The Insect Problem in the Wood Furniture

The wood furniture and wood products are high-risk to get problems with insects. There are many insects, such as termites, bugs, and beetles, that like to eat or grow in the wood. The wood that is not processed properly will be very vulnerable to being attacked by the wood-eating insects. There are some wood types, such as mahogany, mango, bamboo, rattan, and fruit wood, that are high-risk of getting attacked by insects. Some types of wood, such as teak, pine, sengon, and other oily wood, are unliked by the insects. These woods are relatively safe from the problem of wood-eating insects, but most wood and wood products are at high risk of insect attack.
This wood-eating insect will surely cause serious problems for the furniture or other wood products. The products eaten by insects will be perforated, damaged, and destroyed. Therefore, no matter how good the product looks, it becomes useless when it is destroyed by the insect. It is also rather difficult to see the insect attacked in the wood furniture until it appears. The insect attacks may emerge in the long span of time after the wood was processed. The wood insect problem may appear soon after the wood is dry or a long time later. The wood-eating insect problem may be found at the beginning of the process of making furniture in the wood component, or when the furniture has been finished, or even when the furniture is in the show room or even when the furniture is used. Insects could have left eggs on the tree when he grew, and the egg will hatch and eat the wood from the inside after a certain time. The insects could also come to the dry timber or even the finished product when products are used. The existence of the thick layer of finishing even cannot guarantee that the wood product will be free from the insect attacking.
The problem of wood-destroyed insects has to be anticipated in the wood furniture industry. The fact that the existence of the insects in this wood product cannot be identified until they appear in the furniture products makes this problem more difficult. When the problem occurs, it may be already too late since the furniture is already broken or too difficult to be fixed. The best way to anticipate the wood insect problem is to do the proper treatment in the woodworking process.

Sawn timber are dipped in the tank before going to the kiln dry

Here are some methods to overcome the problem of insects in wood furniture.

• Cutting the trees at the right time.

This method is the most natural and environmentally friendly. This method is done by traditional people when they want to cut the trees. The traditional people long ago always considered the season when cutting the trees. It turns out that timber that is cut in certain months is much more durable and free from insect attack. The insects, such as bugs or even termites, do not eat the wood or bamboo that are harvested in the right seasons. It is actually the best way of collaborating humans with nature. But now this method is very difficult to implement. The demands of the timber industry will not allow the timber plantation to conduct logging only in a certain month every year. The woodworking industry requires a continuous supply every day. Thus, the wood cutting should be done every day to feed the need in the woodworking industry.

• Wood treatment in the sawn timber.

This process is the most widely used in the wood-timber industry today. The wet sawn timber is dipped in an anti-insect chemical solution before going to the oven for the drying process. The chemicals will soak into the wood and preserve the wood from the insect. This process is highly recommended and has become a standard in the timber industry, especially for the high-risk wood.

• The treatment when the wood is dry.

Sometimes the wood has not been treated in the sawn timber process. This may happen when you buy furniture or dry wood from suppliers that cannot guarantee the treatment in the cutting and drying process. In this case, you can still apply an anti-insect chemical to the dry wood. The anti-insect chemical can be brushed, sprayed, or poured on the dry wood component or the unfinished furniture product. The chemical solution should be the chemical that does not interfere with the next finishing process. Make sure you use the chemical that is compatible with your finishing material and process. The solvent-base chemical is the good choice since it dries fast and won't affect the finishing process. The water-base chemical solution can also be used, but you need to let it dry before you continue with the finishing process.

This treatment process can also be done on the finished furniture product. The anti-insect solution can be brushed onto the finished furniture product until it wets and gets into the wood to stop the attack of wood-eating insects. The chemical should be chosen that does not interfere with the finishing layer. The application of this chemical should be done carefully since anti-insect material is a toxic material that could cause health problems for the furniture users.

• Fumigation

Fumigation is already a common standard operational in the furniture industry, especially when the furniture products are exported to other countries. The finished furniture products are the object for fumigation before being shipped for the destination country. The fumigation is done by flowing a poisonous gas to the container to kill the insect or other animal in the product. The fumigation actually is not very effective because it will only kill the insects, which are life at the time of fumigation, but once the gas is run out, then the furniture products still have a high risk of insect attack. The fumigation also doesn't kill the bug's egg; if there are any eggs inside, they will hatch and grow to cause the wood problems.