I'll be careful with the oven & won't set it on fire!

[David Walser]

You might try the microwave rather than your oven. Wood does not conduct heat very well, so it could take a very long time for the heat to penetrate enough to do the job.

[Barbara Gill]

So, I got a piece of cork oak from another member here (thanks Tom!!) The piece is great, but as I sat at my desk yesterday I noticed a slight ticking sound that I realized soon enough was coming from the blank!!! It is no doubt some sort of beetle, but I don't want to realease a potentially harmful insect to my area from another state. I'm thinking about putting it in the oven for an hour or two at the lowest setting--200 or lower. Anyone ever done this?? I'm only worried b/c of the Emerald Ash borer---don't want any invasives coming to VA, but I don't want to destroy the blank either. Don't worry-I'll be careful with the oven & won't set it on fire!

Freeze it.

[robert hainstock]

:eek::eek:A DNA bath works on ticks. Just put it in a jar and imerse it.
Bob

[Paul Andrews]

I agree with Barbara, freeze the blank. Rembember that wood is an insulator so let it stay frozen for a couple of days.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Okay, it's going in the freezer today. However, don't insects typically go into bark to over-winter?? I'm just wondering if I'm actually going to kill the little buggers or not. I don't know how cold the freezer gets--0deg.F maybe??

[Hilel Salomon]

Nathan,

What kind of ticking? Are you sure that it wasn't a recording of the Beatles?
I would opt for DNA... remember the teacher who put a worm in a bottle of alcohol hoping that her students wouldn't take up drinking? The intended message failed when one of the students concluded that if "one drinks, he won't get worms."
If nuking, freezing and alcohol soaking fail, put half an apple near the blank and lure the sucker out!
Nuff Nathan,

Hope to see you soon as I'm headed up to the beautiful, wonderful mountains in a few days.
Regards, Hilel.

[Al Wasser]

Consider the environment where the tree grew. What is the low temp for that area? To freeze kill it as opposed to making it go dormant, you are going to have to go below the lowest temp in the area where the tree grew. You probably need to go below that temp for at least a week in the freezer. You might be better off finding the bug holes and dripping some all purpose bug killer in the holes

[curtis rosche]

do a couple 15 second spurts in the microwave, it penatrates and it should kill in the first 5 seconds, but do the extra just incase. the dna wont always do it, havent you guys read anyof the other posts where someone starts turning a blank right out of dna and it still has live bugs in it?

if you do the freezing it will just go dormant, for that to kill it, it basicaly needs to make the bug so cold that it freezes the bug till its iinside is solid.

if you do the dna, put a bunch of bug killer in the dna if they mix and dont just seperate. or just soak it in bug killer

[David Walser]

When I was a young kid, I conducted some unauthorized science experiments into suspended animation. I caught flys and bees in mason jars and would freeze them in our chest freezer. After they were frozen, I'd let them thaw out in the sun. At first, I kept them in the freezer for only a few minutes. Then I tried longer periods. I was able to reanimate a bee that had been frozen for more than a week. I was going to try for longer, but the experiment was cut short when my mother found two mason jars in her freezer. One with a bee in it and the other with a fly. Fortunately, for science, I was able to rescue the jars from her and place them in the sun. The bee made it. The fly did not, but that may have been because my mom had been shaking the jar screaming, "David!"

This experience probably has nothing to do with the efficacy of freezing a block of wood in an attempt to kill any insect life, but I think the science is against the idea...

[Richard Madison]

Whatever method you choose, do not, repeat, do not stink up the house.

Each method seems to have some shortcomings. Probably boiling for an hour for each inch of wood thickness would be effective, as well as releasing most internal stresses in the wood.

Will try to find my shop microwave oven amongst piles of still unsorted stuff (recently moved), and try it on some fresh mesquite from Robert McGowen.

