What to do with wooden radio cabinets?

[Radio Fixer]

What is the best thing to do with wooden cabinets from scrapper radios?

Eventually I may take some of the veneer off them but for now I have no space other than to put them in the loft. This is dry with a good draught but of course with heat cycles.

I'm thinking of woodworm of course although the cabinets that are in there have no sign of it. But would it be best to place them in say plastic bin liners?

thanks for advice Gary

[boater sam]

What is the best thing to do with wooden cabinets from scrapper radios?

Eventually I may take some of the veneer off them but for now I have no space other than to put them in the loft. This is dry with a good draught but of course with heat cycles.

I'm thinking of woodworm of course although the cabinets that are in there have no sign of it. But would it be best to place them in say plastic bin liners?

thanks for advice Gary

The common furniture beetle is a tough little blighter, just bagging won't kill them or stop them infecting whatever is in the bag.
But if you dose them with insecticide first, especially any rough sawn wood, and then seal them in bags a bit tougher than bin liners you stand a chance. I include moth balls (Napthalene) but they are no longer available.
If the wood is infected you will see no signs or holes until they leave! Too late!
If you don't need the cabinets, could you pass them on to someone who could use them? Or find chassis and turn them into radios!

[Alan Douglas]

Here, I would just seal them in a plastic bag, assuming the loft temperature will never drop below the dew point and cause interior condensation. Then any emerging beetles can't go far.

[Mark Hennessy]

Yes, I try to avoid chemicals if possible. It's easy to panic when you see the signs of wood-worm, but by that point, it's too late; the damage has been done. If at all possible, the best way to deal with wood-worm is to not provide them with a nice environment - keeping wood in a heated house is usually sufficient to get the moisture content down to below the level that can sustain them.

Perhaps I'm biased here - most of my experience of wood-worm comes from the fact I live in a wreck of a Victorian terraced house. But with radios, I've often wondered why the worm is so attracted to them, and I suspect that it's a combination of the wood used (often high quality birch ply) and the glues in the plywood. If you have radios stored in a shed, there must be something that makes them more appealing than the shed itself, not to mention all the other timber that's lying around the place. There is some discussion of that on this page:

http://www.buildingconservation.com/arti...odworm.htm

[Radio Fixer]

I have some strong bags and will do as Alan suggested. Just bag them up and seal them up until its time for them to go or I need some veneer.

thanks Gary