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Woodworm Infestation and Treatment
By Hans van Oost

More important then the mere fact that your instrument has a woodworm
infestation, is the amount of damage already made by those insects.
This damage cannot be undone, and pieces may have to be replaced or
filled in order to save the instrument.

The next question is how to get rid of any woodworms still active.
In the Netherlands there are many places where you can take your
instrument to have it cleaned.  Most common are firms (sometimes run
by local governments) who are specialized.  These firms have containers
which are filled with wooden things, mostly antique furniture, but
mechanical musical instruments are as welcome as the others.

When a container is full, it is closed, and filled with a woodworm
killing gas.  (Until recently they used a German substance containing
hydrocyanide gas, Zyklon-B, which was infamous during WW2.  Nowadays
they claim to use a more friendly gas to humans (methylene bromide?)).

These treatments are killing any woodworm as far as my judgement goes.
It saved my antique Gavioli organ!

Regards from the Netherlands,
Hans van Oost - Webmaster, KDV
http://www.draaiorgel.org/


(Message sent Fri 8 Jun 2007, 18:19:31 GMT, from time zone GMT+0200.)

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