Good luck.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Nathen , hi-heat is bad for the wood, microwaves penetration in wood is very shallow, freezing ???, depending what it is, it probably won't get hurt by the cold, up here in Canada it does get pretty cold for months on end, and I assure you we do have lots of bugs and wood eating insects/worms around.
If there is openings in the wood, any petroleum product will kill them instantly if it gets to them, alcohol would do the same, and I have used them successfully.
What also works is mothballs, I place the turning in a plastic bag with a few mothballs and closed it then put a couple more bags around it to keep the smell down, I leave the wood several weeks, like two months, never had any bug survive that treatment, and the wood is not harmed, the smell takes a while to dissipate, but it will.
I never tried, but someone reported placing some bugs in the microwave and tried to nuke them, but they did seem to be unaffected.

One little anecdote here, while I was in the navy, we had gotten contaminated with cockroaches onboard ship while in the tropics, when we got home in December it was freezing, one of the guys took a roach out on the deck, the thing just died right there, or so he though, brought it back in to show us that it was dead, as it had rolled on it's back and died so he told us, but the cockroach arose from the dead and scrambled at full speed away, he did get away to :eek::D:D

[Nathan Hawkes]

Nathan,

What kind of ticking? Are you sure that it wasn't a recording of the Beatles?
I would opt for DNA... .

I actually really thought I was hearing things at first, then thought that a mouse had gotten in and was chewing on some wood baseboard or something. At times it's pretty loud; obviously a good sized little bugger, or at least good sized mandibles on it. When debarking some red oak logs a year ago, I heard the same sound, and found dozens of 1-1.5" long larvae with some serious chompers!:eek:

[Nathan Hawkes]

Consider the environment where the tree grew. What is the low temp for that area? To freeze kill it as opposed to making it go dormant, you are going to have to go below the lowest temp in the area where the tree grew. You probably need to go below that temp for at least a week in the freezer. You might be better off finding the bug holes and dripping some all purpose bug killer in the holes


It's a cork oak piece from California, with a bark edge. I'm absolutely elated about the blank. Again, thanks Tom Green! The blank is in the deep freeze in the basement, which I believe goes to about 0 degrees F, which is far colder than it will ever get in CA normally. I'll keep the blank in the freezer for at least a week for sure. I don't want anything to spoil the blank, but I'm scared about any invasives. You never know whats going to be under the bark.....

[Frank Kobilsek]

Nathan

Just get it rough turned and then clean up the mess and burn the shavings. If it going to be a few days before you can rough it, store it in a plastic bag.

If the pest this as big as you think so are the holes he has created in the blank.

My two cents worth.

Frank

[Greg Heppeard]

I suggest turning it ASAP. That way, if the little bugger is still alive, you'll cut him to bits. Just remember to wear a full face shield, you don't want bug juice on your face. If you don't find the little critter by the time you get the blank roughed out, then soak it in DNA.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Thanks for all the replies folks. For now, it has to stay in the freezer anyway. I start the first day of nursing school today. I've been trying to get in for two years, and am very excited, but will also be very busy for the next few days. I'll definitely be cleaning up the shavings and burning them as soon as I turn it. This is going to be a "turn in one sitting" kind of bowl, I think. Tom said that cork oak moves quite a bit when drying, so I'm not taking any chances on this one. Thanks again, folks.


Nate

[Tom Green]

Hi Nathan,
I'm interested in how the freezing works. It rarely gets much below freezing here, and when it does, it doesn't last long. My friend/mentor Dick Johnston say's he has frozen some finished pieces that started generating sawdust:eek: at a gallery and it seemed to do the trick.
I've seen both a small black beetle and small white grub in this wood. The grub really hated CA dumped in his hole:).
Good luck and let us know how it works.
Tom

[John Grabowski]

I thought this has become a very interesting post. I have to agree with our Canadian friend about freezing does not usually kill bugs. Bugs are very highly evolved organisms. What we use to kill bugs is very dangerous to us. They dont have much of a circulatory system for the cold to attack.

Microwaves attack two types of molecules, water and fat. The microwaves probably will not reach the bug if the moisture content is high. Also, heat may not kill it either.

I suggest luring out and killing with a bug killer. That is the only for sure thing.

I suppose you may be able to use a chlorine or ammonia fuming that are both certain to kill the bug if the fumes will penetrate to the bug. I just dont know how much that will affect the color of that variety of oak. I have never had the pleasure.

Very sad.

I hope all works out and I am anxious to see a turning!!

John G