Thread: Woodworm in an old plane

What works here at 53N is to put wormy wood in a freezer (they run about -20C) for 48 hours then let it warm up.
Repeat this 4-6 times and the bugs cannot respond to the fast changing temperatures.
Outdoors as summer disintegrates and winter is tuning up, the temperature changes are gradual.
Most of them can generate ethylene glycol (automotive engine antifreeze,) given enough time.
So the repeated freezer treatments really screws them over.

Personally, that plane looks so bad, I would be searching for replacement wood while the old stuff burns.

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

Personally, that plane looks so bad, I would be searching for replacement wood while the old stuff burns.

Yeh, after I looked at it this morning my heart sank. Still the repeated freezer trick will be performed over the next week.

The discovery of possible burning will be a good learning curve for someone brand new to it....won't be a great outcome...but got to find the silver lining.

I will be de-rusting some old saws this weekend so might clean up the iron and have a bit of a look at it while I am at it.

Big thanks to everyone for their advice in this thread...I honestly had no freaking idea where to start to be honest. I am still holding on to some hope....but it is now tempered

Robson, having looked at the annual temperatures for McBride BC Canada, I can now add your wood borers to the list of "Things That Would Survive A Nuclear Winter".

I am totally amazed that anything survived February. Even my survival.
It was too cold for the sled-heads and even the heliskiers (usually warmer up top).
Saw mills shut down for weeks on end ( unheated for fire safety).

Our long standing problem was an epidemic outbreak of Mountain Pine Beetle.
They burrow into the juicy layer between bark and wood.
It takes winter nights of -40C to kill them off.
We had a decade of mild but snowy (insulation) winters.
18,000,000 ha standing dead, dried and cracked pine now.

Australia got all the magnificent colored hardwoods, we got squat.
I still think new woodwork for that plane could become a collector's dream.
Mix up the woods. Inlays, maybe?

That looks pretty chewed up. Best you can do is try using it after the cold treatment to see if it holds together. Would be an idea to take detailed measurements and photos first to assist in building a new body should you feel like it.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

That looks pretty chewed up. Best you can do is try using it after the cold treatment to see if it holds together. Would be an idea to take detailed measurements and photos first to assist in building a new body should you feel like it.
Regards
John

Yeh I have started the freezer treatment, will give it a few weeks then I think it might be put aside. The iron is awesome, the wedge is in decent condition and the whole iron recess looks ok. The handle has minimal damage as well. It is probably a job well beyond me and it might end up "on the top shelf" until I feel confident. *shrugs* guess my #4 will have to do for now.