Good point, and they will do the job just as good.
What to use to keep bugs away from horns
- Thread starter Eterry
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Good point, and they will do the job just as good.
I think I'll just take my chances and leave the horn hanging on the wall. Guns are not the only wall hangers that I like displaying. A home made powder horn is a pretty good decoration in my opinion.
Smoking hides and furs seems to repel insects, though my experience with this is limited to just a few years. Anyone else had bug issues in smoked items? Maybe just a pass over the smoke from a campfire every so often would do the trick. Probably not a good idea to get it *too* close to the fire, though!
Sevin is truly nasty stuff. Remember the Union Carbide accident in Bhopal, India, that killed something like 10,000 people and maimed thousands more? Sevin is what they were manufacturing there. Even if you can use it without apparent harm (would you ever know where the cancer came from?), it's a good thing to eliminate the demand for this stuff just to keep idiots from making it (and risking more Bhopals).
I agree Sevin is some bad stuff. I bought a 5lb bag some years back and still have several pounds left. The older I'm getting the more reluctant I am to use insecticides. Even "household" aerosals. I've lost too many friends and relatives tnrough the years to cancer. Bug Spray may have played no part what so ever but why take the chance? I'm not 100% organic but I do use it very sparingly.
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We used to cure hams with sugar cure. The bugs could be deterred by placing borax along plates and rafters of the building. Might work.
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For me...the smell of moth balls remind me of my teenage years and a girl named Lori... her mom used moth balls in the house like crazy..to this day i smell mothballs and i can close my eyes and smell Lori's sweaters...and her closet where i hid from her parents...so for me mothballs remind me of....youth!
Excuse me while i go take a cold shower...LOL
Funny moth balls always reminded me of Old People. Last time I looked in a mirror there was one staring back at me. Man where did he come from?
Brokennock
Cannon
That's freakin hysterical! Love it. LolFor me...the smell of moth balls remind me of my teenage years and a girl named Lori... her mom used moth balls in the house like crazy..to this day i smell mothballs and i can close my eyes and smell Lori's sweaters...and her closet where i hid from her parents...so for me mothballs remind me of....youth!
Excuse me while i go take a cold shower...LOL
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Im glad I'm not the only one with a sense of humor... sometimes this place has the charm of a morgue.
Don't forget to tip your waitress.
This forum probably does have a little more humor than it seems. But it sometimes is not that obvious. My wife tells me that dry humor or sarcasm can come off as being mean sometimes. I didnt think I had a mean bone in my body but I was told that It sure seem that way at times. So if I do, I'm sure others do to.
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In my boyhood home, in my bedroom closet, there was a false wall that was actually a sliding cedar door, that opened to a walk in cedar closet. You had to slide the clothes over on the pole in the first closet, or you would never see the sliding door. Even then you probably wouldn’t see it if you weren’t looking for a sliding door.
When we played hide and seek with the neighbor kids, they could never find us, ever!
We also had a laundry shoot that had a small access door in the upstairs bathroom, and kitchen, the tin lined, waxed shoot, ended in the basement. It had a screened wire bottom so clothing could air and dry. That was waist high when you opened the door, below that was storage shelves of wire screen.
I always go back to Mithoff Street, in German Village, Columbus, Ohio when I smell cedar wood. Still like the smell of it! And my maternal grandparents lived on Cedar St. in Newark, Ohio.
Yeah, I’d go with a cedar box I think! Or probably, just keep horns hanging around in view, like I’m doing now.
When we played hide and seek with the neighbor kids, they could never find us, ever!
We also had a laundry shoot that had a small access door in the upstairs bathroom, and kitchen, the tin lined, waxed shoot, ended in the basement. It had a screened wire bottom so clothing could air and dry. That was waist high when you opened the door, below that was storage shelves of wire screen.
I always go back to Mithoff Street, in German Village, Columbus, Ohio when I smell cedar wood. Still like the smell of it! And my maternal grandparents lived on Cedar St. in Newark, Ohio.
Yeah, I’d go with a cedar box I think! Or probably, just keep horns hanging around in view, like I’m doing now.
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They do make a pretty good decoration dont they?
Brokennock
Cannon
Awesome memories. That closet sounds like the best humidor ever.In my boyhood home, in my bedroom closet, there was a false wall that was actually a sliding cedar door, that opened to a walk in cedar closet. You had to slide the clothes over on the pole in the first closet, or you would never see the sliding door. Even then you probably wouldn’t see it if you weren’t looking for a sliding door.
When we played hide and seek with the neighbor kids, they could never find us, ever!
We also had a laundry shoot that had a small access door in the upstairs bathroom, and kitchen, the tin lined, waxed shoot, ended in the basement. It had a screened wire bottom so clothing could air and dry. That was waist high when you opened the door, below that was storage shelves of wire screen.
