what's in my wood?

[low&slow]

I cut up a bunch of pecan wood about 4 months ago and stacked it on my trailer. Today I went out there to get some of my all ready seasoned wood and I noticed a scratching sound coming from my wood pile. I also noticed little sand piles under some of the wood. I picked up a piece and looked at it real close. There is something burrowing its way through the wood. I can actually see the sand coming out of the hole. Anybody know what this kinda critter is, and is it ok to smoke the little buggers? Its not ants or termites I dont think.

 

[deejaydebi]

Heck nothing wrong with free meat hon!
Smoke them logs while you stil got em!

 

[gypsyseagod]

carpenter bees maybe??

 

[johnd49455]

Protein in the smoke sound interesting I think it might be like th apples. In moderation it should be OK

 

[low&slow]

It could be carpenter bees. I took a piece of the wood and slammed it down on the concrete to see if anything would come out. Nothing did, it just kept throwing sand out of the little hole. Weird...never seen nothing like it. Ive never seen a carpenter bee, but I bet thats what it is. My wood pile is stacked on a metal trailer and its under a carport.

 

[low&slow]

I forgot to say that whatever it is, it is partial to pecan wood. I have a big stack of pear wood on the same trailer and they aint touching it.

 

[walking dude]

give whatever is in the wood, a reason NOT to invade your wood.........

like Debi said........nothing wrong with free meat............CRISPY critters

dude

 

[blackhawk19]

It's carpenter bees

 

[walking dude]

wow.......learned summin new today.....never heard of carpenter bees.......

Dude

 

[chadpole]

Low and slow, do the holes that the "sand" is coming out of look like you drilled a 3/8 inch hole. Because carpenter bees are big black bumble bees that are thick as about 3/8 round. If it is real small holes it is carpenter ants who bore wood very well. I have some ants in my oak too. They are big black shiny ants, but they don't sting or bite.I would take a saw and cut into a hole to see what comes out.

 

[walking dude]

IF they are carpenter ants...........do a good look around your foundation.......they CAN wreak havoc


dude

 

[roger]

Could be bees or even termites. We have termite problems down here and with all the rain ya'll have had this year it's a possibility.

 

[walking dude]

heheh.......ROGER........love your sig..............

but if i had to pace myself to one beer a hour.......i would go nuts......

but THATS me.........to me......a 6 pack is a support group........heheh

dude

 

[low&slow]

The holes are very small, more like a 1/16" drill bit. I dont think its termites cause the wood is about 3 feet off the ground and on a metal trailer thats parked on concrete, and there are no tunnels anywhere. We just had a termite job done on the house 2 months ago. I just moved the entire pile of wood and didn't see 1 ant. Im gonna go cut into a piece, I gotta know now.

 

[chadpole]

Hey low, My son has a firewood business and we have acres of cut and split firewood. He said it is definitly carpenter ants. He has some in his pecan wood too. It doesn't hurt anything and there is no taste transfer to the food when you light it up. The carpenter ants actually help dry out your wood by providing more air holes. No harm ,no foul.

 

[nymatt]

If you split the wood open I'll bet you'll find a white grub like bug about 1.5" long.
I've seen them in pine several times but not in hardwood.
If you listen close you should hear them. They sound like a swamp frog as they burrow through the wood.

 

[low&slow]

Well...I grabbed a piece that had sawdust coming out of it, and I could hear them inside munching away. They are loud, I could hear em from 10 ft away. I grabbed the sawzall and cut it in half and there was a good size tunnel in the middle. I cut it into 2" strips until I got to the bottom of the hole.
Guess what was in there? Nothing.
So I dunno, maybe its ants but none came out as I was cutting.

 

[smokin for life]

Damn this is like a mystery novel, now I'm dieing to know what's in your wood. Please don't make me wait untill next week end to find out.

 

[johnd49455]

1/16th hole sounds like it could be wood mites. Years ago when I worked @ a warehouse we had wood mites in the skids & they left holes that were about 1/16" holes. The mites were so small you could hardly see them

 

[smoke freak]

Had similar situation with hickory. When I split it I found a small white grub. After closer inspection I noticed small wasp like critters crawlin around in the back of my truck. Now after a couple of months all the critters are gone. I just wonder what kind of problem I may have introduced into my neighborhood.