Ashwood Table with Powder Post Beetles

[Victoria Chu]

I would definitely notify the supplier. He needs to know there is a bug infestation problem. I would also get the infested furniture out of my house ASAP.

Fumigation is probably your best option since the piece is already finished. Also, I don't know what prolonged heat would do to the glue as already mentioned. FYI, the wood must be heated to a minimum of 132 degrees at the core for at least 4 hours to sterilize the wood. Wood is a pretty good insulator so the temperature needed to get it heated throughout would need to be somewhat higher. A dry kiln would do it but I wouldn't be too confident in a jerry-rigged enclosure.
The holes you see are where the ppb's have exited the wood, probably leaving eggs/larvae behind. They won't get into wood with a finish so they were present when the piece was being built and the finish applied.

Thank you Cody!

[Victoria Chu]

A couple of years ago I discovered powder post beetles infesting an ash cabinet I had started and needed to store unfinished. I was doubtful about the heat method because yellow glue loses its grip at a surprisingly low temperature and I didn't want to risk failed panel glue-ups. Since there was no finish on the piece yet, I injected all of the bore holes with lacquer thinner, and a few beetles actually crawled out and went legs up, very satisfying. Afterwards I injected all of the holes with a solution of Termite Prufe powder in water. I bought this at my local hardware store and their website does claim it will stop PPBs. I repeated the application a couple of times and then finished the cabinet. I've been keeping an eye on it at home ever since, and I think I got all the bugs.

I wouldn't recommend the lacquer thinner on a finished piece, of course, but the Termite Prufe might do the trick on its own.
http://www.copperbrite.com/termite.html

Thank you John!

[Victoria Chu]

Fumigation with methyl bromide is the safest and surest route, especially for a finished piece with any value.

Thank you so much Roger!

[Allan Speers]

Well, my way will work, but heed the earlier warning about what temps glue can handle. I didn't think of that. Someone must know a safe temp for various glues when dry.

[Ron Teti]

I moved to the UK finding good timber here at a good (cheap) price is very difficult.. I found a place that recycles old timber oak, pitch pine, beech, piraña pine.

recently I built a table out of some recycled oak beams that were rough cut through a band saw. Fast fwd to the completed project, I noticed some little powder piles on a table top I made. A bud said that they were wood worms, they got active due to the heat of my house.

after some research I found they would a wood worm killer, brush it on in a well ventilated area, both sides of the wood top, and it would soak in a and kill the pest.

maybe they have something like that for those pesky beetles

[Frederick Skelly]

Before I had a kiln, I made a 2" thick bar top from quartersawn white oak for a lady. 2 1/2 years later, the lady called me and said that there were little holes appearing in the bar top. Oh no, the dreaded powderpost beetle. I put the top in the kiln at 150 degrees for 30 hours. The bar top was finished with mineral oil. There was some minor cracking at the glue joints, but the glue held up fine. I will probably cut in into two pieces, replane it, re-glue it, fill all the cracks, and refinish it for her. If she is not satisfied, I will make her a new one that has had the wood kiln dried and heat treated to 150 degrees (Cody is spot on about the need to heat the core of the wood to over 132 degrees for a few hours. I usually heat the kiln to 150 degrees for 24 hours so that I can assure that the core reaches the right temp for a long enough period of time.)

It is entirely possible that the PPB's got into the bar top after she installed it in the kitchen as the bottom side of the top was unfinished. However, I am assuming that they were in the wood from my drying sheds, so I am taking responsibility.

I hate powderpost beetles.

I know this is off topic. But I just wanted to say that I really appreciate working with reputable businessmen like you Danny. If I was your customer, I'd be talking-up your company all over town.

[Dan Hahr]

I'm pretty sure that you can freeze them to death. See if you can find a walk in cooler that has some floor space where you can leave it for a couple days. I've seen people putting whole chests of drawers in freezers without any wood movement issues.

Dan

[Danny Hamsley]

Appreciate the kind words, Frederick. I think that she will be pleased.