Hey Guys
I have a chance to get a spectular piece of wood if I can prove to the Canadian Food Agency (ya, they’re the ones responsible for this) that I can treat it to kill any larva/beetles that it may contain. It’s a cross section of a stump, 42 X 52 at the butt, 22″ at the top and about 2 ft long. I plan on using it for a live edge (less the bark) coffee table, it has a really pleasing shape and some incredible grain. So any thoughts, if I soak it in something I wouldn’t want it to prevent staining later.
I have used peg and another product from lee valley (pentachlor … something, if I was a bug that would kill me) to keep green pieces from checking ..
I’ve already got a jig in mind to use a router to roughly surface the piece ..
Replies
"Merit" is labeled for EAB.
thanks
Wouldn't kiln-drying kill the beetle larvae? Maybe it would dry it too fast though?
yes, it's going to take a while to stabilize this chunk of wood ..
Find a university that has with Forest studies. Or a government agency that studies wood use and issues. In the US it is the US Forest Products Lab.
Kiln drying should work, but you probably don't want to do that.
Maybe freezing.
But will probably need gas fumigation. But you will need the specifics on the chemical and time. And it will probably have to be done by some certified to do that. Both because of the handling of the chemicals and the certification that ti was properly treated.
If it is coming from the US you might try contacting the US FPL and see if have any ideas.
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
Get it cut into slabs and kiln dry it.
that would be nice but a 42" bandsaw?? I had an old felling saw once, a 4 foot double ender.
It'll take forever and another half a lifetime to dry out that stump. And all the while bugs will eat it. You don't need a 42" saw to cut it. While rotating the stump may not yield a log in boule form it will allow you to cut the log up with a smaller bandsaw.
If you know of a place that is being fumigated you can put it in the building.
I think they fumigate houses more in the south because of termites.
Will Rogers
Impressive suggestion.
The problem is that a) the chemical used might not be the right one for the emerald ash borer and b) the treatment time and possibly pressure is probably not what is needed for such a thick tree..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
I tried to get some infested wood treated a long time ago. The problem with liquids is they will leave something behind that would leave the wood toxic.
The fumigation method uses a gas so it doesn't. But it is almost imposible for most people to get ahold of the stuff.
I guess you need a specail liscence to handle it.
I've seen house tented (fumigated) in the south.
If it is cold enough all the way to the center of the piece for long enough it should kill them.
Trying to get info on this is very difficult.
If I were you, I'd use the PEG but I'm not sure if the athourities would except it.
But what Bill said would still apply to such a thick piece.
Peg is toxic though.
I never did get it resolved. The pieces of wood are still infested. That's 15 years later.
"There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
Edited 6/2/2009 12:51 am by popawheelie
thanks for all the thoughts .. keep 'm coming .. update .. nodate ... still haven't heard back from any authorities yet ..
On stabilizing the piece:
I'm thinking the first priority will be to roughly surface the top, then hollow out the base as much as possible, leave it 3 or 4" thick.
Chain saw, auger drill w/the hole haug, angle grinder with chain saw tooth cutter, chain mortiser would be really easy, if I could find one to borrow ($$$)
I like Pentacryl (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=20079&cat=1,190,42942) but it's so expensive, just turn in upside down and fill it up like a bucket, can't imagine anything surviving that. PEG may be the only affordable option.
Killing the beetles:
A bug bomb with it all wrapped in VB might work
I can burn or freeze the scrap immediately.
We don't fumigate much up here in the great white north, but I did read about them hoping for a winter cold enough to kill them. I'd try that but I'd be afraid of it splitting. I'll see what the authorities want (and check out merit), perhaps wrap it in VB and get it fumigated that way. It's going to have to be sealed tight anyway, hopefully that will also take care of any chemical smells.
I'll try and get a pic soon, keep ya' posted ..
Call your local pest control folks to check feasibility of fumigation suggested above. We tent whole houses here for termites and powder post beetles. See if they will do a mini version for you.
Vacumm seal it in a big plastic bag and suffocate 'em.
Here's an update, what a pile of red tape, but I finally got it, all 650 lbs. Took app 2 days with the router to remove app 3" and flatten the top. The jig worked out great, just a couple of bed rails and some particle board, route, slide the jig ahead a bit, route slide the jig ahead, route .... I used a small router with a 1" diameter bit, 1/4" depth per cut. This is much better than the fixed router set ups in the current edition of FWW, that would have require a 12' long guide! I have some light surfacing to do with the electric hand planner followed by some Pentacryl to stabilize it.
Not sure what to do with the bottom, the felling notch makes it 10" high on one side, 18 on the other. I may cut it on the diagonal, hollow it out and try some sort of black smithing metal band to hold it all together, or take a 4 or 5 inch slab off the top and construct a separate base for it to sit on.
The center wood is dark and radiates out from the center between what were root buttresses up the side of the trunk. I can stabilize these with butterflys. A really fun project.
ps .. the only way I can flip this myself is going to involve a boat launch ..
That's dang nice right there!
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Edited 6/22/2009 11:58 am ET by rez