bamboo display boxes

[chetr1200c]

does anyone use these boxes for display, there are ones for canoes, stockman/whittlers and trappers.
i have four trapper boxes, i have them for about a year. the knives i have in them are all basically less than 20 years old and all were shiney mint looking when i first put them on display. last night i took the top off the boxes basically just to clean the glass, when i noticed that almost all the knives showed considerable tarnish on the bolsters and back springs and liners. i had to use quite a bit of elbow grease with a metal cleaner polisher to remove the builtup tarnish.
now, i have a lot of different wood display boxes, walnut, cherry, oak. and that chemical reaction doesn't seem to take place with those types of wood.
anyone else have these boxes? and if so, have you checked your knives lately?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bamboo-Wood-Kni ... 48435028be

i forgot to add,, all knives are either bone, stag, or pearl and a wood handle. none are of any composition material.
i am just going to leave the tops off the boxes now.

[whitebuffalo58]

First i'd seen of those boxes Chet. Sorry it's causin' ya problems. I guess if ya wanna look at the bright side, it gave ya a good excuse to play with your knives.
WB

[chetr1200c]

thats what it did wb. just wanted to let others know of the potential moisture problem that these boxes have.
and they are routered so good, that you cannot slip any silicate packs in there. they are very nice loking and well made.

[whitebuffalo58]

They are good lookin' boxes Chet. I was takin' a second look and I guess if a person had a mind too, he could bore about a 1" hole in one of the blank areas to create a pocket for a silica pack. It wouldn't be overly attractive, but you might be able to cover the pack with something to dress it up a bit. A piece of material or something like that? Or maybe make a slightly oversized wood plug and taper the back to wedge in. The plug could have a few smaller holes drilled in for air circulation. Sounds like a lot of trouble, but could make the boxes safe for use anyway.
WB

[chetr1200c]

i thought of that, but the same reasons of looks came to mind. also that is real glass, or i would drill holes into the plexi-glass. the tops are well fitted and mitered really good and glued, with the glass router gouged into them. so changing the glass to plexi would be difficult. so i will just leave the tops off. they are set at angles so they don't really collect dust and they wont fall out. even if you stood em on their bottoms, the knives won't fall out.
heck i wish they made boxes that can accommodate 12 knives, but with different wood. these are well made. of course they are asian.
but the best bamboo comes from the tonkin area of asia...i don't think they could do walnut or cherry from their area.
over the counter/american made boxes that are similar to this are sad to say, 3 times the cost. and show flaws...

i wonder if some sort of sealer would stop the moisture content.

wait a minute, i just checked. they are plexi-glass tops.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Being bamboo, I suspect those boxes are made from laminated layers. Do you think vapor or fumes or whatever from the glue could be causing the problem?

As to sealing the boxes, I'd suggest spray painting them with no gloss clear Krylon.

That is a known "cure" for out-gassing celluloid. That requires disassembling the knife, thoroughly removing all corrosion, spraying all parts with the Krylon clear-coat, then reassembling the knife. This technique was described to me by the curator of The National Knife Museum, Pete Cohan.

Charlie Noyes

[chetr1200c]

thanks charlie, i think i'll just spray the boxes as you suggested.
i don't think the other process is needed

[RobesonsRme.com]

Chet, I wasn't suggesting you do that whole process to your knives. I was just letting you know the Krylon idea was not coming from out of the blue.

Charlie Noyes

[chetr1200c]

yikes, can you imagine the damage it would be if celluliods were stored in these things
took me 3 hrs to power clean my beauties back to their original shine.
all 15 are now stored on display in a maple box with the clear plexi top....looks mighty pretty.
need that camera. someday i will break down, i know a lot of you are giving me camera suggestions.. i just need to get it started again..funny thing is that i once was really into cyber linkup pictures. then putting all of them on backup cds.
maybe tomorrow.....