Thread: Got worms in my wood, need advise.

My Dad found a Birch rough cut slab in a friend's barn. Been there for many years and is dry as a fart. He's making a natural edge side table out of it, but has noticed that there is still active worms in the piece. As you can see, he has it sanded and stained already. Notice the fresh saw dust from the worms. How can we get rid of these dang worms!!!

Any ideas from the experienced would be great.

Maybe some of that water-based all-natural bug spray like used around the kitchen?
Gasoline?

Temps above 150 deg F will kill them . Build a plywood box , find a heat source(use your imagination) when the lumbers core temp reaches 150 deg for a hour bugs will be "toast"!

Have you looked up treatments for woodworm/beetles for furniture? Seems a common problem with antique furniture.

Bob

Are they worms or termites?

Talk to a termite company, maybe they would let you put it in a garage or someplace they are tenting for a few bucks. I have heard of guys doing that here in So Cal.

Doubt they're termites. In my 16 years being a Carpenter, I've seen termites once here in Ontario.
It's the Carpenter ants that do all the damage around here.


I'm thinking what Bob said might be a good idea. Pops probably already did something by now though. Most likely used whatever he had handy....... which will be gasoline. Lol

i've heard of people solving the problem by putting the piece in a freezer, if you have access to one big enough that is.

Seal it with polyurethane! Bury 'em alive!

Since they have to breath you could try putting a piece of tape over the holes and wait for them to come to the surface to breath, but that might not work with wood since there might be pore or crack to allow air flow. Nice looking piece of wood though. Will make a nice table.

Exactly, seal their a$$e$ in,,, that would be cool to have a brush with with the critters staring back at you,,,,