Are all woodworm this fussy?

[Phil G4SPZ]

Seriously, though, how much of a threat do they pose to a collection of wood-cased sets in a dry location? If live beetles are inadvertently introduced inside a radio and are not spotted and treated, how likely are they to spread throughout the collection? From what's been said, especially the case of the TV set that crumbled to dust but its neighbours escaped unscathed, I hope the risk is very low.

[murphyv310]

Question.
Is the filling of the holes with PVA worth doing or a waste of time?

[cheerfulcharlie]

yes the creosote suggestion was meant to have a laughter icon at the side that did not come out.
I was just thinking of the prospect of someone's living room stinking of creosote every time they turned on the telly and it warmed up

However the holes could be filled with epoxy putty? , Wickes do a good value tin (called wood filler)and of course the nature of epoxy should get you a nice finish after sanding and regain of strength lost..and of course nothing can live in it.

[chipp1968]

pva may help consolidate the timber ,as wood hardener may help ,also the epoxy filler suggestion is a good idea on the insides or where re veneering may be necessary.

[paulsherwin]

Originally Posted by Phil G4SPZ

Seriously, though, how much of a threat do they pose to a collection of wood-cased sets in a dry location?

You should treat any suspected woodworm with woodworm killer before putting anything into storage or bringing it into the house. The beetles mate and lay eggs in late spring so that is the most dangerous time. The two year reproduction cycle means that they will spread slowly, but you need to keep an eye out for them and treat any suspect wood immediately.

My house had a comprehensive woodworm treatment in the 70s and I still keep an eye open for signs of new activity, especially up in the loft. Of course they used some serious chemicals back then so the treated wood is pretty toxic.

Paul

[XTC]

Why waste your money on creosote (now illegal) when spent sump oil is so cheap?

From what I've seen, woodworm just love plywood. I've seen furniture untouched apart from the little plywood feet which were riddled.

I've also seen odd things happen like a couple of replacement sections of floorboard (1950s) riddled and the original (1930s) untouched, and a 200 year old table which was untouched until ten years ago when it was attacked. Its owners did nothing and there doesn't seem to have been any more woodworm since.

Pete.

[chipp1968]

Oddly sometimes I have come across one or two holes in a set ,or furniture which looks old , yet they havnt spread at all.
Wood worm love certain timber types like ELM Birch Beech walnut ,for example and will also attack oak in damper situations. They tend not to go for mahogany as much if at all ,teak, cedar .
I have a nice 30s philco woody that apparently lived in coventry all its life , when the house was cleared everything in the room including its table were riddled with woodworm.But I have not found any in the set .

[brenellic2000]

In essense, it is the sugar content in the sap which attacts insects - 'dead' heartwood contains no wet sap, but still has some sugar in the medullary rays. Tropical hardwoods have resin in their sap to stop insect attact! Clever these Chinese!

Dry timber is not attractive to most insects as the larvae need 'moist' food - so is it very important to keep stuff 'dry' but not necessarily bone dry - get a decent humidity meter (hair ones for Maplin are fine) and make sure air circulates freely.

The saw-fly larva in softwood is about 5/16" diameter - the saw-fly is four times bigger than a wasp; its proboscis is about 1" long! Oh my!

Of course, you could always play loud Reggae or Garage music and drive them away...!

Barry

[jim_jobe]

Originally Posted by chipp1968

Yes I agree . Without going too OT I was working in an old house removing plaster in a small area to re plaster .The elm lintel of a window was crumbling at one end and i also had to remove some bricks to replace them for some reason .In a void I found two HUGE beetles ,at least an inch long.I didnt know what to do with them so i dropped them out of the window .

These were probably longhorn beetles which spend some time in the adult state in cells like this before venturing forth. (My other hobby is coleopterology!)
Jim

[murphymad]

I have often wondered if there were any product (something like moth bolls) that could be used to stay off the attack of the dreaded worm, or perhaps a "plug-in" airfreshner type thing with a chemical that is given off to keep them away.
Another type may be something that emits a certain frequency sound that (if they have ears) cannot tolerate.
These things (if they exist) nay well be of use to us collectors with rooms full of stuff.

