# Resawing Your Own Logs - Dealing With Termites & Other Bugs



## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

The title pretty much sums up my concerns. While I have been WW for ~4yr I only now just started resawing my own logs for usable wood.

Question for those who have ACTUALLY dealt with this,... *How do you control for the eventual termites, probably wood termites, that show up in your new stack(s) of logs that you resaw?*

Please, I only want to hear from those who deal with, or have dealt with, termites, and NOT those who have never eaten dirt as a kid, nor eaten supper as a kid without washing your hands. I am looking for day-to-day tips on how to control these critters that out-number us on the Planet.










*Should I remove all bark when resawing green logs for stickering?*


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

I just use a bug killer spray, comes in a 1 gallon and came with it's own trigger pump spray gun. I don't know what it is but you can always find the stuff at Home Depot, Lowes. I never bothered with bug control until I was slicing the log. Then you see the bugs running and just squirt them and they die. I would leave my logs outside of the shop until ready for cutting. I never bothered with removing bark. If you are able to get a good slice on one side the log, you can turn the log so slice is down and then you have a decent straight line to work with.

I just resawed on a 20" powermatic bandsaw so our experience is not major, but we have resawn a decent amount of our own Mesquite in the past with that bandsaw. I have a future acquisition in the plans for a low end mill for slicing medium sized logs / Mesquite.

Have fun slicing. Actually it was never all that fun for me. After you have sliced logs on a 20" bandsaw for 8 hours a day for a week, it gets a bit old and wearing


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Mike, Termites do not live in the wood. They live/nest in the ground and move back and forth from the ground nest to the wood via mud tunnels they construct for that purpose. Termites should not be a problem once your wood is sawed and stacked (unless you stack it outside). There are other wood chewers that can infest wood but they all leave as the moisture content drops. Powder post beetles are the exception as they will infest dry wood.

As far as the bark is concerned, removing it will eliminate some of the wood chewers and will help the drying process. I tend to remove it if it wants to come off easily. Otherwise, I leave it.


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## Handtooler (Jul 24, 2012)

Mike, Termites are subterrainean and as such must return to the earth at least every 12-14 hours. The swarming adults cause no harm and will die soon. It's the larva that eat wood something terrible. They build tunnels from the ground as high a 4-5 feet sometimes in damp climates. The tunnels must stay moist. So since you are stacking your fine lumber for air drying and stickering it, If you will lay a piece of polyethylene or polypropalyene sheeting or a tarp down larger than the stack and weight it down with bricks or such then place you supports down then stack above, they will not be able to tunnel up tpo the stack and attack your wood. Lawn and garden centers also carry approved water based solutions to spray if you find tunnels and infestations. Questions? Ask and I'll try to help


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## shawnmasterson (Jan 24, 2013)

I am very interested in the responses you get. My sawyer stack in the edge of his woods, and has never had a termite problem. I have seen PP beatles. The only wood he has problems drying outside are maple and poplar. Mostly maple. I really hope more people chime in.


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## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

Chime…

Hehehe


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

What I've seen a couple of are black, cylindrical, and less than 1/8in long. Wood termites vs your normal ground dwellers?


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## Bugnurd (Jan 16, 2014)

They could also be bark and/or ambrosia beetles based on your description. If so, as the wood dries, they will not find it appealing. Also taking the bark off would help. BTW, I'm an entomologist who deals with wood boring insects. If you post a pic, I'd be happy to identify it for you. Here are some pics of bark and ambrosia beetles I poached from the web.


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## TravisH (Feb 6, 2013)

Ok by no means an expert on the subject but have used some logs off and on. I usually strip the bark as it just makes it easier for me to see any insects (most I assume are innocuous). I usually do a light spray of Sevin bug killer and repeat applications if needed. Usually the first spray will get rid of any bugs, if any. I do a follow up spray if needed but usually not the case. I keep a closer eye on the wood initially for any signs of frass but if stickered properly with proper air flow never had any issues.

I never have had any wood come in with any heavy bug issues and am not certain off all the bug species encountered.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

I think Bugnurd has it! Thanks!

