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titmas

Apr 26, 2005, 9:01 AM

Post #1 of 5 (619 views)

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Worm eaten wood furniture

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Does anyone have any experience in taking furniture back to the States?
My son wants to take a table made from the worm eaten type of wood seen in Cuanajo, Michoacan. They tell me that the worms are no longer in the wood, but I wonder if the US customs people feel the same way.
Any input would be helpful.
As always, thanks for your help.
Russ

Mexpender

Apr 26, 2005, 9:41 AM

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Re: [titmas] Worm eaten wood furniture

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Reminds me of staying in Puerto Vallarta; putting my clothing into the dresser & having the resident worms attack & eat. Next trip, put the clothing elsewhere & stacked my pocketbooks on top of the dresser. The worms came right up through the wooden top, ate through two books before I noticed. I know I have heard you must heat (& therefore kill insects) all wooden items from Mexico but haven't had any direct experience. Did buy some supposedly treated wooden furniture from Indonesia - the worms were still gnawing away so the pieces had to be removed to the warehouse, retented & retreated. I think the absence of sawdust in the piece is an indicator that it isn't being eaten but I don't know about dormancy. Linda

julian3345

Apr 26, 2005, 2:22 PM

Post #3 of 5 (557 views)

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Re: [titmas] Worm eaten wood furniture

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I fumigate almost everything made of plant materials that I buy here. Small straw or wooden items, I spray with RAID and enclose in a large plastic bag leaving it in sunshine all day. Then remove; air for a day and spray with clear matte varnish. Larger items like old furniture pieces from nearby ranchos are scrubbed with soap and water, or SOSA if really messed up; air dried, then rubbed with diesel; then air dried again and refinished, if necessary. And---always be on the lookout for sawdust! We have difficulty finding mothballs in Zacatecas, so these are often requested from US friends coming to visit. Joan

Marta R

Apr 28, 2005, 9:56 PM

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Re: [julian3345] Worm eaten wood furniture

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I've bought wooden alebrijas which came complete with a resident something gnawing away at the insides. 24 hours in a slow oven took care of the problem, but this is probably not feasible if you're dealing with, say, an armoire.

Marta

sfmacaws

Apr 28, 2005, 11:53 PM

Post #5 of 5 (452 views)

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Re: [chrisnmarta] Worm eaten wood furniture

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I usually bag and freeze small items, less damage to them than cooking them. A week in the freezer has killed everything gnawing so far. Probably woudn't work for those Montana bugs Laugh

I bought a large wooden toucan once that wouldn't fit in the freezer or the oven. I bagged it with moth balls (I found them at the Chedraui in Playa del Carmen) for a couple of weeks after seeing sawdust. I had to repeat the treatment after about a month as I found more sawdust. I think it worked the second time, haven't seen my toucan for almost a year. I did decide not to put it on a wooden shelf and left it on the tile floor.

<Hey Rolly, thanks for pointing out the smileys... it works>

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán