In favorable conditions, organic materials including wood and leather are vulnerable to infestation by a variety of insects. A common wooden furniture pest is the powderpost beetle. There are four types of Powderpost beetles in four families. They go through a complete metamorphosis: adults, eggs, larvae and pupae. Though adults do little damage, it is the larvae that do the major damage.
Most furniture manufacturers of repute treat the wood suitably before converting it into furniture. Wood for Amish Oak furniture and other Amish made furniture lasts for generations. Following are the four kind of powderpost beetles explained in detail:
True Powderpost Beetles: The adults are very small, flattened and reddish-brown to black in color. Larvae are white, cream colored, shaped with dark brown heads. Larvae create tunnels in the wood and become pupae. As adults they bore out through the wood, pushing a fine powdery dust out. True Powder post beetles breed in dead and dried hardwoods such as the dead branches and limbs of trees. Old items of furniture and wood antiques are especially vulnerable to attack by the beetles. Damage is usually to the starch-rich sapwood of large-pored hardwoods such as ash, hickory, oak, walnut and cherry. Their diet is starch, sugar and protein in the sapwood of hardwoods Wood that is less than 6% moisture content is seldom attacked .The life cycle averages one year to complete. This wood-boring beetle is the most widespread in the United States. (more…)