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Termites

Emiliano Achaval

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I have been searching for almost an hour thru the forum archives... Cant find a good definite answer. Just cut about 7 Koa blanks. Turned 4 already. Loaded with alive termites... Even inside, when you stop you can see them, I use a few picks to dig them out... These are going to be Polo thropies. So I have to leave a wide rim so they can engrave names etc. I will not hollow it out too much, will make a nice round curve. I'm thinking they will all fit in a big trash can, then I can throw a smoke poison bomb , a fogger. Have to check if the fogger kills termites. Lots of the termites are in the larvae stage, but they are breathing, right? Lol. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. I kept spraying regular bug killer, what I use for the house and shop, kills roaches etc, the larvae and winged termites that came into contact are dead, but, that does not penetrate the little caves. I will only fill the holes on the rim, as the laser engraver needs a smooth surface, I hope the laser will cut the same thru wood and resin... I will leave all other holes open, and I hope I can kill all termites, I can see a player calling telling me bugs are coming out of the trophy!! Thanks in advance for the help!! Aloha
 

hockenbery

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will only fill the holes on the rim, as the laser engraver needs a smooth surface, I hope the laser will cut the same thru wood and resin.

Suggest you do a test with laser on one before doing them all.

I did some award plates a long time ago. I took one to the person doing the laser engraving to test whether I could finish them first.
Good thing because using the provided specifications, the laser carriage hit the rim moving the plates around.
Of course these are the same folks who wanted 9" plates form an 8" diameter log.
 

Bill Boehme

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You might want to experiment with different filler materials on a test piece of wood and have the engraver write across them. The contrast in color of the filler and wood is also important. I would be concerned about how epoxy would react to the laser. I think that Inlace resin might be better than epoxy.

We have mostly subterranean termites here. They can't survive in sunlight and the larvae probably can't survive without the wood being damp.
 
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I have been searching for almost an hour thru the forum archives... Cant find a good definite answer. Just cut about 7 Koa blanks. Turned 4 already. Loaded with alive termites... Even inside, when you stop you can see them, I use a few picks to dig them out... These are going to be Polo thropies. So I have to leave a wide rim so they can engrave names etc. I will not hollow it out too much, will make a nice round curve. I'm thinking they will all fit in a big trash can, then I can throw a smoke poison bomb , a fogger. Have to check if the fogger kills termites. Lots of the termites are in the larvae stage, but they are breathing, right? Lol. Any other ideas are greatly appreciated. I kept spraying regular bug killer, what I use for the house and shop, kills roaches etc, the larvae and winged termites that came into contact are dead, but, that does not penetrate the little caves. I will only fill the holes on the rim, as the laser engraver needs a smooth surface, I hope the laser will cut the same thru wood and resin... I will leave all other holes open, and I hope I can kill all termites, I can see a player calling telling me bugs are coming out of the trophy!! Thanks in advance for the help!! Aloha
So this is where the Termite tool from Oneway might come in handy to slice the little critters!:D
 

john lucas

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Bernie beat me to the punch. Great minds thing alike. I would definitely do a test. I have very limited experience with laser engraving but have done a lot of pyrography and you can definitely tell the difference in burn as you go through areas with different materials or hardnesses.
 
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My niece lives on Oahu HI. She and her husband have lots of thick slab table and counter tops and an equally large problem with bugs in the wood. I emailed her about your problem and her response follows.

To
Message body
We have come up with several solutions for the beetles and termite issues in our tables and counter tops.
1) In the hardware store there is a specific spray for termites and it comes with a straw so you can spray directly in to their holes. We put the straw directly into their tunnel and spray several times, then put duct tape on top to seal the poison. A few days later we remove the duct tape and wash the wood.
2) Call Chill Space Billy!!! Take all your infested wood and or furniture and slabs to Chill Space Llc!!!!! Huge freezer warehouse that literally FREEZES the termites and beetles in your wood! Safer than poison and most poisons DO NOT work on the beetle!!!
  • Edit
    2915 Kaihikapu St
    Honolulu, HI 96819
 
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I chase the bug holes with thin CA glue. That gets them every time, and have even left a bug or two 'frozen' in the wood.... Microwaving the wood doesn't always work. I know there is a borax powder you can put in and around powder post beetle holes and it will kill them.

robo hippy
 
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150 Degrees F for a very short while will kill all known insect species. Because wood is a very good insulator you would need some considerable soak time at temp to penetrate vary thick lumber.
 

Emiliano Achaval

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Looks like the microwave worked. I first did it for one minute each. That didn't do it. I ended up doing 3.10 minutes each. Left them overnight in the shop. Next morning the ants were hard at work carrying out the tasty cooked termite grubs!! I talked to the engraver. He asked me to finish them. Laquer preferably. Once the laser cuts, they fill the indentation with color, and if the wood is raw, the color leaches. I'm attaching 2 pictures. There is enough room to engrave and avoid the holes...
 

