Any home made wood treatment recipes?

eddiebo · September 25, 2012, 01:56:01 PM

Looking for a way to treat fresh pine 2x's against termites and rot. Cutting and sawing dried dead pines with termites under the bark, and want top make sure and kill bugs and eggs after sawing, and before stacking boards. Any recipes to share?

woodmills1 · September 25, 2012, 08:22:15 PM

don't know what this will do for termites, but I use

1 part boiled linseed
1 part roofing tar
10 parts diesel fuel

scsmith42 · September 25, 2012, 08:49:59 PM

FF member WDH has a mix using Solubor (similar to Timbor). You might check the archives.

WDH · September 25, 2012, 08:58:22 PM

One pound of Solubor in one gallon of water. You could go to one and one-half pound per gallon to make it a little stronger. Solubor is a boron fertilizer supplement in a dissolvabe powder form, so you can get it at an Ag chemical supply company. It is a borate salt with 20.5% elemental boron, so it is safe for humans but not for bugs. Sprayed on the wood, it will prevent infestation. However, if the termites are already in the wood, it will not help that much. The borate salts are water soluble, so repeated wettings will wash the treatment off.

You should be able to tell if the termites are deep into the wood and not just on the surface.

eddiebo · September 25, 2012, 09:21:35 PM

Will check local feed store for it tomorrow. Thanks for the tips gents.

WDH · September 25, 2012, 09:33:02 PM

If they don't have it, I bet that they can order it for you.

Al_Smith · September 25, 2012, 11:25:18 PM

We have no termites that I know of in this part of the country .However we do have pests that attack drying hardwood .A few years back I had something get into a pile of stickered oak which I assume could have been power post beetles .I literally drowned the whole stack with Sevin from a water aplicater . It must have worked because in using a few planks I saw no bug tunnels .

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · September 27, 2012, 08:38:42 AM

Be careful that any treatments you use do not add to the flammability of wood or create an odor.

Home Depot carries some borate products. Obviously, read the label.

For borates to be effective, it takes time for the borate to diffuse into the wood, so the wood should be soaked in the solution or coated several times. Dry wood will treat faster as it will soak up the solution quickly. We usually do not need to treat more than the outside which will provide a layer of poison to prevent entry of new insects. However, cracks or holes that develop after treatment and that expose untreated wood should be re-treated as well to get complete protection. Ok?

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · September 27, 2012, 08:45:56 AM

If you are going to sell the wood you treat, then the treatment must be one that is approved for wood treating. This is a federal law and is to protect the consumer, the environment and the person sawing or processing the wood.

In any case, the sawdust or scrapes from treated wood must be disposed of properly, which means that it cannot be put on the ground or soil, especially if the treatment is a home concoction, but even for commercial pressure treatments.