Carried dresser top out to the garden, covered it with a large plastic bag to keep in the spray. Sprayed it thoroughly with woodworm treatment. Left it outside for days. Brought it back in yesterday and the wretched thing is cheerfully clicking away again, as if nothing has happened. If anything it’s louder! 
They only die when they come to the surface and eat the poisoned layer.
Or they meet with the heel of your shoe 
You have ZOMBIE WOODWORM aaaaarrrgh
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Not only a zombie woodworm, but (possibly) a Chinese (or wherever) zombie woodworm!
An update. Finally located the tapping beetle. It is in the fixed shelf, which I managed to unscrew. There are bubbles of raised veneer on the under side of the shelf. And the noise is coming from one of these bubbles. There is no sign of any entry holes so I think the larvae or chrysalises came with the dresser nearly ten years ago and have now hatched into adult beetles. I am about to start an interesting conversation with Oak Furnitureland. From comments on other forums that I’ve found apparently OFL admit something like 2.5% of their furniture comes with beetle infestation.
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This sounds (pun only slightly intended) like an experience we had at a friends house in Italy. We were the first occupants after winter, and many of the windows had what looked like cocoons - bubble-like structures - between the window and the frame. Assuming them to be from spiders, they were just ignored. One evening we started hearing scritchy sounds followed by an increasingly frantic buzzing, which on investigation was coming from one of the cocoons. we left the window open, and after a few minutes an enormous wasp emerged and flew away. There were quite a number of emergings during the week.
10 years is a very long time for a grub to survive without simply desiccating to death. Though I may be wrong, it seems much more likely that this is a more recent occupation.
Thanks for the thought @Ancient_Mariner. Definitely not wasp. We have wasps of all descriptions and I would recognise them and the noise they make when chewing wood. This noise was identified earlier in the thread - wood boring larvae or beetle. Maybe powderpost beetle apparently.
I would agree with you about the time, except that this is a noise unique to this piece of wood (for the moment). I have good hearing and I would have noticed it if we’d had the same noise elsewhere.
What now concerns us is that if they are pupae that are now beginning to hatch they may be elsewhere in the dresser.
Certainly once our conversation has finished with OFL we will be burning this shelf and replacing it. The whole dresser may have to go the same way - which concerns me.
Obviously all of this is greatly complicated by being (a) a purchase nearly 10 years ago (b) a dresser sitting in France.
Their helpline is busy, so I’m composing an email.
Could you drill tiny holes in the underside of the shelf and apply Xylophene with a paintbrush?
Good luck decontaminating your furiture!
That’s what I have done in the past, very thin drill, mark 1/2 depth of shelf on drill with insulating tape and drill 5 or 6 holes and flood with Xylophene, you might even kill it drilling in.
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Who’s the chap on here who does infestation work? Maybe they can bag the shelf and use a gas to kiil any infestation.
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O we are in trouble now, the professional is here 
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Hello
'Tis I. 
I’ve seen your OP, so, sounds like capricorne larvae, certainly not DWB!
Happy to discuss openly, or message me.
Rob
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Thanks!
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Thank you @Rob_le_Pest for dropping by and your reply. I’m the OP.
Interesting you say
In which case @Fleur we owe you an apology as that was what you said but the view thereafter was it’s only beetles and not larvae that make a noise
@Rob_le_Pest happy to continue on open forum.
The dresser comes from Oak Furniture Land and claims to be solid oak. We bought it and it was shipped out here in 2012. “Here” is a three-hundred + year old farmhouse with old, rock hard oak beams.
We have other oak furniture in the kitchen with the dresser. I’ve only heard the tapping in the dresser for the last few weeks and only coming from one place which is why I have finally been able to detect exactly where the noise is coming from - beneath bubbled up veneer on the under side of one shelf.
I can see no holes. I thought capricorn beetles were large and with long antennae. Over the years I’ve seen them around the house. I’ve not seen any recently or in the kitchen. Not heard any tapping noise anywhere else in the house.
What do we need to do please to make sure this does not become a problem (a) for the dresser and (b) for other furniture in the kitchen and elsewhere?
Thanks Rob for any comments / suggestions.
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A capricorne beetle is like a caterpillar chomping on a leaf, it’s fattening itself up. If you have found beetles, you will almost certainly have larvae.
A stethoscope is a good idea for locating precisely where the critter is? If it’s only at one location, you could try drilling a small hole and inject/spray/paint with Xilix (the new brand name for Xylophene).
If it’s one piece of furniture, I suggest a DIY job. Where in this belovéd Hexagon are you?
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Thanks Rob. At the moment it’s only in one piece of furniture and I know exactly where it is. It’s a very noisy eater!
We’re in Lot-et-Garonne.
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If you have seen maman and papa you can be sure the bébés are somewhere.
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