Buggy Oak uses

[locustoak]

I have a stack of buggy white oak that I salvaged from a dead standing white oak. Now the tricky part of finding uses for it!
I love white oak, but have never liked the look of buggy white oak. I'm considering making some tables from it and am trying to envision how I could make it look attractive. My thought was to fill the 100's of small bug holes with black epoxy by hand, plane it smooth, and install a metal base underneath made from steel square tubing. It would be simple. I also thought about adding a slightly dark stain to make it look aged.

I figure the "rustic" look is the only way to go with this, but still haven't decided on exactly how to make it look good. I can't seem to find any pictures of buggy oak online for ideas either.

So, does anyone have experience with using buggy oak, and what sort of rustic look works best? Epoxy, applying stain, best choice of finish? Looking for ideas & recommendations!
Much appreciated.

[Nebraska]

What does your buggy Oak look like? Powder post  beetle holes, ants or?
I think the black epoxy would look good.

[tacks Y]

I have made book cases, paneling and more with wormy red oak. I like it. The holes are big 1/8"

[locustoak]

I have made book cases, paneling and more with wormy red oak. I like it. The holes are big 1/8"

These are the ones. Maybe 1-2mm diameter holes? There are hundreds of them. I think larger holes from grubs or ants would have looked better, but this is what i have.
I'm thinking I'll stain them to make the wood darker/rustic looking.

[Ed_K]

 What would you do with this?

 

 

 It came from a 5'-6' red oak that was rotten all but 6" of the cabium layer. There's another larger knot hole in the bigger part of the butt log. But I have to cut and side split it to get to it. It's about 20' long laying beside the road couple lots down from the house.

[curved-wood]

 

 

 
Here is a bathroom cabinet done with a heavy rotten pine ( about 2 inches of solid wood left. The curved door is cut with a reciprocal saw. May be if your log was a bit smaller , it could be used as a miror frame

[WV Sawmiller]

   I like the epoxy idea but I'd suggest a bright blue or red or some other highly contrasting color to really accent the holes in the wood. Good luck.

[Larry]

All the locals are using this ca glue for bug holes.  It comes with 3 or 4 little bitty nozzles perfect for filling the bug holes.  Spray it with accelerator and it is ready to sand/finish instantly.  I've used it on turning art and like it.  Comes in brown and black.  Don't like the brown.  Its a fairly new product and I don't know how it will hold up long term.


I normally don't like bug wood unless it has character such as a live edge and cracks.  It finishes well with the high dollar oil/wax.  Also finishes well with wipe on Minwax (cheap).

I would make sure the bugs are dead, dead, and dead before doing much with the wood.

[samandothers]

All the locals are using this ca glue for bug holes.  

I've used Starbond Medium thickness and it works good.  The small tips are handy.  there are two other thicknesses.  The thin dries fastest and the thick the slowest.  I used to help fill some bug holes and stabilize some knots before filling with epoxy.  A work in progress.