Huge mess in wood pile - what do you think?

[NH_Wood]

Hi everyone,

Started hauling in wood to the barn late last week from my outside stacks. I have about 4.5 cord of ash (another 0.5 cord of cherry and white birch) which was bucked and split last January. Resplitting some big splits is yielding about 20% moisture, so I think I'm good to go. Anyway - the majority of the ash splits are absolutely covered in very fine sawdust, and the splits have thousands of very small holes exiting the bark (look like little ant hills from the excavation and sawdust pile around the hole). Of course, as you get deeper in the stack, the fine wood dust get thicker and thicker - I'm spending A LOT of extra time banging the splits and wiping down the wood dust before stacking in the barn - figure it's better to get the splits clean now, rather than deal with the mess in the house/barn later. So....any of you have similar issues? I'm not worried about the little buggers getting into the barn or house - they are long gone - I first notice the holes in ~ May - I think as soon as the trees were cut, they lost their access to water/food from the active cambium, and drilled out to find a better home. Anywho, anyone know what that heck caused this - what a PITA! Cheers!

 

[velvetfoot]

powder post beetles?

 

[Skier76]

Because I'm nuts.....

I usually take out the hand held leaf blower after I'm done with the lawn. Every few weeks, I take it by the stacks and blow things out. My wood is single row stacked, so it's pretty easy to just walk down and blow things out. This ensures nothing lives in there for long and when it's time to move splits closer to the house, less stuff to clean off the splits.

 

[NH_Wood]

Because I'm nuts.....

I usually take out the hand held leaf blower after I'm done with the lawn. Every few weeks, I take it by the stacks and blow things out. My wood is single row stacked, so it's pretty easy to just walk down and blow things out. This ensures nothing lives in there for long and when it's time to move splits closer to the house, less stuff to clean off the splits.

I tried using the blower to blow the wood dust off the stacks as I got lower and lower, but.....after moisture and rain would periodically get into the stacks during the summer, the dust caked up pretty good and doesn't blow off easily. Have to rub and back the splits/rounds. I'll check on the powder post beetle - thanks! Cheers!

 

[Joey]

I do the exact same thing Skier does. Blow the stacks off with a strong leaf blower. If you have a compressor, you can also blow the stacks off with that. The compressor blows much harder and you can really get into the cracks and crevaces with it.

 

[NH_Wood]

I do the exact same thing Skier does. Blow the stacks off with a strong leaf blower. If you have a compressor, you can also blow the stacks off with that. The compressor blows much harder and you can really get into the cracks and crevaces with it.

I like the compressor idea - I'll get an extension cord out to the stacks and see how it does. I'd like to stop banging each split, get old real quick and really tires the hands - most of my splits are 19" long and fairly big, so after a few hundred bangs, my hands are pretty fatigued! Thanks for the suggestion! Cheers!

 

[NH_Wood]

Well - powder post beetle looks pretty good from what I've seen on Google images. Now I am a little worried about all that wood being in the barn - I hope I don't get an infestation of these buggers - From what I've read of the life cycle, the adults have left (that's the reason for the holes and fine wood dust), but females may lay eggs before leaving, if the conditions of the tree are right - I'm hoping that that condition of the splits were wrong! Cheers!

 

[velvetfoot]

I've had them in the unpainted pine (not hard wood) around the windows in the garage, with firewood stored there.
My plan is to paint them, soon.

Anything unpainted is vulnernable, as I've read.

I had a thread on here too, I think. Maybe search on powder post and "boric".

 

[NH_Wood]

I've had them in the unpainted pine (not hard wood) around the windows in the garage, with firewood stored there.
My plan is to paint them, soon.

Anything unpainted is vulnernable, as I've read.

I had a thread on here too, I think. Maybe search on powder post and "boric".

Will do - thanks! Cheers!

 

[NH_Wood]

Oh, by the way, one more question. Was going to put about a half to full cord of the ash in my unused sauna room, attached to the garage (attached to the house) - to make life easy for my wife when she needs to tend the stove. The sauna room is all cedar - these type of pests don't like cedar, right? Cheers!

 

[PapaDave]

Could it possibly be the EAB? Do they hang around in wood for a while after the tree has been cut and split?
Do you have them in NH yet?

 

[firefighterjake]

Most likely powder post beetles . . . as for the mess . . . burning wood is messy . . . if not sawdust you have to deal with woodchips or bark falling off . . . or dust . . . or wood ash . . . for me it's just something I deal with . . . and clean as needed. I have not however ever attempted to clean up the woodshed other than a basic sweeping before loading the shed up.

 

[par0thead151]

Most likely powder post beetles . . . as for the mess . . . burning wood is messy . . . if not sawdust you have to deal with woodchips or bark falling off . . . or dust . . . or wood ash . . . for me it's just something I deal with . . . and clean as needed. I have not however ever attempted to clean up the woodshed other than a basic sweeping before loading the shed up.

forget trying to blow the dust off.
just burn it.
and spend the effort cleaning up after loading the stove.
i keep a vaccume cleaner in the room with my stove and vaccume up after every loading.
i have yet to see any dirt build up

 

[velvetfoot]

This is not just a disposible wood shed, it's a barn.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Velvetfoot, I would not be concerned with the barn. I recall when one of my in-laws stopped burning wood. After 3 years I was asked to clean out the firewood from the barn. That was great for us as there was about 6 cords of wood....and lots of it had the PPB in it with sawdust all over. Other than knocking the dust off we do nothing else. I simply do not worry about it and just take it as a normal thing when burning wood. We've always noticed them the worst in elm.

