What is a good-non toxic big killer? I have a pallet of 2” dia hickory sticks. Finding small holes and piles of dust. Steve.

Nothing "non-toxic" is going to be able to kill the bugs after they have burrowed into the wood. If and that's a big if, you can catch them outside the wood, then dish soap and water ( for a quart spray bottle you can dip the end of the pickup tube in dish soap, it's that small an amount ) is a reasonable good bug killer.

If you decide on a spray make sure that what you are trying to kill is listed in the documentation. These bugs are notoriously hard to kill and require a specific spray, DAMHIK.  

If they are powder post beetles, here's a link-

 

https://diypestcontrol.com/powderpostbeetles.htm#:~:text=Central heat%2C vapor barriers%2C and,of powderpost beetle infestations completely.

 

Hard to say what you have for sure.

 

I read someplace that heating the wood will also kill them.

When I put  a finish on the wood, would that suffocate them if it were a sealer, lacquer?, shellac?Steve.

 

Probably won't kill any larvae already in the wood.

Finishes will not kill the bugs already inside wood but will prevent new infestations . There is a discussion on AAW Forum and some say microwave. But I found the one saying freezing to be interesting.  Here are three references from that discussion . I will give you a link to discussion but you will have to sign up for the forum.

AAW Forum discussion Sanitize a bowl

 

Powder Post Beetles

 

Powder Post Beetles U of W

 

Thermal Deinfestation of Household Items

Edited June 29, 20251 yr by Gerald

Hmmm, mine seemed to have left the building...

Then people wonder why I don't do live edge work...

15 minutes ago, steven newman said:

Hmmm, mine seemed to have left the building..

 

I believe yours are from the Emerald Ash Borer.  They bore under the bark but never enter the actual wood.

23 hours ago, Steve104c said:

What is a good-non toxic big killer?

 

Heat.  Anywhere in TX, you could set up a solar kiln and roast the little turds pretty easy.

On 6/29/2025 at 3:01 PM, Steve104c said:

When I put  a finish on the wood, would that suffocate them if it were a sealer, lacquer?, shellac?Steve.

 

A few years back, I decided to make some log furniture. My first piece was just trying the tenon joints and it ended up being a weird double deck table like thing.. I put 6 coats of varnish on it.. A couple months later, we were sitting there and started seeing dust being pushed up through a new hole.. So NO they do not suffocate. You can make a make-shift, lien-to kiln attached to a building and let the sun do the work.....