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I'm not talking about the machines here, but in the home in question.

If he's got critters that bad starting to attack machines... He's going to have to call a professional Bug guy like Terminix, or other local bug professional. If he explains to the bug guy what his issue if, They will drill small holes in the walls around the property so that they can spray into the foundation of the home and behind the walls...(The most logical place these critters are coming from...

There's not much else that he can do. He'll have to have the house sprayed once a year to keep up with the issue... I've been down this road many times before with family members homes...not my own..Thank Goodness.. I usually solves the issues 99% of the time..

)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

If the hole is that big, remarkably round with active chewing going on, my educated guess is a carpenter bee. It's making a chamber to grow offspring. If this machine was in a warehouse or garage environment this is likely the culprit. If you shove aluminum foil or steel wool in the hole and putty it over the job is done.
- bill

wjw wrote:If the hole is that big, remarkably round with active chewing going on, my educated guess is a carpenter bee. It's making a chamber to grow offspring. If this machine was in a warehouse or garage environment this is likely the culprit. If you shove aluminum foil or steel wool in the hole and putty it over the job is done.
- bill

Carpenter bees will leave a pile of sawdust mixed with yellow pollen & poop under the hole. Covering the hole doesn’t do any good, they will just continue to bore until finding a new exit. I’ve also never heard of carpenter bees taking up residence indoors. They still need access to flowers for nectar and pollen.

"and found fresh saw-dust in the spot where the albums would go, along with a few tiny tunnels in the side about the diameter of the lead of a No. 2 pencil."

Sure sounds like woodworm to me, here in Spain it´s called Carcoma, it´s about the same climate as yours. I´ve had it in this nice chair (picture) which I saved injecting poison into the tunnels with a syringe, now it´s safe & sound. Other pieces of furniture I have had treated professionally by FREEZING them (that method kills ALL the little wood-eating insects, termites, ants etc), they have special freezers for furniture. There is also a method to gas them.

They live in Sweden too - where I´ve had them treated by gas. A totally different climate - like Canada - but the same woodworm.

I attach pictures of the poison we use here, I´m sure you have the same thing in the US under another name?

But as was suggested earlier: the absolute first thing to do is to isolate the machine from your home and other furniture (or gramophones) - then treat it. Good luck!

Your friend has a woodworm infestation within his machine. Woodworms can spread to other pieces of wood, be sure your friend isolates this cabinet from all other wooden furniture. The only way to efficiently kill woodworms is extreme heat or extreme cold. There are chemical treatments that are available, although it will likely take more than one spray from a specialist. I would recommend contacting a local or commercial exterminator as treating the cabinet inside a wood kiln is out of the question.

Similar case: I have a friend in Dayton OH whom is a master wood worker. 12 months after building a wooden dresser for his wife, small holes with piles of sawdust were visible inside the cabinet, woodworms. He first tried to treat the cabinet with chemicals via a local exterminator, this did not work. He ended up burning the dresser to kill the wood worms, building a new dresser to replace the old one. My friend sent off all of his uncut lumber to a local wood kiln to kill any potential woodworms within other pieces of lumber he had. Commercial cut lumber is typically kiln dried before hitting the sales floor in order to kill any woodworms present in any wood. 5 months after the dresser incident, the kitchen table he made showed small holes with sawdust present!

These pests can be very difficult to get rid of. Your friend has his work cut out for him, I wish you both luck!


Jon