Help with long term storage of GEC

[Reaper AL]

i am in the process of taking some GEC knives and putting them away for my grandson. It will be a long term storage as he is only 6 years old. He shows a great interest in traditional knives. I am going to treat them with seal1, they will be stored in a safe with a golden rod dehumidifier. My question is should I store them wrapped in the factory paper in the tube? The storage time I am guessing could be upwards of ten years. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thank you in advance

 

[Jolipapa]

I 'd take them out of the tube, keep 'em wrapped in the paper or in sacks-up protector, and in a pouch, then use a vacuum machine. No air = no O² = less risk of oxydation. For more safety, i'd keep the pouches with silicagel.

 

[brownshoe]

The owner of the American Military Edged Weapon museum in Intercorse PA uses Butchers Bowling Lane wax. Other museums and many collectors use Rennisaince Wax. Some use mineral oil. Either way, I'd check them every year.

 

[dsutton24]

Off topic, but there's a big, wide world outside of GEC. Why not pick up some Buck, Case, Boker, Queen, and so forth while you still can?

As for storage, mine lie in drawers, and I don't do anything other than occasionally wipe the blades with a lightly oiled cloth. I started collecting in the 70s, and in that time I've never had anything degrade. Knives aren't ephemeral. As long as you don't put them away with a big ol' thumbprint in the middle of the blade, or store them in the sauna they won't suffer. Just check on them every once in a while and wipe them off.

 

[cbr1000]

Which ever route you decide make them accessible for routine maintenance. Regardless of the way you store them if you don't take care of them once or twice a year you will have problems after 10 years.

 

[TOM K.]

I recently put some some in long term storage for a similar reason, went a little over the top but here's what I did -
Literally dipped each one in EWL (extreme weapon lube) then wrapped individually in Saran Wrap, placed each one in a
Sack-Ups pouch, put them all in a Zip Lock bag, sucked the air out, put bag and tubes in a small Pelican Case then into the safe.
Like I said, a little over the top

 

[knifeswapper]

I still have many GEC's in my collection from 2007. Back then they actually were still new to the etching and would leave some neutralizer on the blades that doesn't show immediately - but turns to rust after a few weeks. So, I did many experiments with different treatments and found that CRC Heavy Duty Silicone spray did as good a job as anything. If you want to test for yourself, coat some steel nails with a treatment and put them on a paper plate in a sealed ziploc back with a capful of iodine. The iodine acts nearly instantly and will show you where the shortcomings are within a couple days. I didn't store them in the factory wrap as I didn't know much about it, but I put them in a respective size opened plastic sleeve. I have seen no problems whatsoever 12 years later. The only storage problems I have seen is the stag / brass interaction, which probably cannot be treated to prevent.

Since this test, I have become a big believer in seal1 and froglube. When we started dealing Hess knives, they would be starting to rust by the time we received them. We put a thin layer of seal1 on the steel with a real chamois patch and have seen no issues up to a couple years at this point.

Short: Cut a soft real chamois in half and then cut one half into 4" squares. Clean the blade with the large chamois then thinly coat the blade with the seal1 / froglube. It dries to a visible coating that seems to really protect. They say the seal1 sets better if the blade is a bit warm, so you can use a heat gun if you wish (I never have).

 

[Railsplitter]

I conducted my own experiment about 8 months ago when the weather was hot & humid. I used 3 In One oil, Seal1, and Renaissance Wax for the experiment. The Seal1 and the Renaissance Wax were both applied and then wiped off per the manufacturer's instructions. The knife with the 3 In One oil was left with a light coat on it.

This photo was taken right before I added regular tap water.


Water added and lid in place.


I then put the container with the knives inside my garage which has no climate control and checked it periodically. Here are the results after 98 hours.


The results through me for a loop because the knife with bare steel didn't corrode much. I can't explain it but there must have been some variables that I'm not aware of. Anyway, those are my results, strange as they may be.

 

[JohnDF]

I conducted my own experiment about 8 months ago when the weather was hot & humid. I used 3 In One oil, Seal1, and Renaissance Wax for the experiment. The Seal1 and the Renaissance Wax were both applied and then wiped off per the manufacturer's instructions. The knife with the 3 In One oil was left with a light coat on it.