I have only seen two of them, one at a friends wood pile where I got the logs, and one in my shop after resawing. I immediately squashed the one in the shop, so no pictures sorry. These were single bugs, without any large scale damage under the bark as your image indicates. The Chinaberry I am currently resawing has very thin bark overall

Will continue to check as I continue to resaw. I will probably also go ahead and resaw down to eliminate the bark, from here moving forward.

Again thanks.


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## Handtooler (Jul 24, 2012)

Where'd ya find your Chinaberry? My grandmother had the only one I've ever seen and as kids shot the green hard berrys in out slingshots. It was about 20 ft high with a trunk of about 6-7". I understand the wood is particulary extra fine for orintamental use.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

You need Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate. It comes in a pesticide product call Timbor. Google the label.

You can also get it in a product used as a fertilizer supplement to add the micronutrient boron. It is called Solubor. Google the label. You will see that they are both 98% Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate. Same stuff except Timbor costs three times as much as Solubor.

Mix 5 to 7 pounds of Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate to 5 gallons of water. Best to mix and let sit overnight for the best dissolution of the powder. Using hot water will really help the powder dissolve.

You can also go the the AG Fertilizer Co-op or store and buy a solution of 10% boron. This is also used to mix in fertilizer tanks to add boron. You need to mix 28 ounces of this 10% liquid boron to each gallon of water and spray on the lumber. This is the equivalent amount of boron as 1 pound of Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate powder dissolved in 1 gallon of water.

With any of these products, spray all 4 sides of the boards till saturated. I spray all the hardwood lumber that I saw on my sawmill with the Solubor. I use a 25 gallon ATV spray tank with a diaphram pump that runs off a regular 12 volt battery or battery pack. 5 gallons of spray will treat about 250 board feet of 4/4 lumber (250 square feet).

Solubor pray solution will cost about $1.00 per gallon if you mix 1 pound of powder per gallon. Solubor costs about $50 for a 50 pound bag.

The 10% boron solution will cost about $2.00 per gallon of spray.

Timbor spray solution will cost about $3.00 per gallon of spray.

This will control attack by bark beetles or powderpost beetles or termites. If the bark beetles like the ambrosia beetle are already in the lumber, they will leave as the lumber dries, and the spray will kill them when they tunnel out.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Russell, I got the Chinaberry off of a friend in Austin. "Blackie_" had already cut it into shortened logs and stacked in his back yard. He seems to be a wizard at finding local exotic woods that are being cut down.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Thanks Danny. Looks like several good solutions.


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Mike, looks like you got a good wealth of info here, I really needn't respond, only to catch a ride on the same page as everyone else here, Termites need moisture to survive, and as Andy mentioned a lot of the beetles use the bark as a starting point to borrow into the wood so by removing the bark will help in that area, if your left to storing your stacks outside might lay powder or 7 dust something like that around that area and on the wood, also might try putting a few sheets of black plastic to help keep it nice and toasty under the plastic.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Well, I took the first bit of advice to remove the bark. Chiseled off the already cut boards, then I got to have some fun! I dug out one of the antique draw knives I picked up in a grab bag of tools for $30, sharpened it and went to town on another log.

It took me less than an hour to remove the bark and I do have to say that it was easier than I thought it would be. It also made it much easier to mount securely on the resaw sled. This log was just over 29in long and over 12in in diameter on one axis. So, I laid that axis horizontally… something HorizontalMike knows how to do *;-)* Anyway, this was probably about as large as could be handled with this sled. Was quite the challenge.

BTW, I lost my rear back thrust bearing on the BS. I had just repacked these guys just a few weeks ago. FWIW, I think with all this 12in width resawing in short order takes its toll on these thrust bearings. I still have a few left, but at less than a buck apiece, I think I will order another dozen to have on hand before I run out of my current supply (3 or 4 left).


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Good to see you got your sled working Mike, have you taken pictures and posted it as a project yet?


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Yup! 

