diff --git a/qbolt/mainwindow.cpp b/qbolt/mainwindow.cpp
index 4d1117f..3e86245 100644
--- a/qbolt/mainwindow.cpp
+++ b/qbolt/mainwindow.cpp
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@ MainWindow::~MainWindow()
 }
 
 static const int BdbPointerRole = Qt::UserRole + 1;
+static const int BinaryDataRole = Qt::UserRole + 2;
+
 #define SET_BDB(top, bdb) top->setData(0, BdbPointerRole, QVariant::fromValue<void*>(static_cast<void*>(bdb)))
 #define GET_BDB(top) static_cast<BoltDB*>( top->data(0, BdbPointerRole).value<void*>() )
 
@@ -86,6 +88,12 @@ void MainWindow::openDatabase(QString file, bool readOnly)
     ui->bucketTree->expandItem(top);
 }
 
+static const QString getDisplayName(const QByteArray &qba) {
+    // FIXME the formatting isn't so great when control characters, etc. are used
+    // A C-style escape display, or the unicode-replacement-character would be preferable
+    return QString::fromUtf8(qba);
+}
+
 void MainWindow::refreshBucketTree(QTreeWidgetItem* itm)
 {
     QTreeWidgetItem *top = itm;
@@ -108,7 +116,8 @@ void MainWindow::refreshBucketTree(QTreeWidgetItem* itm)
         error,
         [=](QByteArray qba){
             QTreeWidgetItem *child = new QTreeWidgetItem();
-            child->setText(0, QString::fromUtf8(qba));
+            child->setText(0, getDisplayName(qba));
+            child->setData(0, BinaryDataRole, qba);
             child->setIcon(0, QIcon(":/rsrc/table.png"));
             itm->addChild(child);
 
@@ -257,7 +266,8 @@ void MainWindow::refreshData(BoltDB *bdb, QStringList browse)
     QString err;
     bool ok = bdb->listKeys(browse, err, [=](QByteArray name, int64_t dataLen) {
         auto *itm = new QTreeWidgetItem();
-        itm->setText(0, QString::fromUtf8(name));
+        itm->setText(0, getDisplayName(name));
+        itm->setData(0, BinaryDataRole, name);
         itm->setText(1, QString("%1").arg(dataLen));
         ui->bucketData->addTopLevelItem(itm);
     });
@@ -320,15 +330,15 @@ void MainWindow::on_bucketData_doubleClicked(const QModelIndex &index)
     // Get item key
 
     auto model = index.model();
-    QString key = model->data(model->index(index.row(), 0), 0).toString();
+    const QByteArray& key = model->data(model->index(index.row(), 0), BinaryDataRole).toByteArray();
 
     // DB lookup
 
     bdb->getData(
         browse,
-        key.toUtf8(),
+        key,
         [=](QByteArray content) {
-            openEditor(bdb, browse, key.toUtf8(), content);
+            openEditor(bdb, browse, key, content);
         },
         [=](QString error) {
             QMessageBox qmb;
@@ -369,8 +379,16 @@ void MainWindow::on_actionDelete_bucket_triggered()
     GET_ITM_TOP_BROWSE_BDB;
 
     // Prompt for confirmation
-    QString bucketToDelete = itm->text(0);
-    if (QMessageBox::question(this, tr("Delete bucket"), tr("Are you sure you want to remove the bucket '%1'?").arg(bucketToDelete), QMessageBox::Yes, QMessageBox::Cancel) != QMessageBox::Yes) {
+    const QByteArray& bucketToDelete = itm->data(0, BinaryDataRole).toByteArray();
+    if (
+        QMessageBox::question(
+            this,
+            tr("Delete bucket"),
+            tr("Are you sure you want to remove the bucket '%1'?").arg(getDisplayName(bucketToDelete)),
+            QMessageBox::Yes,
+            QMessageBox::Cancel
+        ) != QMessageBox::Yes
+    ) {
         return;
     }
 
@@ -381,7 +399,7 @@ void MainWindow::on_actionDelete_bucket_triggered()
     browse.pop_back();
 
     QString err;
-    if (! bdb->deleteBucket(browse, bucketToDelete.toUtf8(), err)) {
+    if (! bdb->deleteBucket(browse, bucketToDelete, err)) {
         QMessageBox qmb;
         qmb.setText(tr("Error removing bucket: %1").arg(err));
         qmb.exec();