Stave bug deterrent

[sleek]

What type spray do yall use to chase away the powder post and wood wasps? I need to spray mine, and am considering using diesel mixed with used motor oil because, thats what I have on hand.

[Eric Krewson]

For bark on staves, I mixed up a sprayer of strong Diazinon and soaked the bark, this worked for about 6 months if the staves were outside under cover but had to be redone.

My preferred method is to remove the bark and sapwood on osage, paint the back and ends with shellac and store the staves indoors, I never had the first bug damage from over 100 staves treated his way.

I think just diesel or used motor oil would keep the bugs at bay, together that would be a sure thing.

I put used motor oil on both sides the 2X8s I use to make a bullet trap I made mainly because of carpenter bees, they have left it alone.

I watch a number of cabin building videos, when a lot of the folk set their posts in the ground, they char the outside edge part that goes in the ground because termites won't attack charred wood.

I had powder post beetles invade a piece of osage I had leaning up against the wall in my basement. I attacked each hole with a propane torch and cooked the beetles as soon as I saw the dust dropping out of holes in the osage the beetles hadn't gone in very deep but there were a lot of them.

After I torched the stave, the beetles never touched it again.

The first picture is my oil-soaked bullet trap during construction; I torched the part of the cedar posts that went in the ground. The next picture is the stave I torched, it is the one in the middle with the charred circles.

 

[sleek]

Thanks Eric, I like that bullet trap, I been wanting to make one too.

[Pappy]

I have tried different ways and sprays/dust, some work some don't, the only sure way is debark and get sap wood of and seal, lot of work if you have a lot but much better than dealing with bugs later and loosing a lot of good staves.  JMO 
 Pappy

[Eric Krewson]

I got carried away with the depth of the sand in the trap, I didn't know that a foot thickness of sand would stop most bullets, two feet will stop a .50 BMG, I have close to 3'. My trap took a yard and a half of sand to fill which was a lot of shoveling from the trailer to the bucket of my front-end loader. If I made another one it would only be 2' thick.

You can see the horse stall mat I put on the front under the boards, it has screws holding it to the posts, these mats are self-healing so I can remove and replace the front boards if they get shot up without the sand falling out. In the picture I put a couple of old boards across the front to hold the mat in while I put the new boards on the front because alone it bulged WAY out once I put the sand in. I put an old board across the front and hit it with a sledge hammer to remove the bulge as I tightened the screws. If I had known the mat would bulge like it did, I would have had all of the boards in place before I filled the trap with sand.   

[Eric Krewson]

I found the same thing Pappy; I also learned the hard way not to cut more than one tree at a time. I once I cut 3 or 4 large trees at one time and lost some osage because I just couldn't process that much wood by myself, my hands swelled up like sausages after a month of splitting, debarking and removing sapwood from the staves so I had to stop before I got it all processed. The bugs went to work, leaving the remaining green staves out in the sun caused them to warp and twist until they looked like a pile of snakes. I gave the twisted wood away to some guys who made accruements for B/P guys who dressed the part with powder horns, period correct knives and tomahawks.