What kinda bug is doing this to the wood ??

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HDRock

Minister of Fire
Oct 25, 2012
2,239
Grand Blanc, Mi
The only wood I see this on, is the Hickory scrounge, that was cut down in the spring.
[Hearth.com] What kinda bug is doing this to the wood ??[Hearth.com] What kinda bug is doing this to the wood ??
 
Not sure what that is, maybe carpenter bees. I get that kinda stuff in my stacks too......don't even spend a second worrying about it though. I do try and let a good frost or two hit in the fall before bringing any bulk wood up onto my porch though, I like to freeze out any insects first, then load a cord on the back porch.
 
Carpenter bees leave 3/8" holes. They prefer buildings. You can hear them chewing on the wood and actually see them pushing the "frass" out of the holes.
The downside to hickory is it's usually harboring some sort of protein, in some pupating state.
I have this theory that the bugs and snakes and mice and stuff are always there around us somewhere, we just dont see them. We dont generally see them.
 
Helps the wood to season faster too :)

I'm with the powder post beetle also. Love them some Hickory
 
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Could be powderpost beetles, but those holes look too big.....I'm guessing it's either banded or painted hickory borers....

very common anymore, the hickory I got a few years back was LOADED with the painted borers. Look around your stacks for these....

(broken image removed)
[Hearth.com] What kinda bug is doing this to the wood ??
 
Split some open and find the little buggers. That's what I did when I HEARD loud chewing in some fresh white fir. Turned out to be pine sawyers and they are very noisy eaters. They leave piles like you show, but only feed on pine and fir.

[Hearth.com] What kinda bug is doing this to the wood ??
 
Scotty hit it I would say. Picture on the left, of the hickory borer, is what I see around my hickory piles. I have had hickory the last 3 years and get the same thing.....have caught a glimpse of the little buggers a few times. They don't seem to like the shag bark as well as the pignut.
 
Carpenter bees around here leave a perfect 5/8" hole
 
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[Hearth.com] What kinda bug is doing this to the wood ?? [Hearth.com] What kinda bug is doing this to the wood ??

The above is from powder post beetles.
 
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Could be powderpost beetles, but those holes look too big.....I'm guessing it's either banded or painted hickory borers....

very common anymore, the hickory I got a few years back was LOADED with the painted borers. Look around your stacks for these....

(broken image removed)
[Hearth.com] What kinda bug is doing this to the wood ??

Must be the painted hickory borers, cuz I saw some of those at the site when I was cutting the tree up.
It just so happens, I have a shag bark Hickory tree just 15ft from where some of this Hickory is stacked, Will these buggers infest my live tree !!!
 
Scotty nailed it. Wait until you bring some in to burn and as it warms they come out and start flying around. Happened to us this year and I could have sworn I had hornets in the house.


fv
 
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Whew. Glad they only like hickory. ==c
 
OK I found this ,so I guess my living tree will be fine


The painted hickory borer has rows of horizontal yellow bands on the upper surfaces of the head and thorax. The first marking from front-to-back on the elytra is also a yellow horizontal band; however, the second marking appears as a distinct "W" that is light yellow to cream-colored. The remaining markings are yellow and appear as broken W-shaped bands. The beetles look very similar to LOCUST BORERS (M. robiniae); however, painted hickory borers emerge from cut wood in the spring and locust borers emerge from live trees in late summer to early fall.
Despite their common names, both beetles infest a wide range of hardwoods. Banded ash borers target ash, hickory, elm, and occasionally, white oak. Painted hickory borer infests hickory as well as ash, black locust, hackberry, honeylocust, oak, Osage orange, walnut, and butternut. Fortunately, painted hickory borers only infest dead wood that has been cut for less than one year and banded ash borers infest dying or recently dead trees. In fact, both beetles are considered forest products pests since they often target fresh-cut logs to be used for lumber or firewood. The beetles will not infest older dead wood; they will not infest wood that has been dried or processed into home furnishings, or used as structural wood. So, beetles that emerge from infested firewood in or around a home are only a nuisance pest.
 
Those hickory borers look amazingly similar to maple borers and honey locust borers, as well.....had thousands of those honey locust borers after getting all that honey locust a few years back.

And funny thing about this post, I had to run to Carlisle, PA this afternoon to pick up my new gun cabinet and an audio/video component cabinet that I had custom made......got home from that trip and there was a dead painted borer in the bed of the truck.......what a coincidence...
 
Those hickory borers look amazingly similar to maple borers and honey locust borers, as well.....had thousands of those honey locust borers after getting all that honey locust a few years back.

And funny thing about this post, I had to run to Carlisle, PA this afternoon to pick up my new gun cabinet and an audio/video component cabinet that I had custom made......got home from that trip and there was a dead painted borer in the bed of the truck.......what a coincidence...
Ya that is a coincidence :)
When I was cutting up my dead ash trees I saw a couple of similar beetles, that must have been Banded ash borers
So many things involved with burning wood , always learning new things :)
 
OK I found this ,so I guess my living tree will be fine


The painted hickory borer has rows of horizontal yellow bands on the upper surfaces of the head and thorax. The first marking from front-to-back on the elytra is also a yellow horizontal band; however, the second marking appears as a distinct "W" that is light yellow to cream-colored. The remaining markings are yellow and appear as broken W-shaped bands. The beetles look very similar to LOCUST BORERS (M. robiniae); however, painted hickory borers emerge from cut wood in the spring and locust borers emerge from live trees in late summer to early fall.
Despite their common names, both beetles infest a wide range of hardwoods. Banded ash borers target ash, hickory, elm, and occasionally, white oak. Painted hickory borer infests hickory as well as ash, black locust, hackberry, honeylocust, oak, Osage orange, walnut, and butternut. Fortunately, painted hickory borers only infest dead wood that has been cut for less than one year and banded ash borers infest dying or recently dead trees. In fact, both beetles are considered forest products pests since they often target fresh-cut logs to be used for lumber or firewood. The beetles will not infest older dead wood; they will not infest wood that has been dried or processed into home furnishings, or used as structural wood. So, beetles that emerge from infested firewood in or around a home are only a nuisance pest.

Sounds like Backwoods Savage's stacks are safe from these! :)
 
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I had them for years in some wood, may have been hickory or maybe maple. Every piece but they would not touch my oak in the same pile. I think there all gone now since all I have is oak. I don't know if you can get them into the house, I would never get the wood near the house until the wood was well frozen. Never into the house until it was going in the stove.
 
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