Cherry cabinet doors - worm infestation

[Sal Kurban]

Dear fellow woodpeople:

I got a problem on hand. I am building some furniture grade kitchen cabinets and used one board that apparently has some worm holes. I did notice it but it was on the other side and the holes were not that bad. As I was fitting the doors lots of powder fell and I noticed a white "thing" 3/16 in diameter. It was pretty fat and soft. I had thought the infestation was over but apparently it is not! Never had this problem before and the wood was supposed to be kiln dried.

I have two cabinet doors of that nature and the panel has some inlay work that I invested sometime in. What are my options at the moment? Fumigation? I would rather not. Put it in the oven for couple of hours at say 175 F? Would it weaken the joints or damage the inlay work? I used carpenters yellow glue. (The doors are small enough to fit in the oven).

Any ideas?

Sal.

[Steven DeMars]

Place them in a heavy duty plastic bag . . . . Nitrogen or CO2 purge for 24 hours . . . . It always killed the wasp or whatever in our junction boxes . . . .

Shell said it was the best way. Did not want to spray anything in there that might cause a short or threaten the integrity of the components . . .

This method is also used to kill worms and insects in large volumes of animal food and in some types or food processing for humans . . . yes we actually eat insects and worms without knowing it . . . .

[Frank Drew]

Sal,

You might call your local Orkin guy (or other exterminators) for advice; or, if you have access to a commercial irradiation facility, they might be able to run your door through for a reasonable fee.

[Greg Cole]

A little dose of boric acid will do the trick.
I'd find out what the little critter is too. You could have more of a problem than just one or 2 critters in your shop.

Greg

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

If it was KD lumber that cherry wasn't brought to the correct temp. Anything over 150-F kills bugs dead.
No insect that I know about can survive even a couple of seconds at that temperature.

The bag trick should work. If it were rough lumber I'd seal it in a heavy black bag with a little bleach in a cup and leave it out in the sun for a couple of days.

The chlorine gas will make sure every one has gone to bug heaven even if the heat didn't penetrate.

[Stan Urbas]

sounds like you have powder post beetles. Make sure they don't infest your other wood - and your building!

Not all kilns are high-temp, so it could be they weren't killed. Also, if the wood sat long enough after drying it could have been infested after the drying.

[Jamie Buxton]

Put it in the oven for couple of hours at say 175 F? Would it weaken the joints or damage the inlay work? I used carpenters yellow glue. (The doors are small enough to fit in the oven).

175 F should kill the bugs. That's the good news. The not-so-good news is that 175 F will soften the PVA. Put them in the oven in a non-stressed position, like lying flat, so if the glue softens nothing will move. You might also be prepared to re-clamp or re-straighten them immediately after they come out of the oven. The PVA will harden back up after it cools down to room temp.

[Bert Johansen]

Stan is right--you have powder post beetles. They can indeed infest other wood, and probably already have done so. This calls for a serious purge of your wood pile. Cut out and burn anything with holes in it. Don't trust this problem to your local exterminator.

For your cherry pieces already inlaid, another option is to freeze them for a few weeks. A friend convinced the local Pizza Hut owner to allow her to put her wooden pieces in their commercial freezer--secured and isolated in plastic bags. Two weeks was the recommended time for this process, and it seems to have worked. This was about two years ago, and no sign of further activity since then.