[10Mschwartz]

I have some woodenware that is used I bought. If I have it sandblasted and then scorch it with a torch and I use an ozone generator as a final precaution you guys think this is sufficient to kill anything bad? Thanks

 

[psm1212]

There is no way for me to say, with any degree of certainty, that you are guaranteed to be AFB ridden. EFB is non-spore forming, so your rehabbing should take care of EFB concerns. AFB spores can embed in cracks and crevices and get buried under propolis and wood glue. If I KNEW that a box previously had an AFB infestation, I would never try to rehabilitate the equipment for future use. If I knew the former beekeeper and trusted him/her, spoke with them about any issues they might have had and got reasonable assurances that the boxes were clean, I would feel reasonably good after taking the measure you state above.

If I am buying off Craig's list, it would have to be one hell of a deal to make me take that chance. If I did it, I would isolate all of the equipment in an outyard and keep a hive tool in that yard for just those boxes. May not be possible for you.

 

[Akademee]

You can get rid of EFB, but not AFB, no matter what you do, there will always be some endospores left to infect everything

 

[crofter]

You can get rid of EFB, but not AFB, no matter what you do, there will always be some endospores left to infect everything

EFB does not have the 50 years surviving spores of the AFB, but it reportedly can survive for approaching 2 years in submerged bee bread. I would not trust old comb. I stored brood frames for 2 years and then decided it was more work to rejuvenate them than I wanted to supply. At least with EFB burial is allowed. Plastic frames and foundation is not a nice thing to burn.

Boxes I feel comfortable scorching and scraping from EFB. Basically, no used equipment in my future plans.

 

[psm1212]

You do not give your location in your profile. Some state and local bee organizations will periodically have gamma irradiation events, where beekeepers can come and have their hive equipment irradiated. I know they have done this in New Jersey some. If you are trying to save a large investment, you may want to see if one of these events near are near you.

 

[10Mschwartz]

Sorry been busy. I’m in Idaho