Recommendation? Knife storage

[fa-s-ter]

Hey,

I have a question about your experiences and ideas about knife storage.
I purchased a box – looks like a small plastic suitcase – with some foam inlays which I cut to the right size for each knife so that they're padded very well and snug. Now I love how this little project turned out! However, I am afraid that moisture might get stuck in this "suitcase" and in the foam.
Have you ever had any issues in this aspect? Do you think moisture might become an issue?

I thought about adding some silica gel pads. But as they have to be reactivated from time to time, I decided to go for a easier replaceable option: rice. I put some small holes in a plastic cube and added it to the suitcase after filling it up with rice. If I feel like I need to replace the rice, I just ditch the old one and put some new into the plastic cube.
As rice is used to bond the moisture in rice or pull it out of wet phones, it should help prevent any moisture (and thus rust) in this box – what do you think?

If you have a piece of advice, I would be grateful to hear it!

 

[Mr.Wizard]

If you make sure the rice is extra dry before use by putting it an oven at low temperature I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I don't see how this is more convenient that using silica gel which can be refreshed with the same method. Some silica gel also comes with a moisture indicator so you know when you need to refresh it.

 

[drail]

There two types of foam. Open cell and closed cell. If you squeeze a piece of foam in your hand and it collapses - it's open cell (like a sponge). Never use open cell foam to store knives or guns or precision tools in. You want closed cell foam which will not compress when you squeeze it - it will not absorb moisture from the air. You can also hold it to your lips and try to blow air through it to see if it is open or closed cell foam. Open cell foam is bad because it will absorb moisture on a humid day and hold it for a long time against the metal just like a damp rag. FWIW I store my knives in a Craftsman tool chest with a thin rubber mat on the bottom of the drawers. The thin drawers hold a lot of knives and they're easy to get out and replace. I am a retired gunsmith and over the years I have seen far too many nice guns completely rusted from storage in foam cases and rugs. Anything that can absorb water is no good for metal storage. If you happen to live in an area with high humidity even part of the year you must control the humidity in your house with a de humidifier and/or air conditioner. Buy a small temp. and humidity gauge and adjust the de humidifier to bring the room's humidity down to 45% or less. Check it frequently. Keeping a thin layer of oil on the metal also helps protect it a great deal.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

D drail Is a good sized silica gel desiccant unable to overcome the open cell foam problem? I think most of the Pelican type cases I've seen use open cell foam, and it would be nice not to have to eliminate all of these for metal storage if the problem can be circumvented with diligence.

 

[drail]

The problem can certainly be circumvented with diligence but I don't like to take any chances with corrosion. Any material that can absorb moisture from the air is kept far away from my guns and knives and tools. Like I said I have seen too many nice vintage rare firearms ruined by foam and fleece lined cases and rugs. I keep all of my guns on racks, coated with oil and exposed to open air and closely monitor the relative humidity in the room. The only time I would use foam is for protection during shipping for a very short time period. It's just kind of risky for storage.

 

[bucketstove]

Hi,


I dunno, throwing out rice (and cockroaches), or reheating cat litter, or throwing out cat litter ... does it work?
Do some testing?


Silica gel in the form of Crystal Cat Litter, Unscented, 4 lb, for around $4.94
so $1.25-1.35 per lb
white rice is $0.50 and up per lb

See
https://www.instructables.com/id/Inexpensive-Dessicant/

The phone tests used rice as a SPONGE to mop up moisture from an actual wet sponge
See gazelle.com Water-Damage-Prevention-and-Recovery.pdf

True potato seed drying over rice | SpringerLink
Toasted polished rice with less than 1% moisture content was used as desiccant for potato seed stored in closed jars. To reduce the moisture content of about 20 g of true potato seed from 11.5% to 4–5%, 30 to 40 g of toasted rice is needed depending on how fast drying is desired.

So to 20g of seeds, 2.2g moisture, down to 0.8g-1g moisture, takes 30-40g of toasted rice to suck up 1g moisture ... is the rice spent at that point? unknown

where as it would only taken 1 gram of silica gel to suck up 2.2g of moisture

Not a lot of exact details on rice easily available but a lot of details on silica and others

grams adsorbed per hour

 

[fa-s-ter]

Thanks a lot for the helpful comments!! Wow!! This really helps!

Now I kind of regret having spent money on the foam padded box... It definitely is open cell foam.
Well, I think I still stay with my storage unit for now but change the rice for some silica gel – especially as its color shows whether it still can absorb moisture, I should be able to constantly keep moisture out of the foam and thus away from the knives.

 

[fa-s-ter]

Thanks a lot for the helpful comments!! Wow!! This really helps!

Now I kind of regret having spent money on the foam padded box... It definitely is open cell foam.
Well, I think I still stay with my storage unit for now but change the rice for some silica gel – especially as its color shows whether it still can absorb moisture, I should be able to constantly keep moisture out of the foam and thus away from the knives.

 

[drail]

Consider this - wrap a piece of plastic around each oiled knife and then stick it into the foam. Extra insurance. Shipping containers were not designed for storage use - just rough handling for a short time.