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/100904


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

I thought that looked like chinaberry. I have a lot of it. It is exceptionally beautiful wood.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Just now looking it up. Looks like about 990 on Janka hardness scale, so it should work rather easily. Maybe I should cut some larger blanks for turning…? That might be fun… Hmm…


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## fge (Sep 8, 2008)

The Scorpions are what I would watch for carefully. We have a lot of them. One log I cut had a scorpion nest in it and about one or two came out about every few seconds. At the end we had about 50 scorpions we were dealing with cutting that log. If you know about scorpions, it only takes one to put a hurting on you, never mind 50 of them.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

It makes beautiful bowls.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Yeah Jerry, *don't mess with Momma!*


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Hey BugNerd. Got around to stripping a couple more logs for resawiing and managed to snap some images. Hard to get a detailed image of something that is only 3/32-1/8in long. I put a 4x macro on my 18-55mm lense to do closeups, but these guys are really small. This is a good as I can get.

Also noticed a few holes drilled INTO the wood, after stripping. Are the holes a result of different bugs?





































V-This last guy got caught up when I was putting shellac on the ends of the log-V


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## Bugnurd (Jan 16, 2014)

Hard to tell exactly from the pics, but it looks like they could be something in the family Bothrideridae, the dry bark beetles. I dont really know a whole lot about this obscure group. I personally have never seen any from my area (New England). Apparently they're predaceous and/or fungal feeders. I'd love to have specimens if you ever run into them again. Drop them in some alcohol and give me a pm.
Here's a link to some info on the family.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Bugnerd,
The best I can tell, from using an image from Texas A&M Ag site, is that this looks like a powderpost beetle. FWIW, each of the past two mornings I have found at least one of these guys crawling on on the bark-stripped but non-resawed logs I have ready for slabbing. There are some holes in the wood underneath the bark, so I am assuming that is where they are emerging.

(below) Mine









(below) Adult lyctid powderpost beetles are dark, cylindrical beetles with spherical eyes, 3/32 - 1/4 inch long. I chose the A&M site because it is local, thus this may be the local variety.
http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/household/termites/ent-2008/ 









CONCERN: 

 I do not have access to a kiln
 My woodshop (8×24 metal bldg on concrete) has +100BF of 8/4 and 12/4 stored in it, as well as wooden cabinets workbench, etc..
 I don't currently have any outdoor storage area available.
 I know that I have powderpost beetles in the area junipers that I have cut.
 How and where is best place to store and age these logs and freshly resawn&stickered lumber?
 I am wanting to be able to harvest my own local lumber in small quantities, but what are the bare/pragmatic basics of good safe practices with regards to these pests?


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

I have an answer now. Without a doubt, these are Powderpost Beetles.










Looks like I will need to forget about using "these" logs… FWIW, the earlier resawn logs of this tree appear to be OK, and yes I am keeping a close eye on this. *}8-O*


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

I understood that the beetles needed the bark to use as a blanket to lay the larva eggs, the larva are the ones that dwell into the wood, if no bark then no eggs?

Mike are these beetles in both the mesquite and the china berry or just one of the species? I've never known beetles to barrow through china berry.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

I have found them in both, though in very low numbers in the China Berry.

Of the 4-logs of China Berry and other logs:

 Resawed one with bark then chipped bark off-found NO PowderPost Beetles


 Stripped and resawed #2 log-not sure but do not think I saw any in that one either NOTE: Been watching these in their stickered stacks and nothing so far.


 Stripped two additional China Berry logs and sealed ends with shellac. Found PPBeetles, one-at-a-time, for 3-4 days straight. Have them on concrete slab on-end deciding when to resaw.


 Mesquite logs have remained in back of my PU for past ~10-days. Checked today and you can see the "beetle Bloom" *;-)* I can see active beetles(plural) crawling around. Bottom line on this, is that I will pass on resawing the mesquite at this time. Still need to buy/build new storage shed for resawn lumber first.


 I have removed all of the Salted Hackberry, dusted it off and gave it a closer inspection. Very numerous "tunnels" throughout each piece. Looks like it was there BEFORE you cut these up. These "tunnels" are filled with the equivalent of sawdust (regurgitated wood) and are obvious. Picking at a number of them, they turned to sawdust when pricked. These remind me of my White Ash Workbench in that I could see past worm/beetle holes that had re-filled in with new wood, but this time it was still wood dust and NOT as durable. 
That said, for small boxes they make an interesting pattern (and these piece can fit in the oven), so I was wondering how best to "use" this characteristic without destroying it while sizing lumber for boxes, etc. Got any tips?


