Finished table and Frass

[DonJuvet]

A friend built a large slab table about 2 years ago.
Everything fine and dandy. He just found a frass pile on one of his chairs.
A wee beastie for sure. Borer.
He asked me..... What do I do now?

So........ Suggestions???

[Wipedout]

I've had success with turning blanks putting them in a closed large trash bags with a bunch of moth balls for a few days. Anyway to make a bag out of a tarp or something. Loading it with mothballs?

[DonJuvet]

Hmmmmm.... Maybe. It's big. 9' long.
Maybe have him move it to the garage.
Cover for a month and load it up.

[Pink Floyd]

I would have the whole table sterilized in a kiln. The frass pile means those wee beasties are emerging and they probably left more wee eggs behind.

[DonJuvet]

I wonder what that would do to the finish?

[MichaelMouse]

Wipedout said:

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I've had success with turning blanks putting them in a closed large trash bags with a bunch of moth balls for a few days. Anyway to make a bag out of a tarp or something. Loading it with mothballs?

---

Might melt some oil finishes with the naphthalene treatment. Put Borax underneath the legs, where they have to walk. The frass is from emergent beetles longing for sex. Walking in borax will do for 'em.

Powderpost beetles?

http://www.upcrc.com/index.html

http://weinspectrealestate.com/PDF/wood_..._guide.pdf Probably PP, given the time since the table left the woods.

[Howard Pollack]

A very good painter I knew used to get a hypodermic needle, fill it with lacquer thinner a couple of drops into the hole. No more bugs... I can't vouch for that method, but I do trust the guy. Good luck.
-Howard

[Mr_Mike]

Reading on-line says a kiln will kill all stages of development. Something like 130 degrees for 4 hours.

That shouldn't hurt the finish.

You best bet might be a small shop powder coater that can run his oven overnight at a low temp. That should be big enough and hot enough to do the trick. Not sure if a powder coat oven can go that low.

Perhaps a car painting booth can get that hot?

Regardless, anyway to get a consistent temperature for a good longtime.

[Bob Vaughan]

A bit esoteric but a Workrite radio frequency wood welder will work if deftly handled. There's a roller handpiece tip set available. It'll cook those worms inside the wood and the welder can be taken to the table.

[DonJuvet]

Alot of good info.
Thanks