Powder in my desk

[Anti-Virus]

Hi there,

I got a question I do not know the answer for, maybe some of you can help me.

I have a desk made from Mahogany and now some powder is coming out (worms or insects eating it).

Does anybody have an idea how to kill these animals without destroying the paint of my desk.

Thanks for the help.

Albert P.s. The shop no longer excists (auction)

[Jim Behning]

[Andy Dingley]

Buy some commercial bug killer _for_furniture_ (finish safe). This should come in a squeeze bottle with a variety of long thin nozzles.

Test it against a non-obvious piece of the finish.

Go round every hole and give it a squirt.

Then keep watching, because you've only seen a fraction of the critters that are in there. Tunneling is done by _larvae_, not adult critters - they're laid in there as eggs, then they tunnel around a lot before emerging and flying off. Usually they break out in spring - if these flight holes are visible now, they've probably flown and gone anyway. You may have other attacks, if these adults decide to lay their own eggs in other pieces.

Check all your other furniture for attack.

Repeat your checks every spring.

If you care, you can try to identify the species from the size and shape of the holes. For some species this is useful to know, because they might be a species that just attacks green (standing) timber. Others (like powder post beetle) are much more troublesome, because the adults will attack and re-infest other pieces of furniture.

[william_b_noble]

if you are in a part of the country where termites are a problem, call a termite place and they ought to be able to put it in a house/garage/room being treated

[Lazarus Long]

What happens if one would take such a piece of furniture and give it another coat of finish? I have in mind a finish like poly, not oil. I'm thinking the barrier of the poly resin may keep bugs inside to die. What do you think?

[Scott Lurndal]

I think any bug that can chew through an inch of wood will have no trouble chewing through a couple of microns of poly resin.

scott

[Andy Dingley]

That's better than anything I'd have said ! 8-)

[Rich Coers]

Don't know about this one, maybe urban myth, but I've heard about bagging the piece and running a hose from the car exhaust to the bag. CO the little buggers?

[J T]

Sun, Oct 31, 2004, 11:13am (EST+6) [e-mail] (Anti-Virus) wonders: desk made from Mahogany without destroying the paint of my desk.

Mahogany desk? Paint?

JOAT When you choose an action, you choose the consequences.

- Unknown

[Jim Behning]

[Tom Quackenbush]

Put it in a deep freeze for a week or so? Any moisture in the wood may freeze and cause cracking, though.

R, Tom Q.

[J. Clarke]

I'm thinking that mixing some Permethrin or something with that polyurethane might be an interesting experiment, but it would be an experiment--have no idea what effect it would have on the polyurethane as a finish.