This photo was taken right before I added regular tap water.
View attachment 1122419

Water added and lid in place.
View attachment 1122420

I then put the container with the knives inside my garage which has no climate control and checked it periodically. Here are the results after 98 hours.
View attachment 1122421

The results through me for a loop because the knife with bare steel didn't corrode much. I can't explain it but there must have been some variables that I'm not aware of. Anyway, those are my results, strange as they may be.

That's pretty crazy. Looks like one coat of wax did better than two. Looks like the bare metal did great. Looks like the oil did the best.

 

[Norcaldude]

A while back I bought a GEC off a guy that kept his immersed in mineral oil. No idea how well that works though.

 

[5K Qs]

I conducted my own experiment about 8 months ago when the weather was hot & humid. I used 3 In One oil, Seal1, and Renaissance Wax for the experiment. The Seal1 and the Renaissance Wax were both applied and then wiped off per the manufacturer's instructions. The knife with the 3 In One oil was left with a light coat on it.

This photo was taken right before I added regular tap water.
View attachment 1122419

Water added and lid in place.
View attachment 1122420

I then put the container with the knives inside my garage which has no climate control and checked it periodically. Here are the results after 98 hours.
View attachment 1122421

The results through me for a loop because the knife with bare steel didn't corrode much. I can't explain it but there must have been some variables that I'm not aware of. Anyway, those are my results, strange as they may be.

That's pretty crazy. Looks like one coat of wax did better than two. Looks like the bare metal did great. Looks like the oil did the best.

Very interesting experiment, Rick, and my reaction to your pics was almost word-for-word identical to John's!
- GT

 

[Railsplitter]

That's pretty crazy. Looks like one coat of wax did better than two. Looks like the bare metal did great. Looks like the oil did the best.

Very interesting experiment, Rick, and my reaction to your pics was almost word-for-word identical to John's!
- GT

I wish I could explain it but the only thing I can think of is that I used tap water and our city water has small amounts of chlorine in it. I chose it mainly for that reason hoping that the chlorine might accelerate the corrosion process. That and it was just easier to use.

My only guess is that maybe the chlorine somehow reacted with the two products but that still doesn't explain why the bare steel only corroded slightly.

I'll add that I'm 100% certain that the knives are correctly labelled. I laid the knives and the labels on the dining room table then grabbed one knife and one label, took them into my office (the adjacent room), treated the knife according to the label, attached the label, and then grabbed another knife and label.

I was hoping for more conclusive results but I have no choice but to consider this experiment inconclusive. I just wish I knew why.

 

[Will Power]

A while back I bought a GEC off a guy that kept his immersed in mineral oil. No idea how well that works though.

I must say I'd be cautious about that one...mineral oil might be OK in reviving a badly corroded knife or as a wipe over but soaking will surely impact on the scales. Bone is likely to darken or the colour will be altered, Stag might not like it at all, I suspect oils can soften Stag. Knifemaker @Bill DeShivs opposes soaking in MO and my own experience bears this out. I've found that brass bleed/verdigris is provoked on Stag knives by soaking, it must be some reaction plus carbon steel as well but I'm no chemist So I cannot explain it, but seen it

Storage mainly depends on the type of climate you live in: cold/damp or hot/damp poses real problems. Just wipe knives down leave no prints, a thin layer of oil, keep out of light and room temperature ( about 12-20C don't ask me what that is in fartrenheit... 50-70F ??) Basements, sheds, lofts, garages uh uh)Inspect twice a year, you can even wear gloves to do it museum style

I've heard a lot of good about Froglube too but not tried it yet, I have a bottle of Rust Free fro A G Russell given to me by a Forumite, it cautions against use on bone or Stag..but works excellently on metal, a tiny drop goes a long way. I've been using Coconut Oil on user knives and been really pleased over 18 months, it enhances scales and protects against rust but I don't know about it for laying knives down. I've heard that Froglube is mainly Coconut Oil too but can't verify this.

 

[Elgatodeacero]

I like WD40 as a joint lubricant on knives, and to protect the blade.