I have about 800BF of white oak that came out a tree that fell on my rental. There are some bugs in it, probably powder post beetles. Is it a good idea to spray it with BoraCare, Which I believe is an Octaborate suspended in glycol. Generally you dilute to half strength and spray it on the wood to kill insects such ad PPBs and termites.
My question is about borates and glue. I know that the borate will turn Titebond type glues into slime. If I spray my lumber let it dry and then dress the lumber to make furniture, will the borate negate the ability to glue the wood properly. Will it interfere with finishes?
IIRC, BoraCare used for preventing PPB damage is diluted 4 or 5 to 1 with hot water. Believe the instructions provided say to mix no more than needed in a 30 day period, although I have kept excess diluted liquid for a full year in a closed 5-gal pail and it seems to have kept PPB from damaging red and white oak, hackberry, American elm, and black cherry lumber.
We applied with a hand-held two gallon tank sprayer. Both sides of boards were sprayed with edges also wetted immediately after removal from the bandsaw mill and a quick broom sweep to remove the clinging sawdust. Lumber was piled onto a trailer and the day's production hauled to a well vented garage where it was stacked and stickered each night. Three years later, in fact, yesterday, we pulled out the first white oak from deep in the pile and found no bore holes or frass in any of the stacks.
Location is southeast Minnesota. We learned our lesson on the first sawing we did some 6 years ago. Bore holes were spotted within a week of sawing red and white oak. Online search led me to BoraCare, first delivery a week later, and never another bore hole spotted. I'm convinced, at least for our location, that it is successful.
I sent the previous message too fast. A full compliment of white oak kitchen cabinets and several mantle clocks have been built from another stack of lumber, also treated with BoraCare. No problems were observed with glue strength or finish quality. Not sure how far BoraCare penetrates but the stuff is applied to rough-sawn surfaces [4/4 and 5/4] that are removed by planing to yield the 3/4" stock from which cabinets are built.
It's all about concentration. Some of these "yellow" glues already have some borate in them to function as a reversible cross-linker to improve creep resistance.