Lumber Damaged by Powderpost Beetle

Well time to admit defeat. The powderpost beetles are making a mess of some of my red pine lumber and it's completely preventable. Watch as I learn the hard way about why it's important to get logs turned into lumber in a relatively short amount of time. I always wondered why sawmills water down their logs and now I know why I should have been. Despite not having running water or any way to water logs down, watch this video to learn how you can still prevent the beetles from boring holes and ultimately staining your nice lumber. This video would have been something I would have wanted to see a while back. But as the old saying goes..."you live and you learn". I just wish I didn't have to "learn" this way. Ah well, back to it. Thanks for watching!

[@damonholtman9134]

Thank you for showing everyone this so that we could learn from your mistakes.

[@jamesharless5357]

Great tip Sandy!

[@sawingwithsandy]

Thanks James. Sorry about the late comment reply. Missed your comment for some reason.

[@wallacefrey6247]

Do they still have Molsen Golden beer in Canada?

[@sawingwithsandy]

Not that I"m aware of

[@heyyoubuddy6749]

Hey buddy great video yeah out here in California we call him bark beetles and they’re killing off from the pine trees so we have a lot of dead standing trees that have to be removed and the wood is blue stain we call it Denim Pine or denim would cause it looks like denim I’ve been told that we have to put them in account up to about 130° to kill off any larva but I haven’t done that yet anyway great video buddy it’s good to see you have a great day

[@sawingwithsandy]

Heyyou Buddy yeah that’s too bad about the trees. Insects do one heck of a damage. I’m hoping our winters are enough to kill them off. Otherwise my whole tiny house will be full of the critters as that’s what it’s made of haha

[@beardedbowhunter6139]

@@sawingwithsandy spray it with boracare

[@taylore2003]

Are you sure these arent actually ambrosia beetles if the holes are discolored exactly like that.

[@sawingwithsandy]

I’m pretty certain but I should probably have another look to be certain

[@taylore2003]

Powder post Beatles Don't usually have a black tunnel and the tunnels and tunnels are filled with frass, ambrosia Beatles have stained tunnels and no frass in them as they feed on fungus that they grow in the tunnels.

[@terrytate6006]

I had those same Beatles attack my wood framed house they totally disintegrated 2 by 4s you got to treat them was boracare

[@sawingwithsandy]

They sure do put the holes in it quick !

[@lumberjill6598]

We have the pine beetle in Washington and it devastating our forests. Very sad.

[@sawingwithsandy]

Yeah I hear ya.

[@kathyyoung1899]

You get more than staining. They're in your lumber and I wouldn't use it. Appears my home was built with lumber infested with them. The whole house is destroyed! Be careful. Powder post beetles love moisture so I don't get watering the logs??

[@sawingwithsandy]

That’s too bad to hear about your house. I believe that prolonged cold temperatures like we get here in Central Ontario kill off the beetles. I’ve not encountered any issues yet but I did put up some recent material that likely had some beetles in it so will see how that goes. Appreciate you sharing your experiences.

[@toddavis8603]

We had PPB in our old church floorboards. The larvae are very destructive, and Boracare was sprayed around to kill em! Circa 1995.Thanks Sandy.

[@sawingwithsandy]

That’s good to know. I’m hoping our cold Canadian winters kill them off, if not I’ll be looking to the Boracare.

[@guybartlett9587]

Subbed

[@sawingwithsandy]

Great to have ya here on the channel. Welcome aboard.

[@dandarling5990]

good video, slow down camera movement....

[@sawingwithsandy]

Thanks for watching Dan.