Wood borer infestation

Katja Telp <katjatelp [at] sbcglobal__net> writes

>A polychrome wooden sculpture I am restoring has some alarming wood
>borer infestation, and it is nothing I have ever seen before. The
>exit holes are enormous, about an inch long and oval. The undigested
>wood shavings from the holes are 3/4 inches long.

The type of beetle you're dealing with is a long horn beetle. The
exit holes are the give away: the size and shape. They are usually a
big problem in architectural wood. If the sculpture sits outside,
then that's how its getting attacked,. If not, then you have
probably have an infestation of long horn beetle somewhere in your
building's structure as well. First, I recommend treating the
sculpture with Vicane (or something of that family) and storing it
in sealed plastic, if possible. Second, I would have an
architectural conservator do a condition survey of your building and
storage areas to identify  any other long horn beetle infestations.
Hope that helps,

Lori Arnold
President
Arnold Wood Conservation, LLC
1822 Fairmount Avenue
Philadelphia PA 19130
215-763-3120


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:4
                   Distributed: Friday, May 11, 2007
                        Message Id: cdl-21-4-005
                                  ***