Help, I brought bugs into my shop!

[elia cohen]

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So, I purchased a claro walnut slab from a local mill. The guy assured me that all slabs had been kiln dried and that it was bug free as a result (I checked moisture content and seemed like it was). After having spent a bunch of time flattening and sanding... I moved onto clearing out the voids in order to make more room for epoxy when I spotted tiny white critters scurrying around!

This is in my garage shop, I have other wood laying around and I'm sure I sent these things flying when I was routing and surfacing.

I called the mill and he said don't worry about it, just spray some alcohol on the sap wood and use a raid bomb.

I'm a bit more concerned than the guy at the mill... This slab is pretty large, 5x8 feet and a lot of work has already been put in.

Thoughts on what to do? Does this look like a powderpost beetle or a drywood termite?

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[Andrew Hughes]

It doesn't look like a infestation to me. Finding a bug or two just comes with the pleasure of working live edge planks.
I once ordered a salad from a very nice cafe and found a worm crawling around in my leaves. I pointed it out to the waitress and we both agreed their produce was indeed fresh.

[John K Jordan]

That doesn't look like a PPB to me but I'm no expert. I've seen live PPBs twice (once flying in from the woods and landing and boring into maple I was cutting, and once exiting a piece of walnut) and they were black. Google shows me photos of PPBs that are black, brown, and maybe a bit reddish.

PPBs stay deep in the wood and tiny leave entrance/exit holes in the wood with frass (fine dust) on or below the wood.

You might send the photo to an entomology prof or forest science or forestry department at a university or maybe your state AG extension. I'm not up on termites but it could be - the picture is not too good. Catch a few and put them in a pill bottle. Bugs are a LOT easier to id under a low-power stereo microscope, what I use for that.

I agree with Andrew - logs and slabs often come with a variety of bugs and hitchhikers. I see a big variety when sawing logs on my sawmill. I keep bug killer handy for when I run into a nest of hundreds of big black ants! Some bugs you see are eating the wood but more are after the bark and sapwood than the heartwood and I think most of those don't like dry wood. I'd probably take the boards outside and split off the bark; maybe spray some insect killer on the bugs I saw but they'll probably die quickly in the driveway regardless.

JKJ

[elia cohen]

Thanks guys, I was under the impression that buying a kiln dried slab meant that it would be bug free... vs having to deal with bug killer. I guess this is my first time working on a slab and seeing critters coming out of holes. All of the postings I read out there never mentioned that this was a factor or something to be worried about.

How do you know they're all dead and that there's nothing left hanging out inside the slab? My two concerns are 1- having sprayed eggs or critters around when I didn't realize they were present and 2- bringing this finished slab into my home (which is right above the garage) with the possibility of it still having some live critters.

Thanks again for all the advice on this!!

[John K Jordan]

Thanks guys, I was under the impression that buying a kiln dried slab meant that it would be bug free...

A slab properly kiln dried will kill any bugs in the wood at the time. If your wood was in fact kiln dried the bugs might just be hitchhikers, perhaps getting into it late because of how it was stored after it was dried.

I have air dried wood I cut on my own sawmill, much of it stored in outdoor sheds and barn. I have never seen a bug of any type in slab or board I brought into my shop. I have seen PPB evidence in yellow poplar boards but they went to the brush pile rather than the shop.

But your wood could have been home to termites. I understand most termites get into or at least prefer damp wood but some do eat dry wood. If you can still catch one and get a positive ID it could either ease your mind or get you to call the local Orkin man today! I personally would want to know rather than wonder.

It just occurred to me that a pest company like Orkin might be able to tell you exactly the type of insect. https://www.orkin.com/termites/ Of course, some may cry "termite, give us your money" regardless of what it is but if you have the bug in hand they should be able to back up any ID with photos and diagrams.

There are a zillion photos of termites on the internet as well.
https://www.google.com/search?q=term...w=1408&bih=700

JKJ