[Greenbuilding] Oak

[Chris Green]

Sacie Lambertson wrote:
>> /I've had good luck getting rid of powder post beetles in boards by 
>> heating
>> them to 140 degrees F or a little higher if you can manage it. Heat 
>> is the
>> only way I know to kill the critters./
>
> I had forgotten about the heating solution.  I thought about wrapping 
> my beams with black poly and leaving them out in the heat of the 
> summer, but it wasn't practical.  Not difficult for a few boards 
> though. Sacie

If you make an insulated box long enough to hold the wood from plywood 
or lumber and  line it with foil covered rigid foam, and then steam the 
wood and heat it up. The steam should enter the box at one end and there 
should be a small opening at the opposite end to allow the steam to exit 
and to prevent any pressure build up. Wooden boat builders steam oak in 
order to get it to bend around a boats' ribs.
Obviously one wouldn't want to have a structural beam bent, but it takes 
a lot of heat to get the wood softened up enough that it can bend. 
Enough that it should kill the bugs.
The moisture is simply to transfer the heat to the wood and to keep it 
form drying out.
Past issues of WoodenBoat magazine has articles on steam bending and how 
to rig up steam generators that will do the job. There are probably 
plans available for a suitable generator on the net somewhere as well. 
Some woodworkers rent a wallpaper steamer and use that, as mentioned in 
this discussion forum:
 http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Building_a_steamer.html 
<http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Building_a_steamer.html>


Cheers,

Chris Green