Wormholes

Wormholes... No, not the kind in space but from actual worms.

We've had a few clients wonder about the little holes in our French cabinet from the 1600s and they were surprised when we explained to them that they were worm holes. This is seriously hard wood and it was even difficult to drill holes in the back for the earthquake cables but apparently worms don't have much trouble at all boring through hardwood. Interestingly...

In 1503 Christopher Columbus was exploring Veragua and the Mosquito Coast from Panama to the Cape of Honduras when he visited a cacique named Quibian. His ships became waterlogged due to wormholes which marooned him in Jamaica. Columbus knew when the next lunar eclipse was due so he convinced the natives who had stopped providing him with food and provisions to begin again or his god would be angry. He presented them with a deadline, the date of the eclipse. When they provided no more provisions by that date, the eclipse occurred which frightened the natives so they began providing food & provisions again and the repairs on the worm-eaten ships could be completed and he continued his explorations.

The product we use to treat our fine antiques is Feed-N-Wax. I paint it on with a small brush, allow it to dry to an opaque finish and I then hand rub the finish with my bare hands.

There is a fair amount of work required in the maintenance of fine antiques but our clients and students are worth the effort. Maybe I'm being just a bit paranoid but I carefully fill each wormhole with Feed-N-Wax just to make sure that there are no 500 year-old worms still eating away at our cabinets.