I have a piece of timber which is riddled with borer. I was going to use it as a practice/trial piece for a project i'm doing, (my Scottish ancestry prohibits me from just chucking it on the fire) but is this a no no? Are the wood eaters likely to jump ship to other timber if I disturb them?

I'd suggest you see to their demise before you expose your other timbers to them...........

Ahh, memories. The famous bowl full of ants (unknown to me when I started turning it).
The occasional beetle or grub, the gouges don't tend to notice them. Might even add some useful lubrication to the turning process. But the ants, that was miserable. Now, this applies to me, turning, but. I keep the DC unit running with the hose right next to the turned piece most of the time. That tends to get 90% of the debris, bugs included.
The ant situation was horrible. A virtual ant bomb, and I would say the antics that followed ensuring that I had sucked them all into oblivion would rate as a low moment on my happiness scale.
For small work, a microwave is a wonderful tool.
For a board, if you really, really had to save it, Making some sort of plastic bag and throwing a bug bomb in there might work. If you only want to practice, I think I'd pitch Scottish ancestry to the wind just this once and let the fires have their way.
Then, of course, assuage the Scottish ancestry gods with a dose of fine single malt.

Thanks Randy

Thanks gents, they have been terminated. Randy, that made me chuckle. Reminded me of an experience I had many years ago. I had almost finished gorging myself on a previously opened packet of potato chips, when it finally dawned on me where these occasional ants I was finding on my person may be coming from...yup, there were hundreds of them in there. I wasn't happy either.

Well at least I'm good for something.
Yeah, the ants. Sheesh. I'm turning, things are going along, and then pow. Mother lode. And they were frantic. I must have just punched a hole into the center of their world, and they went flying through the air.
Funny aside, sucking them up was not too difficult, because after turning at 600 rpms for awhile, most of them could not effectively scamper. They kind of acted . . . dizzy? Which would make someone like Poto exclaim "Eureka! Ants have equilibrium!"
But I just said "Come here you dirty little..."
Anyway
Glad you got a laugh.

But ants are also a good snack. The black ones taste like lemon.

__________________
Water separates the people of the world; wine unites them.

"If you have good manners and are well spoken, you can be welcome anywhere." -Mom, 1959

Rkatsiteli.

__________________
Water separates the people of the world; wine unites them.

"If you have good manners and are well spoken, you can be welcome anywhere." -Mom, 1959

I was introduced to Rkatsiteli at Dr. Frank winery in NY about 20 years ago. That is my favorite NY winery, althought there are a few dozen others that I like. They do ship to Iowa and California, but not Kansas, so I have to go there to get it.

Their "Rkats" has a slightly lime-citrus after taste that is great with spicy or Mexican dishes.

__________________
Water separates the people of the world; wine unites them.

"If you have good manners and are well spoken, you can be welcome anywhere." -Mom, 1959

Ok, so I got some more answers about the borer problem. I picked up a couple of planks of Mesquite at WIA both of which probably have bugs. Apparently one bug is indigenous to Mesquite so not a problem unless you've got more mesquite laying around. The other probable bug is power post beetle.

So I've heard that freezing might be a good way to get rid of them as well as kiln drying. The other obvious solution is modern chemistry which I don't want to use.

I don't want to kiln dry this material, so I'm wondering about the freezing technique. At Tahoe, it might not be a problem to just leave it outside through the winter. In Oceanside, I could rent a meat locker for a bit. I'm wondering if anyone else has used this solution. Any help??????

Mike