That looks like an awesome setup you have there. And a great idea for holding the users prior to storage. I don't keep mine in the tubes either simply because (imho) there's little reason to own them if I can't have easy and readily available access to them. However they would probably fair better in the waxed paper inside the tubes. That's why I ask about it.
Thanks for the comprehensive response.
Thanks, Dwight! I was excited when I found that cabinet a few years ago, as it works perfectly for knife storage. My GEC knives now take up the entire top row and two drawers on the second row. The rest of my hodgepodge traditional knife collection fills most of the rest of the second row, and I have a couple drawers of modern folders that I almost never carry nowadays, so I still have plenty of room to grow!
Barrett, welcome to the Upper Midwest! I can't argue with the experts on the need for vigilance and coatings. But it strikes me that you need to get at the root of the problem ie the humidity. Get one or more dehumidifiers down there. Don't skimp, but don't go overboard either since they work best with long run cycles. Your home looks new enough that you hopefully don't have standing water. (My house built in 1894, gets a stream running in the spring that's big enough to fish in.
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Good luck.
Edit: one other thing, it may be best to move the collection into the middle of the room since a lot of the moisture is likely coming through the walls.
Thanks, Bugdoc. If you're talking about the house in the background of the photos showing my knife cabinet, that was our house in Arizona, which was a fairly new home (2003). The house we bought here in MN was built in 1976, so not as new as our previous place, though certainly not as old as 1894! I'm hopeful we won't have any water issues. One of my projects was to bury corrugated pipe to divert the water from the downspouts out 20+ feet from the foundation. And the plumbing has all been updated, and is easily accessible (the bathrooms, kitchen, etc. are all on the back side of the house, and almost all the plumbing is accessible in the unfinished basement utility room). The rest of the basement (probably 80% of the total space down there) is finished and carpeted, so I'll have to keep an eye out for any potential water issues.
(No signs of anything concerning yet with a couple rainy summer weeks in the books, but I know winter can be a different story.)
I agree that we'll probably need at least one dehumidifier down here. At the very least, it'll be fairly easy to put one just about dead center of the entire basement space and make use of an existing condensate pump from the HVAC system to avoid emptying the water manually.
I also think you have a good point about the location along the wall. Again, I think you may have been referring to the photos from our house in AZ, but the current location of the cabinet in this house is along a wall on the front side of the house where the basement is fully underground. The good news is that, while moving the knives upstairs would be difficult, I do have some room to move them around within the basement. Right now they're in a sort of extra wide hall/landing area at the bottom of the stairs, but there's also a spare bedroom down there, and a large bonus room where I could potentially move them. (I'm not sure how walkout basements compare to regular basements when it comes to moisture issues, but the bonus room is fully open to the backside of the house, with a large window and entry door, and exterior walls in the spare bedroom and utility room are only maybe 1/3 underground with windows that open to the back and side of the house.)
I do appreciate your feedback, as living in a home with a basement is a new experience for us. (My parents, when I was in high school, built a home with a walkout basement, but it was literally a brand new home, so there weren't really any of the concerns that come with an older home with a basement.)
I live in the Mississippi River delta region - it gets very humid here. I don't do anything unusual with my pocket knives, storage-wise. Some of my GEC knives that I carry occasionally are in my desk drawer. The rest are in their tubes on the shelf. Same with my Case CV steel knives. I carry a Case CV knife most of the time.
No rust on any of them, including the GECs that I carry most often. Not on the blades, nor the liners, nor the backsprings. Same with my Case CV knives. This thread made me wonder so I got a couple out of their tubes that had been untouched for years. They looked fine - no rust, no patina, nothing. I put a drop of mineral oil in the pivots and spread the excess on the blades (doesn't take much - one drop does it) and put them back away.
Maybe there is something different about northern humidity but down here in the mid-south, where it is 83% humidity right now, it doesn't seem to be a problem for me. Only time I get a patina is when I try to create one on purpose.
Plain food-grade mineral oil is the only thing I use for rust prevention (Norton Honing Oil actually). Before I put a knife up that I won't be using for a while, a small drop in the pivot, open and close it a couple of times, rub the excess on the blade (and backspring if it's a GEC) and that's it. For a carry knife, I do the same maybe once every couple of weeks, if that often.
I love Renaissance Wax, but I use it on bone/stag handles. Really brings out the beauty. Very little required. I rub it on with a fingertip and buff off. I guess you could use it on the blades and liners too. Its easy to apply.
For inside bladewells I'd put a little on a gun-cleaning patch or torn off corner of a paper towel, rub it inside the blade wells using a toothpick, bamboo skewer, or wooden coffee stirrer, let dry a minute, then buff it using a clean piece of paper towel. It's a very light, thin wax. Personally I'd just use mineral oil in the same way.
Thanks for the info, John! I normally just use mineral oil, as well. (I didn't realize that Norton honing oil, which I had from using with Arkansas stones, was just mineral oil until
after I bought a 12 oz. seemingly lifetime supply bottle of mineral oil at the pharmacy!).
I would have to imagine that humidity is humidity wherever you are, but I'm no expert. (I will say that the nice thing about the humidity up here compared to down south is that it's doesn't really get that hot, so it's not all that unpleasant when you're outside.)
I use gun cleaning patches and (sometimes) toothpicks for getting down into the blade wells, too. I find that a gun cleaning patch folded over twice with a little oil applied is perfect for getting down in between the liners, followed by another dry one to get an excess oil out of the blade well. As I said earlier, I think part of the problem is that I got out of the habit of oiling that part of the knife all that often because it wasn't really necessary in the drier AZ climate.
Barrett were your knives wrapped and in their tubes while inside the parts cabinet?
