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Old 13th Nov 2012, 1:05 pm   #1
ekcopyephilips
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Default Killing woodworm

Hi all,

I've just had an idea about killing potential woodworm and want your thoughts on it.

I have a speaker mounting board made of ply from an Ekco AW87 with a few flight holes in it. It's actually in very good condition for its age, so I can't see the point of making a replacement. Normally I would douse the wooden bit with woodworm killer. But I can't find it in the garage, so that would mean buying a new tin and also the smell lingers for a while afterwards.

I remember reading that at Norwich castle they 'freeze' a large stuffed grizzly bear every year to -18C to kill any bugs which may have set up home, so therefore could I put my wooden ply board in a sealed plastic bag and pop it in the freezer - which tells me its at -18C for a week or so to kill any potential worm/larvae that might still lurk in the wood?

I don't know the life cycle of woodworm, but for some reason my mind is telling me that they can lay dormant for many decades before waking up and eating their way out of the wood.

What do you think?

Cheers

Mike
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 1:08 pm   #2
ThePillenwerfer
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

Plenty of people do just that, including me.

It seems to work but there's no knowing if there were any active eggs or grubs in the wood in the first place.

- Joe
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 1:09 pm   #3
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

Freezing kills the active larvae but not the eggs. This is how they survive winter in the wild. The best time to use the freezing treatment is in spring when the eggs are hatching, but even multiple freezing is unlikely to kill everything. There is no real alternative to woodworm killer, which poisons the wood and kills the worms as they chomp through it.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 1:55 pm   #4
emeritus
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

The life cycle of the common furniture beetle in solid wood is typically 2 years. It can be as lttle as 1 year in plywood as it is more nutritional.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 3:09 pm   #5
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

Hi,

Somebody told me that paraffin works as well as proper woodworm killer. I haven't tried it but many years ago I had a large part of my house treated for woodworm by Rentokil and it smelled just like paraffin!

Peter
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 3:15 pm   #6
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

Quote:
Originally Posted by ekcopyephilips View Post
....and also the smell lingers for a while afterwards.
Hi Mike

You can buy low odour woodworm killer that is designed for treating furniture as distinct from the smelly stuff used for sheds and the like.

Colin M
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 3:35 pm   #7
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

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Originally Posted by peteratnith View Post
Hi Somebody told me that paraffin works as well as proper woodworm killer.
Paraffin/kerosene was widely used to treat woodworm before the development of modern insecticides. It does work, but is very smelly and obviously a fire risk.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 4:47 pm   #8
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

The stuff used these days is very often water soluble.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 5:22 pm   #9
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

How about heating it up?
 
Old 13th Nov 2012, 5:50 pm   #10
ThePillenwerfer
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

If it'd fit you could microwave the little blighters.

- Joe
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 6:28 pm   #11
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

I'm not convinced of the effectiveness of woodworm killer. It may kill grubs but it won't kill any beetles that are preparing to leave.

My Bush TV63 was treated several times and still they hatched out the next spring.
That must have been the last 'cycle' to have lived in the set as during the summer just gone none hatched out at all.

Woodworm won't eat dry timber so if you have the patience you could leave it in your nice centrally heated home somewhere and wait for them to leave naturally.

A lot of folk seem to over react about woodworm. The beetles fly around all summer laying eggs. They only lay eggs in damp timber, so they are much more likely to head for the window and the nearest damp pile of fire wood rather than your prized radio collection
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 6:34 pm   #12
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

They do seem to like 1950s plywood though.

The most effective way to kill them is actually to irradiate the wood, and I understand this has actually been done a few times with very valuable items. Most of us won't have access to suitable technology to do this of course.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 6:40 pm   #13
Alan Stepney
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

Placing the wood in a vacuum chamber also works well and kills most things.

Again, I doubt that many here have access to the technology.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 7:37 pm   #14
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

Talking of irradiation, how about standing it next to your G6 with the towering inferno cover off..

Perhaps it's a service that Vintage TV owners could offer?



