Seven Ways to Get Rid of Woodworm

[Colin Morgan]

Persistent aren't they?

1. Dose with a (anti-ant) boric acid solution every year for n years (where n is a number greater than 5), each year marking new holes with a pencil to record progress or otherwise.

2. Use one of the proprietary sprays every year for n years, each year marking new holes with a pencil to record progress or otherwise. (Wear sufficient protective clothing to dive in the North Sea.)

3. Heat the whole car in a giant oven (the local pie factory will have one) to >60 C for three hours.  

4. Fill the car with fumes from a non-catalysed exhaust pipe for a couple of hours to choke them on CO.  Then put up with the smell for the next n years. (Don't try this at home.)

5. Remove the offending pieces of wood or trim panelling and ask a kind man, such as Martin P, to make another one the same - and then hope and check, check and hope, etc.

6. Have all the wood replaced.  (And replace anything wooden in the garage e.g. the rafters, plus stairs in the house, kitchen cupboards etc.)

7. Sell the car - and buy one that is frass-free (Tesla?)

[Hedd_Jones]

Colin

I was taught many years ago that the only way to get rid of woodworm was to burn the wood.

So 5 minimum. 6 ideally.

Sometimes the worm is so extensive that doing 6 or even sometimes 5 means the item becomes uneconomic to repair and it would realistically cease to exist, and be a replica.

I have a number of friends who have preserved pieces of agricultural machinery known as threshing boxes (the forerunner to combined harvesters). These suffer greatly from wood worm, and frankly are generally worthless once affected. The cost of replacement makes them uneconomical. So they do 1. or 2. which my guess is due to the size of some timbers makes c0ck all difference.

Personally I wouldn't store an item with 'worm' anywhere near anything timber not affected. Certainly unaffected softwood items.

The Festiniog Railway had a similar issue with 'Tin Worm' and Welsh Pony (a railway locomotive stored for lots of years by the sea). They have effectively mostly recreated it in new metal. A.K.A a Replica.

[Peter Sweeney]

Woodworm is always a problem to destroy. In museum terms apart from fumigation. Vacuum works (it explodes the worms and eggs) but is not practical for a car. Other than that one way tried in the 70s was to use chemicals turn the wood into plastic which worked but looked awful. But unseen in a door etc worth a try??
It might work on small section pieces to inject (via the existing worm holes) the wood with PVA diluted in water. Or Acetone if in crystal form (bad for the health and a fire risk) but more effective, Either might work better if the wood were soaked if it was not in place. Thinking outside the box it might be worth trying something like Silicone damp proofing fluid injected in as an experiment. You will have problems if you need to paint it after and take a while to dry. Only way to be sure is to replace the part but that is not always easy or possible.

[Steve kay]

On the subject of infestations, I was chatting to the owner of a Crossley in a car park this vey morning, when he suddenly said "that's got the little bugger"  and extracted this mousetrap, with mouse attached. 

   

[Colin Morgan]

Where there is one, there are often more? I have an ultrasonic squeaker in the garage that seems to keep them at bay, along with not keeping anything in there they might consider as food. (When I moved here five years ago, mice were using a chest of drawers that had been left in the garage as an apartment block, accessing it from the back - with nests at every level.)

[Colin Morgan]

Well, I just had a look at the one bit of woodwork (the vertical behind the rear window) with several bore-holes in it. It is no worse - pencil circles around all the holes - and it is two years since I last checked as I have to remove the rear seats, panel below the rear window, and the window surround. So, unless two emerge at the same time and more eggs get laid, then there is a chance it will not go any further?

[Hedd_Jones]

The perishing things seem to love the plywood (in the 30's cars at least), so much so that sometimes they will not touch the ash. 

The swines had practically eaten all the wood in my RL.

[Colin Morgan]

Yes, I have seen that on other cars - can reduce plywood to flakes or dust. Fortunately my car has hardboard in the re-made internal panels and that must taste bitter?

[JonE]

you forgot freezing in that list!

[Colin Morgan]

I didn't know about freezing... if the piece will fit in the freezer - that is another way? Sounds feasible.