 

[firefighterjake]

This is not just a disposible wood shed, it's a barn.

I still wouldn't worry too much . . . from what I've read PPBs are not as bad as termites, carpenter ants, etc. and it takes a long time for them to get to the point where things are really that bad . . . but if the plan is to prevent as much damage as possible I would guess that painting the wood would help a lot.

P.S. I don't consider my woodshed to be disposable . . . I built it to last for many, many years . . . it should still be up long after I'm dead and gone and fertilizing a tree.

 

[4acrefarm]

This is not just a disposible wood shed, it's a barn.

I still wouldn't worry too much . . . from what I've read PPBs are not as bad as termites, carpenter ants, etc. and it takes a long time for them to get to the point where things are really that bad . .


+1

 

[velvetfoot]

But still... In my case it could have been prevented if I had painted the Pella window frames.
I had read there are both hardwood and softwood varieties of PPBs, and the firewood with sawdust is hardwood, but they must've hatched flown out in their flying form and congregated on the window and made their tunnels and laid their eggs, etc., on the softwood frame.
I'm just saying if you have a barn with a lot of exposed, unpainted wood, it could be a little more serious...

I sprayed the window frame with some stuff and it seemed to help.

I have to read about the life cycle. Maybe find out about when they hatch. That'd be the time to spray so they don't drill their little holes.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I brought up a decent sized stack of wood just yesterday and put it in a rack on my porch. Maybe a third of a cord. I banged every two splits together to get the dust off of em. It was, for the most part, all ash. I don't have the dust problem so bad with my oak.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

But still... In my case it could have been prevented if I had painted the Pella window frames.
I had read there are both hardwood and softwood varieties of PPBs, and the firewood with sawdust is hardwood, but they must've hatched flown out in their flying form and congregated on the window and made their tunnels and laid their eggs, etc., on the softwood frame.
I'm just saying if you have a barn with a lot of exposed, unpainted wood, it could be a little more serious...

I sprayed the window frame with some stuff and it seemed to help.

I have to read about the life cycle. Maybe find out about when they hatch. That'd be the time to spray so they don't drill their little holes.

We had an old grainary that had no paint or at least had not seen a paintbrush for probably over 50 years. Just old barnwood. The only thing we found that powder post beetles had attacked was handles. A post hole digger and a couple old shovel handles were all that was attacked by those little buggers. We did worry that they might attack the wood of the building but never did. That old building still stands to this day, but the tools might need new handles. lol

 

[NH_Wood]

Thanks for the responses. 1) I don't care about the normal mess of working with wood - start to finish. Just grabbed about a 1/3 cord of maple/birch/cherry and brought into the barn. Normal 'mess' there - mouse nests, acorn husks, lots of bark, dust, etc., etc. What I was discussing was a THICK layer of fine wood powder, especially thick as I descended into the stack. Definitely not normal mess load, and definitely not something you'd track into the house and just burn. I'd have a huge mess and lots more clean up involved INSIDE, if I didn't clean it first outside. 2) Moving the wood into a ~ 50 year old, dimensional lumber barn, about 30X40. It's a nice structure. Definitely worth the extra thought of limiting the introduction of wood boring pests. I'm glad to hear that the PPB does tend toward the damage caused by carpenter ants, etc. I hope to be using the barn for wood, etc., for the next 40 years or so, so I was concerned about long term damage after potentially introducing the beetle to the structure. Thanks again! Cheers!

 

[velvetfoot]

That's why my situation was weird, where the ppbs were eating the stacked hardwood firewood, and then seemed to attack the softwood window wood when they hatched in Spring.

 

[BigV]

I had PPB in my splits two years ago. The larva lived just under the bark and looked like large white/yellow grubs. They did not present a problem during the colder months as the wood I brought in was burned rather quickly (within a week). As the weather warmed a bit, the splits brought inside lasted a lot longer and after about 2 weeks of being indoors, the larva began to hatch and the little buggers were flying around inside my house. They resembled a rather large wasp and were quite annoying. The following year I covered my splits with tarps on the tops and sides. This prevented any PPB from infesting the splits. This year I only covered the tops of my stacks. I haven’t moved any split wood yet so I don’t know if I have PPB this year.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

When I get wood from the pile, it is just a normal thing to knock the pieces together. I do that when bringing wood from the stack to the porch. Before the wood is brought into the house, we again knock the pieces together. This does save some mess in the house but not all. A little bark and/or dust is a part of burning wood and has to be dealt with but it is not a huge chore. Like most do, keeping a small vacuum near the stove does wonders for keeping the house free of that dust and bark.

Burning wood does not have to be all that dirty but some seem to think no matter what it is dirty. We once moved a stove from a home because the lady of the house just would not put up with the mess. When we walked in we were surprised to see bright white carpeting all through the house. Naturally every time the husband brought in a couple pieces of wood their may have been some dust even though he brought it in the house inside a closed container! Yes, that is true. Getting ashes out of the stove proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back. So they went back to heating with oil and practically gave the stove away just because of the mess on those white carpets. Everyone makes choices; thankfully everyone makes different choices.

 

[velvetfoot]

Getting back to the PPBs, for a minute, I brushed off each piece of the 4 cords I brought into the garage after removing the loose bark. They're pesky.