Woodworm is a very serious problem in all wooden objects and should not
be taken lightly.   It can not be killed off that easily.  In the UK it
is not possible to buy the sort of chemicals you would need to kill the
bugs as mentioned in yesterdays posting.

I work in a museum and we are constantly coming into contact with
woodworm.  Before anything gets moved into our galleries or into our
stores it's placed in a quarantine bay.  Each item is checked very
carefully, and then you can never be sure.

Recently we were displaying a very valuable painting whose value was
nearly 100,000 UK pounds.  First inspection revealed no holes or
evidence of previous wood worm.  The painting was exhibited for two
months and when it was taken down the back of the picture was riddled,
and the problem was the little flying  beetles had got into our air
conditioning and throughout the building.  Major work had to be done
to rid the galleries, the stores and the artifacts of the risk of worm
damage.

Many of the woodworm fluids you can buy are oil-based and are not good
for many reasons, the most important reason is they leave an oil residue
and can change the colour of veneers.  The cans normally recommend
injecting it into the flight holes, _but that is where they have left._
It's not just the piles of fine dust; by then they are out there laying
eggs again in your precious collection.

The eggs can live on through most treatments.  You need to treat deep
into the wood, the glue joints and all the joints in the wood.  Just
think of the possible problems with a pneumatic player instrument !

In the UK a company offers a service where they bring a large flat mat
and then you cover the mat with the items you want to get treated.
This could be from a fair organ to a piano or even a music box or the
odd painting, whatever you want.  They then cover it and pump all the
air out of it to produce a state of semi-vacuum inside this bubble.
The chemical is them released and it is left for about 48 hours.  The
bubble is then vented and the chemical pumped out with extractor fans.

The gas used is safe to all materials, rubber, paint, cloth, felt and
steel, etc., and is the accepted way to treat all objects and is used
by all galleries and museums, but it is deadly to all, and I must
stress ALL living things. I am sure this service is available world
wide.  Why not contact your local large museum and art gallery and
get a recommendation.

As a priority I would suggest that you have a programme of housekeeping.
This sounds terrible but what I mean is regular checking of anything at
risk.  You can get insect traps which attract certain types of problem
insects so you know if they are around.  There is a type of sticky
treated paper, like the old flypapers but different.  You will then
know when anything nasty is flying about in your collection.  Once your
collection has been treated do not rest on your laurels; no treatment
is 100 percent successful.

If anybody is interested please contact me for details of the makers of
the insect traps and the gases.   Also references to various books on
the subject and identification diagrams.

I hope this is some help.

Jonathan Holmes