My Collection Has Been Attacked By Horn Eating Bugs!!

Big Bob

Big Bob

Joined
Oct 13, 1999
Messages
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About a month ago I decided to post some of my khukuris for sale. While inspecting them for dings and chips I noticed that several of the horn-handled kardas and chakmas had odd looking chips missing from their handles. I found this very odd as I didn't remember them having chips like this before.

Well I finally discovered the culprit last night when I decided to coat all my horn handled khuks with Hooflex. Apparently my collection has been under attack by several insects that like to feast on buffalo horn. :mad: They're small, light brown soft-bodied and about 1mm long. I proceed to check all of my horn handled khuks and sure enough, most of them have damage to their kardas/chakmas. The pests seem to reside in the scabbards, thus them targeting the k's and c's since part of their handles fit inside the scabbard. I ended up spending at least an hour doing everything I could think of to get any and all of the little bastards out of the scabbards. Any that I dislodged were either vacuumed or swished. Afterwards I vacuumed the room that I'd been keeping my khuks in. This morning I stuck all of my horn handled k's and c's in ziplock bags to help prevent any recurrences (managed to find a few more of the little buggers while I was doing it). :mad:

Has anyone else had problems with insects like these? If so, any pointers of how to deal with them would be greatly appreciated. I PM'ed a warning about the bugs to a forumite that I sold a horn-handled Chainpuri to last week so my request for advice is quite urgent as you can imagine. :(

Bob
 
Ouch!! Thats not cool. :eek: My only advice is to store your blades separate to the sheaths for now and possibly spray for bugs. Hopefully no major perminant damage was done. Please keep us updated.

Heber
 
i've had a few attacked by some sort of bug that eats a little groove on them. First I thought is was mice.
 
Brother, that's a nightmare. :(

Worst undiscovered-damage-scenario I've ever noticed was minor black spotting :mad: caused by the leather being too "green" on the scabbard, I think.

Should store new knives separate from sheaths, eh.


Mike
 
That is not good news Big Bob. :(

Was there any sign of the bugs in any of the wooden handled Khuk's?

Do you think a bit of extra quarantine may be in order when the FF arrives?

Maybe put the scabbard into a plastic bag and freeze it for a few days?:confused:
 
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Blues, your suggestion sounds pretty plausible in my case.

I've already put all my horn kardas and chakmas in Ziplock bags. Early today, I took every one of my scabbards outside (even the ones housing wood handled khuks), and gave them all a good shakedown. I then wrapped the horn handles on my khuks with Plastic wrap. I may go ahead and freeze the scabbards for a few nights as an extra precaution.

Bob
 
The best thing you can do in this situation is get revenge, bob.
I've only seen this once and they came in on a khuk i got from that auction site.

B4 you freez em out, shake your khuks over a nice bowl of corn flakes and chow down.:D
 
I've seen horn get attacked by bugs before. But it was on a small pocketknife.

Watching closely for prevention advise.
 
kronckew said:
castrastion does work, but it's a real pain to prise their little legs apart and you need a really sharp but tiny kukri...:D
Click to expand...


You just couldn't help yourself, could you?


I try and I try, but you just have to go and act-out in class. :grumpy:

NOW, I have to go to a meeting with your Teacher.

I'll deal with you when I get home, young man.:mad:
 
e7_11.JPG
 
Blues said:
You may be referring to dermestid beetles.
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Thanks for the links on these beetle larvae. Interesting reading since I have a couple horn handled khuks. It would seem the wooden khukri handles would be immune to this particular damaging insect.

I found this quote particularly interesting from theBernard Levine article Blues linked:
Ms. Richwine at the Smithsonian says that she avoids the
use of pesticides within the museum, although large badly
infested objects (such as carriages with horsehair filled
cushions) are sent out to be fumigated. She has
experimented with freezing small horn objects to kill
Dermestid eggs and larvae, but she is not certain of the
long-term effect this treatment might have on the horn
itself. She does not recommend freezing steel-bladed
objects, and neither do I.
Click to expand...
This info might be important for a collector.
 
I freeze old scabbards to kill livestock, {3 days as recomended by British museaum} the problem with freezing is drying off condensation when thawing them out, but so far no damage, If the beetles are in your house on kukris they might be attacking other things as well? Research needed.

Spiral
 
Could you post pics of what an attacked handle looks like? Maybe some other khuks are infected and users didn't even noticed.
 
cybrok said:
Could you post pics of what an attacked handle looks like? Maybe some other khuks are infected and users didn't even noticed.
Click to expand...

In the absence of pics, i'll offer a description.

In mild cases and at the beginning of the problem,as noted by the OP, It will look like small chips have come off around the edges of the handles(for some reason the lil' buggers like corners,go figure:D)

Once they've gained a foothold in your scabbard and on your khuk, It will start to look like wormwood, You will see little wormlike trails in the horn from where theyve eaten thru.

By then you have an infestation and it will probaly take the measures posted previously to disinfect them. BTW: If you buy khuks from that auction site,you should be aware of the possibility of getting your Item delivered to you with previous damage from these dermestids, or possibly fully infected.
 
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