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Emiliano Achaval

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My niece lives on Oahu HI. She and her husband have lots of thick slab table and counter tops and an equally large problem with bugs in the wood. I emailed her about your problem and her response follows.

To
Message body
We have come up with several solutions for the beetles and termite issues in our tables and counter tops.
1) In the hardware store there is a specific spray for termites and it comes with a straw so you can spray directly in to their holes. We put the straw directly into their tunnel and spray several times, then put duct tape on top to seal the poison. A few days later we remove the duct tape and wash the wood.
2) Call Chill Space Billy!!! Take all your infested wood and or furniture and slabs to Chill Space Llc!!!!! Huge freezer warehouse that literally FREEZES the termites and beetles in your wood! Safer than poison and most poisons DO NOT work on the beetle!!!
  • Edit
    2915 Kaihikapu St
    Honolulu, HI 96819
Great ideas!! Thank you!
 
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Another option would be to put them in a vacuum chamber and pull a vacuum for several
minutes that would also put the little critters down.
 
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I use to soak my roughouts in alcohol for a couple days and that got rid of the bugs. Microwave might work if you get the wood hot enough, it might damage the wood. I have doubts about vacuum as the worms are sealed in by there swarf. I have used borax on lumber and it seemed to work; A while ago I was sealing the bark on a NE walnut bowl with ca glue. When I came to a worm it smoked, they might have already been dead. I check my bowls that I have in storage occasionally, looking for dust piles.
 
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The power of a vacuum can be extremely forceful on most materials.
This is what happens when they don't open the vent on a tank car and pump it empty.
I will advise our mechanical engineers to start making our rail cars out of termite swarf. :D
tank car.jpg
 

Emiliano Achaval

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The power of a vacuum can be extremely forceful on most materials.
This is what happens when they don't open the vent on a tank car and pump it empty.
I will advise our mechanical engineers to start making our rail cars out of termite swarf. :D
View attachment 23300
Wow!!
 
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This is what happens when they don't open the vent on a tank car and pump it empty.

Saw this on Mythbusters, I have also seen 55gal drums crush from a small pump. I still don't think a vacuum will pull a worm out of a piece of wood unless the hole has an open end.
 
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The power of a vacuum can be extremely forceful on most materials.
This is what happens when they don't open the vent on a tank car and pump it empty.
I will advise our mechanical engineers to start making our rail cars out of termite swarf. :D
View attachment 23300

Of course it is not the vacuum but the surrounding air pressure that does the work, at 1 Kilogram per CM square or 15 pounds per inch square, that adds up on a large tank like that.

The rules for wood sanitation to use it for international shipping has the heating of the wood as the manner of use, it gives times for the sizes and the temperature to be achieved.
 

Bill Boehme

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This is what happens when they don't open the vent on a tank car and pump it empty.

Saw this on Mythbusters, I have also seen 55gal drums crush from a small pump. I still don't think a vacuum will pull a worm out of a piece of wood unless the hole has an open end.

The idea is to kill the larvae, but you're right that it won't pull them out, not even if the hole is open. While a vacuum would work to kill the larvae, it would take a lot longer than a few minutes judging by the time required to remove the air from small items like pen blanks.

However, I think that is more effort than necessary to kill termites. The larvae can't survive by themselves nor do they burrow through the wood. Heat, carefully used, is probably the safest and most practical solution.
 
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The termite won't come out of his hole but he definitely won't be eating any wood after that day.
May the swarf be with you. :D
 
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We have a museum near us here on the East Coast of South Africa (similar climate to Florida) that specialise in the grass woven baskets/items etc that the locals make. What they do to debug the baskets is put them in a deep freeze for 6 weeks/ 2 months. This they have found kills all the borers/bugs/termites etc that can be infesting the baskets. They do this to all new items before they go on display. They also do it every now and again to existing items to kill the fly in visitors.
I have found this also works on the Longicorns larva (flat worms) in wood. Should work on your Hawaiian termites. Might just send the Canadian /N Dakota one back into hibernation
 
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We have a museum near us here on the East Coast of South Africa (similar climate to Florida) that specialise in the grass woven baskets/items etc that the locals make. What they do to debug the baskets is put them in a deep freeze for 6 weeks/ 2 months. This they have found kills all the borers/bugs/termites etc that can be infesting the baskets. They do this to all new items before they go on display. They also do it every now and again to existing items to kill the fly in visitors.
I have found this also works on the Longicorns larva (flat worms) in wood. Should work on your Hawaiian termites. Might just send the Canadian /N Dakota one back into hibernation

I guess we must have different worms than you have in South Africa, as the ones here survive much colder temperatures than the typical temperature of a freezer being -18C or 0 F, as temps here get wel down to the -40 C or F.

A temp of about +60 C plus vacuum is what is recommended now for killing the pests, see US FED info,

https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/invasive_species/firewood_treatment/
 
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