diff --git a/src/libsilk/skformat.c b/src/libsilk/skformat.c
--- a/src/libsilk/skformat.c
+++ b/src/libsilk/skformat.c
@@ -657,7 +657,6 @@ fmtr_default_to_string(
             str = lua_tolstring(L, -1, &sz);
             bp = buf;
             if (str && sz) {
-                rv = 1;
                 for (i = 0; i < sz; ++i) {
                     switch (str[i]) {
                       case '\\':
@@ -710,15 +709,16 @@ fmtr_default_to_string(
                             }
                             break;
                         }
-                        rv = 1 + 2 * len;
-                        if (len >= rv) {
+                        /* ignore current buffer and encode entire
+                         * string as hex */
+                        rv = 2 * sz;
+                        if (rv < len) {
                             for (i = 0, bp = buf; i < sz; ++i, bp += 2) {
                                 assert(bp - buf < (ssize_t)len);
                                 sprintf(bp, "%02x", str[i]);
                             }
-                            *bp = '\0';
-                            goto END;
                         }
+                        i = sz;
                         break;
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/src/rwstats/rwstatssetup.c b/src/rwstats/rwstatssetup.c
--- a/src/rwstats/rwstatssetup.c
+++ b/src/rwstats/rwstatssetup.c
@@ -1897,7 +1897,7 @@ sidecar_key_to_ascii(
                      * print as fully encoded */
                     tb = text_buf;
                     t = text_buf_size;
-                    i = len;
+                    i = 0;
                     while (i < len && t > 2) {
                         snprintf(tb, 3, "%02x", (uint8_t)str[i]);
                         ++i;