 I think I can salvage two of the log ends of the Pecan for turning, as the rest had cracked too deeply toward the center. Wondering out loud here… Is it possible to fill the radial cracks with something like West Systems epoxy PRIOR to turning, in order to "save" such pieces? FWIW, I used to work with West Systems in my old hobby days building vacuum bagged composite RC sailplanes.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Mike, You definitely have wood munchers but I have never seen powder post beetles make that big a pile or that coarse of sawdust. Wonder if they are some other bug. The holes/tracks pp beetles make are really tiny (think 18-20 gauge needle). If they are another type of varmit, they should move on as the wood dries and not be a problem.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

Ambrosia beetle tunnels are not filled with frass (chewed up, extruded sawdust). Powderpost beetle tunnels are filled with frass.

This is a shame.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Some additional information:

 The tunnels in the Spalted Hackberry are nearly 1/4in in diameter, in other words *huge*. I even found a dead(harvested?) yellow jacket stuffed into one hole at the surface. These larger tunnels had to be from something much larger than these little beetles, but what? Anyway all of these larger tunnels are filled with "frass", but in much of the hackberry wood they make up 40-50% of it. What ever created them are long gone.


 Some of the "frass" was much more consolidated/tough as compared to other tunnels. Don't think I can resaw these down to 1/4-3/8in because to do so would make the boards literally and completely perforated/pass-through. Will need to rethink how best to use these. Interesting patterns though.


 Some of the tunnel holes in the last two China Berry logs are the 1/16in size and deeper "into" the stripped logs. I have been watching these for activity the past couple of days and have not seen anything entering/exiting them.


 In post #23, the first four images are of a single PPB (I was trying to get a good shot for ID purposes) and the fifth image was of another one that got caught up in my shellac seal. Other single beetles got smashed as I found them.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Those are some serious dust piles, if that's done by beetles, take away their cordless drills and they'll in all likelihood leave.


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

OK Mike the spalted hackberry, that was not a yellow jacket but instead a longhorn beetle they look like yellow jackets, that is what was tunneling through the hackberry and yes those are old holes there might still be some larva in there though but I doubt it, the long horn beetles lay the eggs and yes they are huge larva,

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/alb/slides_images/slides/larva.htm

None of the remaining china berry that I have left have any signs of the beetles, but the pile mesquite I have left (BBQ wood) I see kind of small beetles flying around


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

I was cutting up some silver maple not too long ago and found a couple larvae ~1" that looked similar to the long horn beetle. They left some decent sized holes with quite a bit of frass.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

Bugnerd, thanks for sharing your expertise.
My son had the PP critters in his imported hardwood flooring. He would mark the fine sawdust piles each morning and mark the spot on the board to be replaced. The flooring folks had to replace several boards. I sold flooring which was mostly imported- the stuff is supposed to be fumigates for a certain time to kill any critters in the wood.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Randy,
Here is the bug. I actually re-found it. Has nice long jumping legs and appears to be headless.

Backside









Belly up


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Yep, that's a longhorn beetle, it's an endless cycle, the beetle lays the eggs they turn into larvae then emerge as the beetle again.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/484135/bgimage


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## Bugnurd (Jan 16, 2014)

Red headed ash borer, Neoclytus acuminatus. It's a longhorned beetle in the family cerambycidae.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6769


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Thanks Marc! Nice to have a definitive answer. I was wondering about those red shoulders…

After all, I live with a redhead… *;-)*


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## EPJartisan (Nov 4, 2009)

Those Asian Longhorn beetles are scary large and make a lot of noise when they fly. Every summer in the mountains of Colorado, you encounter them all the time.

The pine trees are being decimated by a native Pine Beetles there, that has been thriving due to the warmer winters. What used to be lush and green mountains are now grey brown, and the clear cutting is exposing so much to the rocks. The aspen is trying to fill in, but until they can control these beetles. It's awful to see.

