Hi guys,

I was looking through knives in my drawer and noticed strange surface damage on a couple of buffalo horn parts. One of them has been sitting there for years and pretty sure was fine just a few months ago; the other spent just a month or two there.
Both had several of these shallow surface pits, looking almost like some insects were gnawing on the horn.
All I found online about that was that some bugs may live inside horn or wood parts and bore holes through. But this isn't the case here, no holes going inside. I sanded off the damage on the part in the attached picture, and saw no holes.
BTW, I had knives with deer horn, wood, and stacked leather handles in the same drawer - no damage there.

Have you ever seen anything like this? I am completely at loss.

Just in case, I froze these for a couple day long cycles as suggested for insect damage, though I suspect it was pointless. Storing them in ziplock bags now and waiting to see if it develops further, before attempting to fix the damage on the other knife...

Alex.

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Most likely silverfish. I've seen similar damage in the past to a drinking horn of mine.

Thanks Arne, finally I have some explanation. Though it is really surprising, not like my bedroom is a likely environment for silverfish. I thought they live in places like basements with leaky pipes... Anyway, I ordered poison bait suitable for silverfish, hopefully this will get rid of them for good.