Any ideas?

Mike...

[XTC]

Rentokil's CAT system?

http://www.rentokil.ie/technical-sup...res/index.html

It looks as if it keeps the items to be preserved in an atmosphere with no oxygen and the woodworm suffocate. OK if you're very serious about preventing woodworm.

I think most of us are stuck with using branded furniture treatments and what other tricks have been developed.

Pete. .

[ppppenguin]

I remember recently reading an article about killing all the bugs in railway carriages by heating them to a modestly high temperature. ISTR something like 60 degrees. This avoids using nasty chemicals and gets to all the places that chemicals might not reach. I wonder if woodworm are similarly killed by heat.

To show there's nothing new under the sun, in the current issue of Scientific American (April 2010) they report that in 1910 rail cars were disinfected by heating them to 140 degees (F) and pumping the air out of the enclosure.

[Aerodyne]

I was just thinking of the prospect of someone's living room stinking of creosote every time they turned on the telly and it warmed up

... so was I. For the record I never thought you were serious, Charlie, but there's no doubt that creosote would sort the problem out even though the set could never again be used indoors...
Jeffrey, would it be possible to heat finished timber to 140F without damage? ...And there's the risk of implosion, with a total vacuum...! Might as well burn the coach. That'd solve the problem.
I think I feel a migraine coming on!
-Tony

[Heatercathodeshort]

Originally Posted by ppppenguin

To show there's nothing new under the sun, in the current issue of Scientific American (April 2010) they report that in 1910 rail cars were disinfected by heating them to 140 degees (F) and pumping the air out of the enclosure.

I hope they let the passengers disembark first.... J.

[AlanBeckett]

That depends who they were. Things were much less PC in 1910
Alan

[brenellic2000]

It is possible to heat timber to 140ºF + to kill bugs; after all 'green' timber is steamed at 212ºF to bend it. Most timber today is kiln-dried commercially (many imports too) to speed up the seasoning process (and faster cash return!) but KD timber is the worst to use with hand tools. KD dessicates the timber and it has to be very carefully controlled to avoid honeycombing the inner cells - think of how a cake bakes on the outside but remains moist in the middle. Timber 'seasons' by osmosis but the sugar content which the bugs eat remains inside. You can only get rid of the sugars by seasoning in water or using PEG on small bits.

The other major problem is that internal stresses allow timber to distort at different temperatures, internal moisture content and external humidty. Dimensioned timber rarely ever returns to its original dimensioned state - even KD will in time 'move'.

Chemical insecticidal treatment with a volatile non-absorbing carrier (white spirit or even better turpentine) is the only sensible domestic option - but then the EU is banning those volatile carriers.... and demanding they be water based. Today waterbased treatments contain alkyloids to prevent grain lifting - the last thing you want to do is rub down lifted grain on moden 0.5mm thick veneers as rubbing down or scraping will take of the veneer!

All good fun, eh?!
Barry

[Phil G4SPZ]

Hopefully this won't take this really interesting thread OT, but does anyone know how to tell for sure whether the woodworm has been successfully treated? From what has been said, this is difficult as the little blighters might well be munching quietly away inside the panel with no tell-tale external signs. I know that fine dust falling from the holes confirms they're still active, and I've seen that, but does an absence of dust signify that they're all dead or have left?

[Heatercathodeshort]

Hello Phil,
A doctors stethescope placed over the holes should confirm if they are dead. You will need to carry out the test in a very quiet room to hear the actual munching. Failing this place the set in a smoke cabinet and if you can hear the little blighters coughing you will know its time to pump in more Cuprinol. Just an idea. Cheers, John.

[Phil G4SPZ]

My calendar must be wrong... ...is it April 1st already?

[paulsherwin]

Woodworm killer like Cuprinol poisons the wood, so the worms will be killed as they munch through it so long as you give the wood a good soaking. I've never seen active woodworm in a radio that I've treated, and I just apply it in the normal way.

Paul