I got hit by Powder post beetles about 7 years ago, I have no idea where they came from, but I caught the spread at the start, so i didn't loose much… but I keep a few examples around to remind me of the danger. I bring small pieces of found wood, logs, and branches in here all the time, so i have a system I follow.. sometimes at the sacrifice of wood, but it works.

I just cut up a willow log I got after a storm here in Oak Park. It sat outside for about a year. I knew the inside was rotten to begin with, so I didn't worry about weather on it. I always soak my bark in a Mint bug spray before I bring it into the studio. Usually I let it dry well on the racks for a week… watching and spraying for bugs. Then had the assistant scrape the bark off, and together we learned all about willow trees. So I cut it into chunks on the bandsaw.. the wood was so rotted and moist that I had to clean the saw blade after… I had to throw away about 2/3rds of the log, but what I got out of it was SO WORTH IT!...

Since these pictures, I have sawn it into boards and drying them in hanging sheets so prevent most of the ends from checking. Already the wood it pulling apart.. so I need to control what I can. will post what I finally get later.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Well, I made the decision to dispose of the mesquite because the bug bloom was pretty much out of control at this point. I am actually semi-happy that I went through having to deal with this at this stage of my resawing logs. It will help me, going forward, with setting up good habits and preventive procedures early on.


 I placed all of the precut spalted hackberry in a black plastic yard bag and will leave that in the sun for several days. It was in the back of the truck with the mesquite but not sure if it got exposed/infected. The nice part about the hackberry is that all pieces are small enough that I could probably sneak them inside and into the kitchen oven, 1-2 at-a-time.


 I now understand the immediate need to strip bark from cut logs, as this truly minimizes not only the chances of infestation, but also minimizes the infestation if it were to occur.


 I have had to more formally plan out my formal storage situation with regards to my "normal" commercial resawn 8/4 and 12/4 lumber. Will be purchasing a small 8×6ft metal shed for dedicated storage of stickered resawn logs. It is cheap and inexpensive (and I understand the difference of these two terms), but I can fit it into an area just outside my shop, up against an 8ft retaining wall. An 8×19ft bldg would NOT fit. Will build a 2×6 PT frame w/3/4in sandply flooring, all on 2-high foundation blocks for elevation. This area of the drive is on stabilized base and floods during rain events. All of the frame and flooring will be sealed "prior" to assembly and recoated after. As flimsy as this building is, I "might" install a couple of 1×4 boards to stiffen up the walls. Looks like total costs for bldg, frame, & blocks will be in the range of ~$400.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Arrow-Newport-8-ft-x-6-ft-Steel-Shed-NP8667/100119313?N=5yc1vZbu95Z2bctjt#


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Hey John,
Had to nix the shed idea, though I picked up a ~45gal covered trashcan for the storage of the small amount I have. Stored the Hackberry for 2-yr and only had ONE bug come out since then. I used Tim-Bor, a professional insecticide. I mixed it up in a H20 spray bottle, sprayed ALL sides of every piece and put them in a covered trash can (outside). It seems to have worked. I currently have a couple of very large trunk pieces(+18" diameter) of Red Oak that I treated this past Spring, "aging". Obviously, all have been debarked as best one can, since that is the biggest place to worry about those boring pests.

The best part is that I can relocate the wheeled trashcan at will. As a covered can, I have never had to worry about it inside or out.


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## BoilerUp21 (Apr 19, 2016)

So I treated a bunch of timbers that I received with Timbor and did not see any signs of life for a month after treatment. All of a sudden, I am seeing tiny sawdust piles around some of the timbers (less than before but still worried). Is it worth trying to retreat these after I plane all the bark off? Not sure what to do and don't want to have to get rid of them if I don't have to, but worried about them being in my garage/house and something deciding to infest the house…

Thanks


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

Timbor is more of a surface treatment. It prevents original infestation or re-infestation. However, the beetles appear to already have been in your timbers prior to treatment. Powderpost beetles can remain inside wood for several years before they emerge. The best way to eliminate them is with heat.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

> Timbor is more of a surface treatment. It prevents original infestation or re-infestation. However, the beetles appear to already have been in your timbers prior to treatment. Powderpost beetles can remain inside wood for several years before they emerge. The best way to eliminate them is with heat.
> - WDHLT15


+10


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