treating wood infected with termites or wood boring beetles.
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Hi a lot of the wood I get where I live has termites or possibly wood boring beetles. I was wondering how to get rid of the pests without making the wood poisones to handle afterwards.
I am aware of some treatments, but they are more for use on a house, not wood your are going to be handling and working with.
thank your for any help on the topic.
I have no personal experience, but I heard of one treatment where you generously apply alcohol (e.g. isopropanol or maybe methylated spirit works as well) and then close the holes with wax polish. That way you can check after some month, whether any new holes appear.
David
from Germany
Hi David R.
Thanks for your advise. I have searched the web quite a bit and saw posts saying to use gasoline, but that to me is just a bit on the dangerous side. I’m going to try the alcohol method. I think while I’m at it, I’ll try lacquer thinner too. Seems like the fumes would seep thorugh their tunnels and do the job. I didn’t think about plugging the holes after, great idea. That will be a good way to check activity later before I use the wood.
Gary
Also the wax is supposed to keep the alcohol from evaporating too quickly, increasing the its working time.
Please keep us informed about your results.
David
from Germany
I will keep you all posted on the results. It will take awhile though as I will have to treat and seal a few pieces (date them) and them some more for a longer time period to see how it works. Hopefully this will cure the problem. I’m going to try a few pieces with thinner and a few with alcohol to see if there is a difference.
bag up in clear polythene sheeting, Deep freezer for two weeks, aim for as lower temp as you can get it, end of week two remove polythene and de-frost the wood slowly, bag up again in clear polythene sheeting then re-freeze for another week, remove polythene sheeting and de-frost slowly. when de-frosted brush off and vacuum up any dust, dirt, and dead things. that should do it but you need to aim for temperatures of around -20 to -30 degrees Centigrade or -4 to -22 degrees Fahrenheit.
Wheelchair woodworker from Lincolnshire UK
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