Bugs!

They say never to look a gift horse in the mouth, but if that horse is made of hardwood you had better check it for bugs! Powderpost beetles to be specific. Turns out my new found cache of maple is full of them.
I'm trying a multi-step process to eliminate the unwelcome inhabitants. First is good old fashioned removal of infested stock. I culled the lumber, and the cut away what I didn't need - all outdoors. Second is a dousing in a boron salt based solution. I skipped both the Timbor and Boracare and went straight to 20 Mule Team Borax. Finally there's the heat treatment. 10 hours in a kiln made from rigid foam insulation and a space heater. Not pretty, but let's see if it gets the job done!

[@2001DestructionofLies]

nice job really good tip, love the kiln and good luck. nothing like being up on top and then falling lower than you were originally. have a happy bugless fathers day

[@Jakl148]

Love your videos. You have a straight forward approach that I can relate to. Thanks for sharing.

[@sparks6666]

A co-workers dad just built her a beautiful dining room table out of rough cut oak...Yup, powder post beetle infestation discovered after it was done. They also have some carpenter bees too. What a nightmare.

[@kookia213]

Glad I came across your video. Did lots of research and seems that you have all the answers (based on your experience). I did search for a way to avoid bora care because of the cost, and did read that borax with water will do the trick (not sure if cold or hot water). Heat would defently work to kill the inside ones, but i do wonder if the treatment with borax worked? (video was posted at 2016. we are now at end of 2021). Would be happy to hear your thought on that. thank you

[@knecht105]

Good idea to let the boards sit for a while, those pesky things can sometimes withstand some pretty harsh conditions ... hopefully you got'em :)

[@MattHeere]

Thanks Colin. It's funny, because I remember thinking when you did your spalted maple video: "I sure hope he's not bringing home any company in that log." Oh well. What kind of man/husband/dad would I be if I actually took my own advice ;)

[@blameitonben]

We had a live edge mantle from a tree we felled put over our fireplace. It was too ALIVE !! Evidence of a wood boring beetles. Considering a kiln to kill the bugs, or potentially putting the wood in a vaccum mattress bag and taking all the air out of it. That should kill the bugs right?

[@harrymason1053]

The powder post beetles don't get nourishment from the wood but they get it from the fungus in the wood. Control the fungus by low moisture content.

[@Sho81]

Well that way was better than what I did. Was welding up a very large steel trough for a 12' x 3' bbq pit and was given a good bit of free rough sawn oak infested with insects. Flipped it over and propped it up a bit to let air in. stacked all the wood on the far end and lit a decent far on the other. fire got out of control and I ended up with a bunch of decent quality oak charcoal lol.

[@MattHeere]

Not all bad. Good hardwood charcoal is worth a few bucks, and the insects might turn out to be the "secret ingredient" You'll be like the folks clearing those pesky mesquite trees and discover that a waste product makes for some good eats!

[@rosskstar]

brilliant - i have my walnut stacked in a 20' container. I lit coals in a bbq smoker and sealed it up with the wood thinking the CO might kill anything. Not sure if it worked or not. Your idea is better.

[@jakejohanson6562]

That's why I only work with pallets. No bugs there 😜

[@chucklitecky6890]

Do you have a planer? You could have run the boards thru the planer also to get all four surfaces and edges cleaned up. So I guess you don't have one as it would have also helped with more insurance before spraying with the borax. Elsewise thanks for your video it reminded me that I've got an old door found in a damp spot that I need get after for the beetles.

[@jimturner6400]

I have this problem with some English Maple I was thinking maybe I could pass an electrical current through the wood .... I'm not an electrician so I intend to research this before doing anything ! ... Any Sparky's out there !

[@dansir4102]

To get electrical current to even try to travel through wood you have to build a device that could kill 10 men. Then you have to soak the board to allow current to flow, then the flow will most likely travel around living creatures because they aren’t an efficient path and electricity is all about efficiency of travel. But I don’t know. I have used a device which electrocutes wood and watched an ant walk right up the prong while it was firing on full and the wood beneath is was on fire.

[@BronkBuilt]

Hope the boards come out clean so it turns into a major score on some good wood for you.

[@ozzstars_cars]

That should kill those critters. Good luck. Happy Fathers Day to you Matt

[@MattHeere]

Thanks buddy! Happy Father's Day to you too.

[@lanenunez8225]

I see now how you got the wood very good job keep up the vids

[@bobleeswoodshop7919]

Luck with that!!

[@BruceAUlrich]

Good luck! Hope it worked

[@Mitermikeswoodshop]

Nice job hope it works out....

[@MRrwmac]

Hope it worked out well for the long run! idevice BBQ thermometer you say??

[@MattHeere]

Yep. Bought it for my wife to use on the grill. Honestly, it's just OK at best for it's intended purpose - but for this it worked like a champ.

[@MRrwmac]

+Matt Heere Oh so it's hardware you purchase, install on the heat source and it can be read on an idevice! Ok thanks.

[@gateway8833]

Man, a whole week we gotta wait..............Is it time Yet?...................Is it time yyeeeeettttt? Ok a week then.

[@ManCrafting]

Should have gone with Boracare. Could have saved a ton of time.

[@MattHeere]

It took me 20 min tops to build the kiln, and I can reuse it. Still seems like a better option than spending $100 on borax with $0.15 worth of glycol in it. Plus, the boron salts work through ingestion. Means that all the eggs and larvae have to become adults and start eating - a.k.a. more damage. Heat kills all stages dead where they stand.

[@jendarstudio3067]

Hi Matt. I stumbled on to your KZbin channel because I have the same problem. I have some powder post beetle infestation and I’m building my wood kiln now. I’m running into the problem of finding a heater that can reach 140F or 150F degrees. All of them have automatic shut off at some upper limit temperature and I’m not sure what to buy. How did you manage to get your heater to 160? GREAT VIDEO!

