18-10-2011, 07:01 PM
I just thought I would share an experience I had with woodworm a few years back. It has to be said that this wasn't in a radio, but in the plywood back of a 1930's chest of drawers. However, the chest was quite similar to a wireless of the same era really, in that it was rectangular with knobs and made of wood, so humour me.
The solid timber body of the chest was unaffected, but there was woodworm in the plywood panel at the back (circa 3/8" thick). Not too bad an infestation it seemed, just a few dozen holes rather than the hundreds one can see in really badly affected objects - but clearly active. I decided to treat it chemically and used Rentokil Woodworm Killer. But rather than just brushing/spraying/injecting it as per the instructions, I decided to "go medieval on their ass". I laid the chest face down so the rear panel was horizontal and flat and poured the stuff on so the panel was completely flooded, and so the liquid drained down into the flight holes giving maximum penetration. (I really hate woodworm, and thought if this doesn't poison them, it will drown the nasty buggers first!).
Not being one for underkill, once dry, I inverted the chest of draws and repeated the process for the inside face of the panel.
Great, job done - the evil little monsters are dooooooomed, if not writhing in their death-throws already, I thought.
A few years passed before I next had the opportunity to examine the item to ensure I had cured the problem. However, when I pulled the chest out, I was confronted with an horrendous sight - the entire panel was literally covered with exit holes - even the exit holes had exit holes. One of the worst examples of worm I have ever seen. It was if the woodworm "killer" had just acted as food for the buggers. I still feel itchy at the thought of it.
It is supposed to poison them as they tunnel out rather than kill them in situ but if my extreme treatment had so little effect, I wonder what the point of chemical treatment is? Perhaps, once out, the little monsters snuffed it before they could breed, but that is little good as the affected item was essentially destroyed by them first.
As a result, I have no faith in the permethrin-based killers, and am not even convinced as to the effectiveness of the likes of Borocol as an insecticide. Several deep freeze / defrost cycles is the only thing I would use now on active worm. Either that or a napalm flame-thrower.
Jeremy
The solid timber body of the chest was unaffected, but there was woodworm in the plywood panel at the back (circa 3/8" thick). Not too bad an infestation it seemed, just a few dozen holes rather than the hundreds one can see in really badly affected objects - but clearly active. I decided to treat it chemically and used Rentokil Woodworm Killer. But rather than just brushing/spraying/injecting it as per the instructions, I decided to "go medieval on their ass". I laid the chest face down so the rear panel was horizontal and flat and poured the stuff on so the panel was completely flooded, and so the liquid drained down into the flight holes giving maximum penetration. (I really hate woodworm, and thought if this doesn't poison them, it will drown the nasty buggers first!).
Not being one for underkill, once dry, I inverted the chest of draws and repeated the process for the inside face of the panel.
Great, job done - the evil little monsters are dooooooomed, if not writhing in their death-throws already, I thought.
A few years passed before I next had the opportunity to examine the item to ensure I had cured the problem. However, when I pulled the chest out, I was confronted with an horrendous sight - the entire panel was literally covered with exit holes - even the exit holes had exit holes. One of the worst examples of worm I have ever seen. It was if the woodworm "killer" had just acted as food for the buggers. I still feel itchy at the thought of it.
It is supposed to poison them as they tunnel out rather than kill them in situ but if my extreme treatment had so little effect, I wonder what the point of chemical treatment is? Perhaps, once out, the little monsters snuffed it before they could breed, but that is little good as the affected item was essentially destroyed by them first.
As a result, I have no faith in the permethrin-based killers, and am not even convinced as to the effectiveness of the likes of Borocol as an insecticide. Several deep freeze / defrost cycles is the only thing I would use now on active worm. Either that or a napalm flame-thrower.
Jeremy
