Killing bugs with vacuum

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
TattooedTurner

TattooedTurner

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2016
Messages
1,460
Location
Surprise, Arizona
Let me preface this post by saying I'm not a sadist! I do, however, have a large amount of mesquite that is infested, and getting worse. I'm going to lose a ton of wood before I can use it if I don't kill the little critters eating away at it. All my other wood is kept well away from the mesquite, but it's only a matter of time before it may get attacked too. I'm thinking that throwing a few blanks at a time in my vacuum chamber for a few minutes should rid me of the little pests, correct? Aside from the unethical treatment of bugs and perhaps PETA firebombing my shop for cruelty to parasitic worms, is there any reason not to go forward with my plan? Anybody have an easier way to kill them off?
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Jay,

I think that your proposed extermination method is worth a try ... may take more than just a few minutes though ... could be time consuming ... but worth a try, IMO. . Be sure to check that it works before expending too much time. . Let us know.
 
As Frank already suggested, heat might be a good option. Although I'd stay away from fire, it tends to cause some irreversible damage to wood blanks. An oven might do the trick, with less charring.

My concern with vacuum is that it might not be able to kill all of the eggs too.
 
Maybe microwave them. Should kill the large and any eggs in there too. You'll have to play with times and settings to see what will work without damage to the wood.
 
I guess the potential problem with the oven or microwave technique is that existing cracks may expand or new ones be created as the wood dries . Perhaps not a problem if you ultimately plan to cast the blanks . I share Sam`s concern about the eggs . A complete stabilization process would solve that but without any additional benefit to the mesquite .
 
It only takes about 120 140 degrees to kill bug, like I said bag them and set them in full sun. A black trash bag will act as heat collector. If it isn't hot enough now, wait a few weeks and it will cook them. At least in the bags they won't be starting on your other wood.
 
I had a wooden bocce ball that my kids bought for me. I put it on the shelf an in a couple of days saw dust started to appear. I placed it in our 0 degree freezer for 2 years. I took it out thinking that the little critters had long since been freeze dried. After a few days the telltale saw dust started to reappear.

I gave up.

Tomas
 
tomas said:
I had a wooden bocce ball that my kids bought for me. I put it on the shelf an in a couple of days saw dust started to appear. I placed it in our 0 degree freezer for 2 years. I took it out thinking that the little critters had long since been freeze dried. After a few days the telltale saw dust started to reappear.

I gave up.

Tomas
Click to expand...


Had the same problem with raspberries I had picked and then frozen , but it was crawling maggots rather than dust . Some bugs have more antifreeze in them than we have . Didn`t seem to affect the taste when cooked , though .
 
Vacuum may work. I would expect you have a pallet making facility somewhere in the area that does "heat treat". That's how they kill the bugs and worms. If you have a quantity of wood it should be cheap to have them treat it or put in with one of their batches. Maybe even free for a pen or two, depending on amount


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app
 
Quite a few years back I was offered a very large Cherry tree that was going to be removed from the orchards to allow for a new housing development. So I had a friend cut the tree down and mill it for me. Which he did and and I got a very large stack of very nice Cherry wood. Low and behold, I started noticing saw dust around the stack as it air dried. I asked my friend what to do and he suggested I tarp the stack and put a house hold bug bomb under the tarp and set it off. I did that and kept the tarp tight around the stack for about a week and it stopped the bugs. I don't know how big your stack of wood is but I would think a bug bomb and the heat build up from the tarp would probably do the trick. It took me probably 12 years to use the Cherry but very little was thrown out. Just be sure if you choose this method to really let the stack ventilate after you take the tarp off.
 
You mentioned cutting it up into blanks. I did that and put the blanks in a Ziploc bag and put that in the freezer for a month or better and that cured my problem.
 
dogcatcher said:
I had the same problem, I stuck the wood in black trash bags and set it out in the sun, here it will get hot enough to kill them.
Click to expand...

wolf creek knives said:
Quite a few years back I was offered a very large Cherry tree that was going to be removed from the orchards to allow for a new housing development. So I had a friend cut the tree down and mill it for me. Which he did and and I got a very large stack of very nice Cherry wood. Low and behold, I started noticing saw dust around the stack as it air dried. I asked my friend what to do and he suggested I tarp the stack and put a house hold bug bomb under the tarp and set it off. I did that and kept the tarp tight around the stack for about a week and it stopped the bugs. I don't know how big your stack of wood is but I would think a bug bomb and the heat build up from the tarp would probably do the trick. It took me probably 12 years to use the Cherry but very little was thrown out. Just be sure if you choose this method to really let the stack ventilate after you take the tarp off.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm going to try first. It's a large amount of wood, most of a large mesquite. I think I'll put it into large plastic bags and bomb it. We're running a good 15 degrees below normal here but it will heat up very soon... then whatever critters are left are going to roast. Thanks for the ideas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom