Ticking Logs?

[Andy White]

This morning about dawn, I went out to the mill, and had a cup of coffee while wife got ready for work. As I listened to the quiet, I began to hear a TICK,TICK,TICK. I went to where it sounded like it was coming from, and it sounds like it is in three SYP logs on the deck. Is there something eating my logs, or is it my imanination? If it is bugs, what do I need to do to get them out of my wood? I have 4 nice red oak logs next to the pine, do I need to move them?

[beenthere]

Is there something eating my logs

Yes!  They make a lot of noise when doing it too. 

[Red Clay Hound]

You'll probably find some big grubs under the bark when you saw the pine logs.  I don't think they'll bother the oak logs.

[grweldon]

I've heard this noise coming from my SYP logs as well.  I figured that the noise came from southern pine beatles...

[mesquite buckeye]

We get talking mesquite logs too. ;D

[swampbuggy]

I use Sevin spray on my pine. It stops the beetles from jumping to the good logs and trees on my property.

[Delawhere Jack]

I heard some in some SYP that someone dumped on my BIL's farm. You could hear them 50 feet away. Milled one of the logs and burned all the slabs pronto! Big old grubs, nearly the size of my thumb.

[thecfarm]

They really make a racket on the pine limbs too. Sometimes I can see the sawdust falling out of the limbs.

[WoodenHead]

When they get really bad, you don't even need lube when you saw.    :D

[trapper]

Think fish bait

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

The sound is their jaws snapping shut.  One of the insects is the OLD HOUSE BORER which only likes new wood, esp. Pine.  Because they are likely into the wood, a spray will not affect them, as the spray does not penetrate the wood.

[Magicman]

 

 
Sawyer worms have to eat too.   ;D

[mesquite buckeye]

Ours are a flathead borer/longhorn beetle. The adults start partying moments after a tree comes down. Guess they can smell the stress. ;D

[kelLOGg]

My barn used to talk to me, too  ;D. As I sat and relaxed I could hear the chomp, chomp. When I needed to clean oil paint from paint brushes, I used diesel and then poured it where ever I saw frass. Its been 30 year since I built it and they are gone now.
Bob

[woodmills1]

the sawdust you say you see falling out I call frass.

[WoodenHead]

I noticed some of the wee tiny fellows (as Magicman has pictured) today under some bark.  I'm going to have to finish up my pine very soon or my boards are going to look like swiss cheese.  Only 10-12Mbft to go.    

[drobertson]

I'm wondering if the grubs that MM showed turn into the gray speckled with black, flying prehistoric looking beetles?  Lots of ticking on our pine as well, these things will attack too!  their wings actually split into bi-wings, they come right at you,   david

[mesquite buckeye]

Not if you bash em with a 2 X 4 first. ;D

They are a little faster than a scorpion. Two points each instead of one. ;D ;D 8)

[Andy White]

David
You may be on to something there about those bugs. My logs are still ticking, but not as much as before, and I was attacked several times yesterday by what you described, while using the leaf(sawdust) blower. I need to cut logs soon, and eradicate those pests.
I wonder if they are looking for other logs, or a place to lay eggs????                         Andy

[isawlogs]

 There are a few precautions one can take to avoid having the infestation.

One is the have a constant spray of water on you're pine logs.
The other that I know is to remove the bark before you hear the munching.

  Remove all the bark as you saw from the boards as they will lay eggs in that little bit of bark and you will hear them sawing away.

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

It is common to find that there is only one generation of the so-called OLD HOUSE BORERS.  The reason is that the insects leave the logs at different times (the holes you see are zit holes), and so mom and pop can never meet outside the log to begin a new family.  Even so, while living independently within the log, they can do a lot of internal damage with their tunnels, so prompt drying over 130 F will kill them before they do too much drilling.  They can survive in drier wood, unlike other insects in pine.

[Sixacresand]

Logs with bark and stacked lumber seem to always have insects.  It's kind of strange to me that if I dig through 2 year old sawdust piles, I never see any signs of life.

[Andy White]

I found a new debarker for my TICKING LOGS!  It took him about five minutes to strip this log, and eat the worms that were making my logs tick. I guess I will start calling myself a Green Sawyer, because it's good for the wildlife in my neighborhood!

 

I tried twice to get closer, but he wanted to eat alone.

[Delawhere Jack]

"Ticking grubs, Nevermore." Quoth the raven.........  :-\

[Andy White]

Delawhere Jack
Gotta love material by E.A.P. Helps my dark side.     Andy