Holes in wood - termites?

[Mark Rainey]

Picked up an old chest of drawers ( circa 1940 ) to rehab and donate. Noticed these holes in some areas of chest. I do not see any termites and the chest is in good shape - no rotting, collapsing wood. Thoughts?

holes 1.jpgholes 2.jpg

[Ron Citerone]

My guess is powder post beetles. The bigger issue is whether it is an active or inactive infestation.

[Tom M King]

In the Pine, Old House Borers. In the Oak, Powder Post Beetles.

[Wes Grass]

PP, major problem in walnut as well.

[Cameron Wood]

Powder post beetles most likely. If there is any little piles of dust or trails down the board below the holes.

then not a good idea to have indoors. Tightly sealing in plastic for a few weeks might kill them off.

[Lee Schierer]

Anobiid ppb may attack both hardwoods and softwoods, which means that infestations may be found in all the same places as Lyctid beetles, as well as in structural timbers (beams, sills, joists, studs, subflooring, etc). Maple, beech, poplar and pine are especially susceptible to attack.

[John Kananis]

I picked up some really nice 8/4 and 12/4 white ash slabs a couple years ago for very little - they've been air drying since 1970. I set them aside, away from the rest of my wood because of the ppb holes. I haven't seen any saw dust in the couple years I've had them so these are going to be my next bench. As long as there's no activity (saw dust etc), it should be safe.

Edit: I added a pic, if you zoom in, you can see the ppb holes. There's also some walnut and a little cherry there - I think I paid 400-500 bucks for the lot. The walnut and cherry had no ppb holes and was also originally sawn in 1970.20211025_182409.jpg

[Tom M King]

https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/tre...0more%20common.