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Thread: Powder post beetles

  1. #1

    Powder post beetles

    I took delivery of 160bf of 8/4 QSVG cherry a few days ago. It all had one live edge.

    Anywho I started cleaning it up today. Putting a straight line one one side, jointing the ripping to width. I found a number of boats with not only fairly large tracks but also live larvae.

    I cut away all wood with tracks and then took another .5-1”. Mostly it seemed the tracks only existed in the sapwood.

    So I have a few concerns. First I have a shop full of very expensive exitic lumber I have been hoarding. Is this lumber now at risk. The cherry has been in my shop for 2-3 days. I then milked it up today creating a serious cherry dust bomb. When I was done I immediately removed all the infected cut offs and vacuumed my shop head to toe including my dust collector ts and every inch of my shop.

    My second concern is this limber is to build a table and a desk for a client along side a kitchen. The whole project is over six figures being euro sycamore, QS cherry, and maggascar ebony. Do I run the risk of these bugs becoming a problem down the road if I build with it and they are still inside my boards even if I think I cut them all out.

    I’m pretty freaked out as I Siena $3500 on the stock and gave tens of thousands of dollars of exotic woods in my shop.

    Right now the cherry is still in my shop but I’m thinking it needs to go ASAP!?

    Thoughts?

  2. #2
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    From a brief search on Google "How to kill powder post beetles": Heat and cold treatments. High heat (120-140° F. or 49-60° C.) for 6 hours kills all stages of powderpost beetles. Temperatures of 0° F. or -18° C. for 72 hours will also kill powderpost beetles

    Also chemical treatments can be used. Because of that pest, I would never buy any quantity of lumber that isn't kiln dried. A friend gave me couple of oak boards with signs of the beetle. I got rid of them in a couple of weeks after worrying if they would migrate to my other wood stash. No signs of that happening.
    NOW you tell me...

  3. #3
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    If you are sure they are powder post beetles, Get rid of it ASAP! Any of your unfinished wood is at risk. A friend of mine had a house built recently and long story short they were in the face frame of his cabinets. They tried chemical, heat etc to rid them and none of it worked. The whole thing has been a fiasco. Cabinet shop ultimately ripped out all of the finished cabinets and replaced them.

    I would also talk to the source where you bought the wood and get your money back.
    Last edited by Nick Lazz; 02-21-2018 at 11:36 AM.

  4. #4
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    Get it out of your shop ASAP. The only method recognized by the wood industry is heat sterilization. You can do this at home if you don't have a friendly kiln nearby.

    FWW magazine had an article by Christian Becksvoort several years back about a home sterilization chamber. If you send me a pm with your e-mail address, I'll send you a copy of the article.

  5. #5
    Scott

    Thanks for the response. I can’t figure out how to send pm’s since the web site was reformatted. I found your buisness email and sent you a message there. Thank you so much.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Walsh View Post
    I can’t figure out how to send pm’s since the web site was reformatted.
    If you click on a person's name on one of their messages the pop-up menu should have a "Private Message" option.

    JKJ

  7. #7
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    If you’re on your phone viewing, click on the three dots button in the far top right, click messages, then compose, and you’ll have to type in the name of the person.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Walsh View Post
    Scott

    Thanks for the response. I can’t figure out how to send pm’s since the web site was reformatted. I found your buisness email and sent you a message there. Thank you so much.
    As an aside, there really haven't been any changes to this site's formatting...yet. It will change when the software switches from vBulletin to Xenforo.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  9. #9
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    160 bf for $3500? That's $21.87 per board foot. That's awfully expensive for cherry. Especially expensive for cherry that presumably wasn't kiln dried, or it wouldn't have had all those powder post beetles.

  10. #10
    I agree it was pricey.

    The lumber was kiln dried. I

    would never purchase lumber that was not.

    The material is beautiful. All from one log all book matched numbered yada yada.

    By contrast I just order 150 bf of 4/4 QS for a local supplier for the face frames of some cabinets. I’m sure this,arterial will be nothing like the $21.87 bf material. Cost was $6.80 bf..

    I do feel pretty had but I know it was a honest mistake as the bugs could not be seen until it was cut into as they were hiding between the bark and sapwood. The face grain has not one indication of a issue.

    I found someone local to me with a kiln that is well versed in dealing with such problems that’s going to cook the daylights out of the stock for short money.

    As of now the stock is sitting in the back of my truck wrapped and sealed into a tarp. My shop was vacuumed head to toe then the vacuumed thrown away. I went so far as to vacuumed out every tool the stock touched including tearing down my dust collector fully vacuuming and blowing the filter out far far away from my property. I’m considering spraying my whole shop and my lumber collection with Boracare. I don’t know this may not be nesisarry? I’m kimda reluctant to soak my lumber with a chemical that may darken or discolor it. I probably have something like a couple thousand bf of various high dollar exotic hardwood lumber. Much of it would be very very hard to replace.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Walsh View Post
    I agree it was pricey.

    The lumber was kiln dried. I

    would never purchase lumber that was not.

    The material is beautiful. All from one log all book matched numbered yada yada.

    By contrast I just order 150 bf of 4/4 QS for a local supplier for the face frames of some cabinets. I’m sure this,arterial will be nothing like the $21.87 bf material. Cost was $6.80 bf..

    I do feel pretty had but I know it was a honest mistake as the bugs could not be seen until it was cut into as they were hiding between the bark and sapwood. The face grain has not one indication of a issue.

    I found someone local to me with a kiln that is well versed in dealing with such problems that’s going to cook the daylights out of the stock for short money.

    As of now the stock is sitting in the back of my truck wrapped and sealed into a tarp. My shop was vacuumed head to toe then the vacuumed thrown away. I went so far as to vacuumed out every tool the stock touched including tearing down my dust collector fully vacuuming and blowing the filter out far far away from my property. I’m considering spraying my whole shop and my lumber collection with Boracare. I don’t know this may not be nesisarry? I’m kimda reluctant to soak my lumber with a chemical that may darken or discolor it. I probably have something like a couple thousand bf of various high dollar exotic hardwood lumber. Much of it would be very very hard to replace.
    I think the kiln drying should solve your problem. I bought some air dried white oak in VA some years back and found some grubs in the sapwood. I cut out any sapwood and another inch into the heart wood and never had a problem. I didn't know enough about it, but if it happened now I would either ditch the wood or find some one to kiln dry it at high heat. I think they mostly emerge April to July and then lay eggs, do I doubt your 3 days in the shop caused an infestation in your other wood. Good Luck!

  12. #12
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    So you had power post beetles in cherry that was properly kiln dried? How did that happen?
    NOW you tell me...

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Anderson View Post
    So you had power post beetles in cherry that was properly kiln dried? How did that happen?
    Powder post beetles will re-infect dry lumber. In the OP's instance, it was either re-exposed after kiln drying or the kiln operator did not sterilize the load at the end of the kiln cycle.

    This is the biggest drawback to solar kilns; depending upon where they are located they may not get hot enough - long enough to sterilize fully.

  14. #14
    If I were you I would have consulted with an expert insect exterminator.
    Last edited by John K Jordan; 02-24-2018 at 1:29 PM.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Leistner View Post
    If I were you I would have consulted with an expert insect exterminator long before looking for free advise on a website. Seems you have alot at stake here for amatuer guessing games. Don't mean to be offensive but if I was paying you six figures and found out that this is how you deal with serious issues that could concern my home, I would not be happy.
    Or go to the wood web and read what the expert Gene Wengert says about getting rid of PPBs in the wood.

    JKJ

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