7744 Watkins Ford Rd. Kernersville, NC 27284

March 28, 2024

OPEN
Thursday: 9am to 4pm
Saturday: 9am to 4pm

Bugs

Home Bugs

Bugs

Bugs will find and attack your wood. It’s what they do, especially when it starts to warm up and they start moving around. Unprotected wood plus spring time equals bugs. Always. The kiln dried wood will be more resistant to attack because it is so dry, but any wood is vulnerable. Also, don’t forget that most of the critters that eat wood fly to it, like small beetles, flying ants, and such, as opposed to termites which will attack from the ground up. All will make a run for your wood. Many of the little critters will lay their eggs in the wood in the spring and summer, then larvae will hatch and make almost invisible holes as the bore into the wood. Many months later they will emerge and leave holes in the wood.

If you have access to pesticides from the local farmers coop, get the stuff labeled for termites and boring bugs, not the box store stuff, it’s typically not targeted for boring insects, mix it up and hose the wood down as you stack it with a pump up sprayer and wand. You want the wood to be dripping wet and soak in and dry. Then put the stacks of treated wood on a layer of concrete blocks off the ground until you get to using it.

Timbor and Boracare are two very good commercial products used for this purpose. There is lots of information available on both products on the web. They use a very safe Borate powder that when mixed with water will create a long lasting barrier to boring insects. I also have used Roach Pruf or similar powder, which contains borate, mixed with water. I get my roach powder at the dollar store, so I mix it heavy and spray it on. It kills a lot of bugs besides roaches.

Logs must be end sealed immediately after being cut from the tree. End sealing keeps the logs from drying too fast from its ends and cracking. Once a crack starts, it’ll run into the log and ruin a lot of wood. If you wait for more than a day or two, its probably already too late. I like to end seal within hours of cutting a log. Although paint can be used for end sealing, nothing is as good as Anchorseal. Its available over the web, and will save you a lot of ruined wood. Why is Thick Wood Hard to Find? Many people ask why its so hard to find very thick wood such as 3 or 4 inch thick. When kiln drying, every time the thickness is doubled, the defect rate, or the number or things that happen to the wood to make it undesirable, doubles. In addition, the amount of time it takes to dry the wood also doubles. So it takes twice as long to produce half the wood. One solution for drying thick wood quickly is a Vacuum Kiln (which we now posess).