My Staffs Were Eaten by Furniture Beetles!

[Eric Olson]

So I was down in my mom's garage practicing some CLF and I went to go use one of the staffs that I had stashed there while in NYC for the last 2 years.

I picked up the staff and it was covered in a light coating of sawdust and there were tons of millimeter size holes in it. And now it's totally useless, if you bend it it will crack in half. This was a waxwood staff, they didn't touch the rattan staff.

Apparently, it was eaten by this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furniture_beetle

Has this happened to anyone else?

[karateguy]

I have heard of termites eating staffs... so I guess it is possible...

[ChukaSifu2]

I've had the same thing happen, but not from furniture beetles, I still haven't figured out what they are. Someone told me that the bug sounds like a carpenter bee when I described it. Same type of thing happened to me though. I picked up the staff and when I banged it on the floor I seen what looked like powder fall from the staff, upon closer inspection of the staff I seen there where tiny little holes and powdered wood was coming out of them. I kept tapping the staff on the ground and eventually these little bee looking bugs starting falling out of the holes. They didn't attack my rattan or red oak staffs either, only the waxwood staffs and the rock maple staffs.

[GLW]

Been there, done that.

I know of one importer of the white waxwood staffs that has a problem all the time with that. He has had to throw away a number of them due to the holes....and it costs him money.

I bought a China cabinet a while back. An antique...made in China...but it had the holes. Lucky, I got a very good deal on it so the cost to have it picked up and taken to a place for fumigation added to the cost of the item was still a good deal.

With staffs, you have a period of time that you can still use them but eventually you end up with sawdust. I picked up a pair once to do a two person staff set. One had the holes but I didn't notice. The first block and the staff blew up in a cloud of sawdust.

So, it is not really possible to fumigate a staff...too expensive. You CAN try to submerge it it a coal oil or such bath for several days....again, kind of hard to do and doubtful it is worth it for a $25 item.

I usually just test them...if they are ok, I use them...if they begin to show the problems...trash bin.

[Violent Designs]

I thought you're not doing CLF anymore.

[Yum Cha]

After breaking more staves than I can remember, I just gave up getting attached to any particular sticks.

The side effect of that is that I became more comfortable with any stick....

[Eric Olson]

I thought you're not doing CLF anymore.

Who are you again?

EO

[Eric Olson]

So I took the infected staff out to the garbage and hit it on the ground. It just shattered, like a piece of chalk. Crazy sh!t.

EO

[GeneChing]

For some reason, white wax wood (http://www.martialartsmart.com/32-84.html) is extremely tasty to all sorts of wood-eating insects. You'd be amazed how many shipments we've had to toss out because of infestation. Sometimes I hear people coming back from China complaining about the price being too high for white wax wood. The fail to factor in this cost. We're constantly monitoring our white wax wood to make sure parasites don't get it. As soon as we find any infestation, we quarantine that whole stock to salvage what we can. Of course, unless the shipment comes in infested, which has happened, we take the loss. Even if the shipment is already infested, we'll have to absorb some costs for shipping the container, customs, etc.

And once they get in, they devour them very quickly. I remember watching my prized Tamo Staff get eaten up over the course of a day.

Unless you want to cover your weapons with bug spray (and remember, you'll be handling that after) it's just one of those pitfalls of practice.

[Eric Olson]

Wow, that sounds like a costly problem.

EO



For some reason, white wax wood (http://www.martialartsmart.com/32-84.html) is extremely tasty to all sorts of wood-eating insects. You'd be amazed how many shipments we've had to toss out because of infestation. Sometimes I hear people coming back from China complaining about the price being too high for white wax wood. The fail to factor in this cost. We're constantly monitoring our white wax wood to make sure parasites don't get it. As soon as we find any infestation, we quarantine that whole stock to salvage what we can. Of course, unless the shipment comes in infested, which has happened, we take the loss. Even if the shipment is already infested, we'll have to absorb some costs for shipping the container, customs, etc.

And once they get in, they devour them very quickly. I remember watching my prized Tamo Staff get eaten up over the course of a day.

Unless you want to cover your weapons with bug spray (and remember, you'll be handling that after) it's just one of those pitfalls of practice.

[GeneChing]

Fortunately, only a small portion of customers are into waxwood. Right now, the Ultralight Wushu Waxwood Staff (http://www.martialartsmart.com/32-n.html) is the most popular seller for waxwood, which are basically kid's wushu staffs. The non-kung fu styles use all different kinds of woods for their staffs. Even the kung fu people use other woods sometimes, especially the traditionalists. And the market for 3-Section Waxwood Staffs is small (plus we offer those in hardwood (http://www.martialartsmart.com/25-31.html) and rattan (http://www.martialartsmart.com/25-32.html) too). The only real drag is spears (http://www.martialartsmart.com/45-051.html), which are pretty much limited to rattan.

[Eric Olson]

I thought that traditional Chinese spears/staffs were pretty much exclusively waxwood.

EO


Fortunately, only a small portion of customers are into waxwood. Right now, the Ultralight Wushu Waxwood Staff (http://www.martialartsmart.com/32-n.html) is the most popular seller for waxwood, which are basically kid's wushu staffs. The non-kung fu styles use all different kinds of woods for their staffs. Even the kung fu people use other woods sometimes, especially the traditionalists. And the market for 3-Section Waxwood Staffs is small (plus we offer those in hardwood (http://www.martialartsmart.com/25-31.html) and rattan (http://www.martialartsmart.com/25-32.html) too). The only real drag is spears (http://www.martialartsmart.com/45-051.html), which are pretty much limited to rattan.

[GeneChing]

Man, sometimes I wonder about myself. :o

[Boston Bagua]

I have never had a problem with any of my staves.

I also use serious amounts of tung oil and teak oil to seal them up and make them less yummy for bugs.

I also keep them in my house and monitor humidity, etc...

I count myself lucky.

[Eric Olson]

Man, sometimes I wonder about myself. :o

No worries, I wonder about myself pretty much every day. ;)

EO

[chusauli]

Gentlemen,

As a pole/spear specialist, I learned to cover the poles with a coating of Tung Oil. Even better would be to immerse your poles in Tung Oil for 3 - 6 months. It makes the poles heavier, more durable and insect resistant.

1) Buy a PVC pipe that will fit your pole, seal one of the sides and fill it with Tung oil, have a fitted removable cap on the other side

2) sand your pole all over

3) Drill a small hole at the butt end and fasten a small hook, screw or nail, afix some fishing line to this

4) immerse pole, but keep the butt end about 1 inch above the oil to act as a wick

5) after 3 - 6 months remove pole and let hang dry.

6) Enjoy your new pole!

7) Be sure to use Tung oil on the butt end to match the finish.

Good luck and enjoy!