I always go back to Mithoff Street, in German Village, Columbus, Ohio when I smell cedar wood. Still like the smell of it! And my maternal grandparents lived on Cedar St. in Newark, Ohio.
Yeah, I’d go with a cedar box I think! Or probably, just keep horns hanging around in view, like I’m doing now.
Borax or borates might be a good treatment for carpet beetles (or other dermestid beetles). Sealing the items in a plastic bag with a "No Pest Strip" might also work.
I tried closing up copper and steel piano wire in a jar with a piece of No Pest Strip for years. In the last few months I have seen some discoloration, but no major rust. This product has little odor and is quite effective in closed spaces. You could try cutting up a No Pest Strip and placing it into a bag with your horn or blankets.
Beetles do not like being disturbed, so regular attention to your horn or wool products is important to keep them at bay. I retrieved a wool blanket from years of storage in a plastic garbage and it was untouched. I just found my rifle case made from a wool blanket in the back of my closet that was badly damaged.
Since Borax is a common laundry product a rinse with a Borax solution shouldn't be a serious health problem and might be effective.
I tried closing up copper and steel piano wire in a jar with a piece of No Pest Strip for years. In the last few months I have seen some discoloration, but no major rust. This product has little odor and is quite effective in closed spaces. You could try cutting up a No Pest Strip and placing it into a bag with your horn or blankets.
Beetles do not like being disturbed, so regular attention to your horn or wool products is important to keep them at bay. I retrieved a wool blanket from years of storage in a plastic garbage and it was untouched. I just found my rifle case made from a wool blanket in the back of my closet that was badly damaged.
Since Borax is a common laundry product a rinse with a Borax solution shouldn't be a serious health problem and might be effective.
On the subject of carpet beetles and their diet for animal products. Does anyone think they'd go after wool felt hats as well? It was mentioned that carpet beetles do not like being disturbed. Thats sort of what I meant by "human activity". It does seem any damage done to my horn was when it was temporarily put away in a dark bottom drawer. Frequent use seems to deter the little buggers. Oh and I may be wrong on this one but wasn't borax used in taxidermy?
Ketchakah
40 Cal.
Hatito All,
Seems the only horns ive had trouble with are ones that are stored away. Im sure thats not the answer, but it may have something to do with it. All the horns i use, whether regularly or occasionally i coat with "sno-seal" polished well in. perhaps that may have something to do with my success. Maybe just lucky, but ill keep at the sno-seal.
Seems the only horns ive had trouble with are ones that are stored away. Im sure thats not the answer, but it may have something to do with it. All the horns i use, whether regularly or occasionally i coat with "sno-seal" polished well in. perhaps that may have something to do with my success. Maybe just lucky, but ill keep at the sno-seal.
The BEST treatment for moths and beetles is: Arsenic!
But, museums have been testing and removing arsenic from their collections for decades. Arsenic is a serious toxic problem, unlike borax, which is a mild stomach toxin. Humans would have to eat a cup of borax to achieve a toxic dose.
Something else that modern wool producers have forgotten: the "moth-proofing" that was done for many years, but which has recently been omitted is simply removing the lanolin content from the raw wool. Without the lanolin wool has less nutritional value and it deters moths, but perhaps not beetles.
Personally, I deal with beetle damage on a daily basis as a piano technician; beetles love the dark and undisturbed recesses of pianos. Out west we don't have to worry about moths, probably because of our lower humidity, but further north and east they are a problem (and I am less able to advise on).
As for wool felt hats; yes you should worry, but unless they are in storage, hats are often kept out in the open and beetles are less likely to infest them.
If I was a taxidermist I would enthusiastically use borax. 40 years ago I "tanned" a dissected rat hide with Borax and it is in fine condition today.
But, museums have been testing and removing arsenic from their collections for decades. Arsenic is a serious toxic problem, unlike borax, which is a mild stomach toxin. Humans would have to eat a cup of borax to achieve a toxic dose.
Something else that modern wool producers have forgotten: the "moth-proofing" that was done for many years, but which has recently been omitted is simply removing the lanolin content from the raw wool. Without the lanolin wool has less nutritional value and it deters moths, but perhaps not beetles.
Personally, I deal with beetle damage on a daily basis as a piano technician; beetles love the dark and undisturbed recesses of pianos. Out west we don't have to worry about moths, probably because of our lower humidity, but further north and east they are a problem (and I am less able to advise on).
As for wool felt hats; yes you should worry, but unless they are in storage, hats are often kept out in the open and beetles are less likely to infest them.
If I was a taxidermist I would enthusiastically use borax. 40 years ago I "tanned" a dissected rat hide with Borax and it is in fine condition today.