[@MattHeere]

It may be because mine is a 220V model, or maybe I just got lucky. 150 should work, it'll just take longer. Good luck!

[@jendarstudio3067]

By any chance, do you know an exact model number of your Duraheet heater? I see there are a lot of different models.

[@Darrenmccarthymusica]

Great job! Mask up next time you spray though!

[@UnseenThresh]

What are the mixtures for 20 mule team borax you used?

[@MattHeere]

As strong as possible. Keep the water hot if you can, and keep adding borax until no amount of stirring will dissolve any more. I then let mine sit for a bit so I could pour off just the liquid into the sprayer. Chunks of borax are, as you might imagine, pretty dang hard to spray!

[@UnseenThresh]

@@MattHeere for you, did you mix an entire box of 1.5lbs of borax in the water and then sift the water into the manuel spray canister?

[@UnseenThresh]

Is there any way I can have a short conversation with you? I actually have a small problem with these beetles in an already finished project and so i have limited options considering some of the components cant be exposed to high heat.

[@UnseenThresh]

Long story short, I made a frame out of rough pin! I have mot treated the surface but I did burn with a torch on one side! One week later while it is inside, i discovered rice grain sized black beetles crawling around it... so i took it straight outside and well I could only find "on the shelf" pesticide like Raid to maybe get rid of them... I have been spraying the frame itself and pretty much saturated the frame with it since sunday.and the bugs are still found dead on the floor though body count is down to like 1-2 a day! So I was wondering you I could just use the borax to coat the wood and finally bri g the frame back in

[@johnbecich9540]

What about the powder post beetles that were dumped, live, in the compost pile?

[@MattHeere]

Well we already have the beetles in the area, so I'm not introducing them per se. The compost pile is a long way from the house - several acres away - so I'm not worried about migration. They'll either run out of food there in the dirt, get cooked this summer or freeze this winter either way.

[@johnbecich9540]

Thanks for the reply... and all the interesting videos. My son is enamored with entomology, and he's home from college (Oregon State) for a while. I'll ask him about those bugs.

[@davidclauson5256]

Well that should take care if them. Free, free is good. Good luck, see you next time.

[@mportusable]

This kiln is exactly what I was looking for, from the material to the thermometer, thanks so much! One question did it get to that temperature even with these gaps or did you seal it completely?

[@bradbrown2199]

What was your boron solution ingredients and percentages? I have old barn beams to work on. Thx

[@TairnKA]

I had been thinking about insects in firewood being brought into the house. My first thought was use vacuum but it would be impractical and probably destroy the wood (moisture).

[@edbathgate5680]

Matt, what did you eventually build with this wood? Did any of the critters come back after borax and bake?

[@MattHeere]

This stuff became the workbench that you see in current videos (and there are a couple on the bench build too). No sign of the bugs, so between the two attacks I guess I got 'em all

[@MattJonesYT]

THAT INSULATION IS HIGHLY FLAMMABLE! I strongly suggest you test this yourself and tear off a small piece and see what happens when you put a lighter under it. It will burn easily and quickly. You have a high power heater surrounded by a foam tinder box. This is a great way to burn down your house! It's not worth it to save some scrap wood.

[@MattHeere]

According to the manufacturer's data sheet, this foam is rated for use up to 190 degrees F. My setup never gets it up past 160. I wouldn't leave it unattended, but to compare what happens in a 2000 degree flame with what comes out of an electric heater with a thermostat is pointless. (msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_093d/0901b8038093d1f5.pdf?filepath=styrofoam/pdfs/noreg/179-04004.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc) Not sure I'd call many hundreds of dollars worth of spalted hard maple "scrap wood" either.

[@MattJonesYT]

@@MattHeere I doesn't matter AT ALL to me if you burn your house down. I posted that comment to warn other people about it. I very seriously suggest that anyone trying this do exactly what I suggested and experiment with what happens when you put a lighter flame under a sheet of that type of foam insulation. It is surprisingly flammable. You're being straight up naive thinking that there's zero chance your space heater will never ever malfunction in any way and produce more heat than it's supposed to. Any 120v electric circuit has the capacity to produce a spark in places you don't expect. Code for using that type of insulation is that it must be covered over with fire rated drywall. Without the drywall it is a fire hazard.

[@MattJonesYT]

For anyone thinking about making one of these out of insulation foam, first look at foursevenfive.com/blog/reason-foam-fails-2-unacceptable-fire-hazard and consider whether it's a good idea to be one small electrical glitch away from burning down your house in order to get a couple board feet of old scrap wood.

[@mikecagle984]

Two questions. Does the heat warp the wood, and do the bugs literally come to the surface and die? I have mesquite planks that show signs of bugs with the powder residue and want to rid it of bugs so I can use it in my projects. Just want to make sure am doing it right so I can use the wood and be bug free.

[@MattHeere]

I saw minimal warping, but maple is pretty tough and this wood was bone dry to start. YMMV. The bugs die where they are so the wood remains full of crispy beetle corpses.

[@mayemily143]

​@MattHeere I would have liked to see the dead, crispy bugs.. maybe I missed something? But BRILLIANT idea 🎉

[@ttfweb1]

I wonder if you could use clear plastic and make an impromptu solar kiln. Good luck.

[@MattHeere]

Solar kilns are a great way to air dry wood, but here in Western PA they're borderline for bug control. The lumber temp needs to stay at 130 or higher for 4-6 hours minimum. Right now you might get away with it because we're within a week of the summer solstice, and the ambient temps are high. Normally though I think you'd still need some auxiliary heat.

[@ttfweb1]

+Matt Heere Same here for Western Oregon. We're lucky, not many bugs in the Northwest.