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Decorating Defects - their cause and cure

"Wormed" Wood

Although it is customary to speak of "wormed" woodwork, the " worm" is actually a small, six-legged white grub which lives inside the wood and ultimately becomes a beetle.
It takes from one to three years to eat its way out, according to its species, its presence being signalled by the appearance in furniture, panelling, and other woodwork of the familiar small holes, accompanied by powdered wood. Oak, walnut, and ash are most liable to attack, mahogany being more or less exempt. The beetle possesses wings and can thus fly into other houses and lay its eggs on other woodwork. It is, perhaps, necessary to add that only when the holes appear to have been freshly made and powdered wood is present are the grubs actually at work; the mere existence of the holes does not necessarily imply that damage is still going on.
Treatment.- The various remedies which have proved successful in destroying these pests can be grouped under three main heads:
(I) the application of heat;
(2) the use of poisonous gases; and
(3) the application or injection of liquid solutions.
The first two, though effective enough, are impracticable from the decorator's point of view, and are not calculated to improve the remainder of the woodwork on which they are used.
So far as liquid solutions are concerned, there are on the market several reliable brands of insecticides specially formulated for the destruction of the furniture beetle. Apart from these proprietary articles, various liquids may be employed, including petrol, benzine, carbolic acid, turpentine, and paraffin.
Experience has shown that both turpentine and paraffin are extremely effective, and as they are easily obtained and comparatively cheap, there is much to recommend them. Either may be used, or, alternatively, a mixture of approximately four parts of turpentine to one of paraffin can be employed.
Careful and thorough application is essential; on a horizontal surface, probably the most satisfactory method is to take a clean, large-sized paint brush, sufficiently charged to flood and impregnate the worm holes. A vertical surface is a more difficult matter, since the solution merely enters the holes without running down them.
A small oil-can or a fountain-pen filler are useful appliances for injecting the fluid, and although where there is a large number of holes it is obviously a lengthy and tedious business, it offers an effective mode of treatment.
It must be emphasised that thorough penetration of the fluid is essential. Attempts to treat affected woodwork frequently fail, not because the solution used is insufficiently toxic, but because it fails to enter the wood deeply enough to reach the grubs.
The process of stopping differs little in principle from that usually undertaken in wood finishing, except that, owing to the smallness and depth of the holes, it should be carried out in four or five instalments.
It is a wise precaution to incorporate in the stopping mixture some of the liquid used as an insecticide, in case any of the grubs have escaped destruction.
The furniture beetle is often confused with the better-known death­watch beetle, but although the two are of the same family, their behaviour is very different.
The death-watch beetle can cause a vast amount of, damage and even endanger the safety of a structure, as the beams in Westminster Hall and in many of our older churches have revealed.
With the furniture beetle, on the other hand, though the holes which it makes will spoil the appearance of furniture or woodwork, the damage is purely local.

Precautionary Measures.-The eggs are laid by the female beetle about May, June, or July, so that special attention should be given to unprotected woodwork about this time of the year.
The regular application of turpentine or paraffin, particularly at joints and angles,should be sufficient to guarantee immunity from the trouble.