Furniture Making

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Furniture Beetle?

9/30/14       
Jarrett Maxwell Member

Website: http://www.geometricinnovations.com

I recently built a large bedroom suite for a client that consisted of a king size bed, two night stands, two lamps, and a blanket chest. I completed these pieces in October of 2013 after 6 months of work and sprayed 5 or 6 coats of General Finishes water based poly urethane called Enduro Var. The pieces are made of ash, bubinga, and Peruvian walnut.

In the process of applying the finish I noticed one small hole and a bug about an inch from it. Not sure what it was, I killed the bug and kept working. I was not sure if the hole just "appeared" or if it was there previously and I had not noticed it.

The furniture sat in my shop until early January 2014 and was then transferred to the clients old house, where it sat until May of 2014 while their new house was being completed.

I noticed no new holes or bugs while the furniture was in my shop. I was present when the furniture was moved and installed at the new house and I have been at the new house regularly over the last several months and have not observed any new holes, bugs, or saw dust.

The clients home has many wood furniture pieces ranging from antiques to custom commissioned items purchased from a man in England.

As time has passed I have begun to worry about this.

What should I do if anything?

9/30/14       #2: Furniture Beetle? ...
dave

Here on the West Coast of Canada there are no end of boring bugs. I've seen holes in domestic material left outside, such as fire wood and scaffold planks. There have been pieces of foreign lumber that I've picked up from the supplier with bore holes and even dead bugs inside, but never any action after that. I have not seen the local boring bugs attack any of my shop stored material. Possible the bug you eliminated was not a boring bug, but a coincidence.
It can be a fright to see bore holes in shop stored lumber! I'd be more concerned with the furniture coming from England.

9/30/14       #3: Furniture Beetle? ...
David R Sochar Member

Ash is known to harbor beetle that hatch from the larval stage if not heated enough in the kiln. The wood is worked, and then the beetle bores his way out, leaving a hole and some frass behind. Little piles of sawdust is the clue that there are live bugs about.

One woodworker even told the tale of being able to hear them while his head rested on his Ash headboard. Sounds apocryphal, but who knows.....

Search WoodWebfor articles on Ash Borers. As long as there is no frass, no worries.

10/1/14       #4: Furniture Beetle? ...
mark

Looks like you got it covered:
"This warranty does not cover damage caused by mold, fungi, wood boring insects, or ..." with all the lay legalese on your site.

10/2/14       #5: Furniture Beetle? ...
Mark B Member

His warranty, to me at least, speaks to wood boring beetles damaging his work. Cant see a way you could protect yourself from putting a piece of finished work in someones home that subsequently resulted in the infestation of their home OR the damage to your work that occurred when bugs left your work.

Sound like there isnt much to worry about though.

2/17/15       #6: Furniture Beetle? ...
markbattles Member

Website: http://v-dubfurniture.com

I have not seen the local boring bugs attack any of my shop stored material. Possible the bug you eliminated was not a boring bug, but a coincidence.

2/17/15       #7: Furniture Beetle? ...
Greg Thacker Member

I learned a hard lesson after building a nice gun case of "post oak". After I had the finish on it and bragged about it several borer's decided to come to the light of day in NW Arkansas in early March of 2013. Friend of mine told me how to do a ammonia vapor and that was it but too late for my beautiful gun case. I did a plastic sheet tent over a simple set of racks with bowls of ammonia setting below the wood stack in on the racks. I leave the wood in for a few days....3 or 4... but it will fume the wood which may or may not be desirable? Kiln dried wood should never have this problem but I was milling my own as I like the highly figured post oak for it's wild grain patterns and it was shop dried for a year and still the borers were in it but they didn't get into any other wood stored right next to it. I don't know how all this happened but a lesson learned that a borer is a nasty varmint and will or maybe can destroy the bottom line in any shop if not attended to at light speed!! I even thought of fuming my whole shop...2400 s/f....but it will rust a machine to dust.
Good Luck

2/17/15       #8: Furniture Beetle? ...
David R Sochar Member

Greg - I do believe you got your potions and methods a bit confused there.

Ammonia vapors/fumes are used to darken Oak and a few other woods. It was a popular color and technique with American Craftsman furniture.

Boric acid - or Bora-care - is the product used to fumigate lumber, buildings, etc. There is more information herein the Knowledge base.

The ammonia fumes probably only irritated the borers.


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