Sorry couldn't resist.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 8:02 pm   #15
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

I know Josh just said as much, but I'll reinforce it:

Whenever this comes up, I advise against chemicals on health and safety reasons. They simply can not be guaranteed to be safe, despite what their manufacturers might claim.

Far better to simply make the wood unsustainable to life. That simply means making it dry - only damp wood can support woodworm. And in unlikely event of adult beetles being able to mate in their short existence, no responsible mother will attempt to lay her eggs in dry wood - she'll be out the window looking for a freshly felled tree. Don't panic!

I agree that they seem to thrive in decent ply, and have often wondered why. Perhaps the glue is nice? Generally, they prefer sapwood and leave the heartwood alone, which is why serious structural problems are relatively rare in buildings.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 9:07 pm   #16
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

I had a clock renovated and the worm treated with paraffin. I was told that there was an 80 year guarantee - only 20 more to go.

I enquired with the National Trust expert at Calke. He recommended the freezer treatment which seemed to have worked on a radio.

I have a slab of cherry wood. I supported this about an inch above a storage heater, this also worked.

When I bought my house, there was quite a bit of worm and I thought it necessary to do something about it when a bed leg went through the floor. I resorted to the stinky chemical treatment. The worm hadn't got their teeth into the oak joists.
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 10:47 pm   #17
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

There are a number of different species of wood boring insects. Some species that infest living trees do indeed die out when the wood is seasoned. The common furniture beetle is not one of these. Of the species that do infect seasoned wood, only the "Wood-boring weevils" are found infesting only damp and decaying wood and can be eradicated by removing the cause of the dampness [according to "The repair & maintenance of houses", by Melville & Gordon, Estates Gazette, 1979 edition p428] .

While wood boring weevils can be similar in flight hole size to the common furniture beetle, they are a different species. My own personal experience is that infestations if the common furniture beetle can and do occur in wood that has never been subject to damp conditions. In any event, natural wood is never completely without moisture because it "breathes" in the sense that its moisture content adapts itself the relative humidity of its surroundings.

The attached extract from "Domestic Sanitation" [Goodwin & Downing, 1964, pp389 - 390] addresses the common furniture beetle and its eradication.
Attached Files
File Type: rtf woodworm.rtf (6.8 KB, 386 views)

Last edited by emeritus; 13th Nov 2012 at 10:50 pm. Reason: typo correction
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Old 13th Nov 2012, 11:12 pm   #18
line sync
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

I've put speaker baffle boards in the microwave for a minute or two and have never seen any more flight holes appear.
I belive this kills anything living .
It's a shame you cannot fit whole cabinets inside a microwave oven!
I spray all my cabinets with woodworm killer spray, it doesn't kill the ones deep inside the wood but when they surface they tend to die before they can fly away.

Robin
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Old 14th Nov 2012, 1:39 am   #19
mark_in_manc
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

I inherited quite a bit of furniture from a late uncle's house which was entirely eaten up with wood worm - my feet went through the attic bedroom floor in several places whilst clearing out. I used chemical killer in several coats on the bases of blanket boxes and chests of drawers which were well-eaten (100s of holes all over), and then filled holes with a thick coat of paint in places which could not be seen - on the basis that any new holes would then be obvious. So far, so good.

This house had been lived in by our family since 1936, and not having found this forum at that point, I left behind the entirely worm-eaten and rusty-chassis set on which my mother still remembered, as a 6 yr old, hearing Chamberlain saying 'I have to tell you no such undertaking has been recieved...'. I regret that, now - one that got away.
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Old 14th Nov 2012, 5:49 am   #20
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Default Re: Killing woodworm

Quote:
Originally Posted by ThePillenwerfer View Post
If it'd fit you could microwave the little blighters. - Joe
Has anybody tried that? I seem to remember reading somehere that small critters are unaffected by microwaves, possibly because the wavelength is great in proportion to their body size. The wavelength at 2.4 GHz is just under 5 inches so it might not be very effective, I've seen ants happily crawling around in a microwave on full power.

Might kill them with indirect heat if the wood was cooperative though.

Cheers

Billy
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