Storing Knives in Zip-Lock Bags

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popcornpicker

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Apr 3, 2007
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Most of my knives are older with no boxes or paperwork. After I'm done playing with them, I've been wrapping them in paper towels and putting them in boxes. Digging around for a particular knife is time consuming and a pain in the a$$. A lot of them are celluloid so I thought this would also solve the problem of outgassing. Is this a good idea or not? Thanks.
 
The deterioration of celluloid is not well-understood. There is some evidence that storing celluloid in a closed container will accellerate its decay.
 
paper towels may have various chemical residues from the processing, albeit in trace amounts. my concern (theoretical ?) would be that if the towelling absorbed ambient moisture, these residues might enter into solution and migrate to surface of the knife with the possibility of some surface reaction.
maybe there's a chemist here who can speak to this.
i use 100% cotton cloths that have been laundered in gentle soap intended for wool, and use these between layers of knives in small plastic storage containers that seal well (walmart). roland
 
What is celluloid? I'm thinking this: if there is any moisture in the knife handle when you seal a ziplock bag, it might cause condensation. This would happen on a microscopic scale, maybe, but enough to caust some surface rusting or affect the handle (celluloid?).

There are dessicant bags you can buy that might help. I would also use RProctor's cotton material. Also, for blades there is a high-tech oil paper used to wrap blades for storage. Some blades come wrapped in this paper. I can't remember who sells it, I was just looking at it on the internet the other day. I'll try to find it. ENZO, for one, uses it to wrap their blades.
 
use a VCI bag or a VCI pack inside the plastic bags. Dessicants work wonders too, your local shoe store has tons that they will give away for free. One per bag.
 
I would caution against used dessicant packs. These things aren't magic. They absorb water, but they don't make it go away. Like a sponge, under the right circumstances, they will release that stored water. A pack that's been in the open for some time has absorbed a lot of water and, A) may be nearly full and, therefore, not able to do much good for you, or B) may release that water which it has stored, especially in the case of a sudden temperature change.

The reason a lot of products like shoes are packed with dessicants is to absorb moisture which might damage them during the weeks-long ocean voyage (read high-humidity) to get from China or other distant countries to the US. The shippers won't put the packs in if they weren't expecting a lot of moisture.
 
I also got some small labels that I'm sticking on the bag to identify the model, that way I don't have to get fingerprints on it to check.
 
....not really complicated here....

Someone mentioned using containers and VCI cards....that works.

Alternatives, coat (clean) metal in thick coat of paste wax......or grease or if you are talking about hardcore pigstickers, stuff them into a crate of cosmoline. :D

And yes, I have used Ziplock freezer bags for some knives, but they were still stored in a proper environment...ziplocks breathe remember! The Ziplock was more of a surface protector than anything else. For corrosion protection, use any of the above.
 
I just use padded cases. You can purchase the 12 pack size or 6 etc. There are knife bags available too that hold up to 24 I believe.
 
I have three heirloom knives, two with carbon blades, one with stainless, but with what appears to be celluloid handles. I store all of them in ziplocks.

On the carbon steel knives, I keep the blades & springs coated with renaissance wax (you can Google to find a supplier), then I keep a desiccant pack in the ziplock with each one.

On the stainless knife (an old Schrade/Walden rigger's knife, early 1960's) the handle material is pretty much disintegrated, so I'm not too worried about trying to save the handle material; I keep a desiccant pack in that baggie as well, and after reading an article on celluloid in the 2004 Sporting Knives (article by Richard White) I started switching out the desiccant pack every six months or so. No further deterioration so far. I don't know if the desiccant soaks up any "bad" gases the celluloid might put out, but it seems to help.

thx - cpr
 
Has anyone noticed if there is any chemical reaction between the bag and the surface of a knife regardless of what material it is? Like brass,bone,wood or whatever.
 
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