This is my first contribution to the list and I hope it helps.
This is very easy to do correctly and should come easy to all who ride bikes and have tire inner tubes around.
Nitrogen is what you want to use. Forget about dry ice. You won't get a good seal and it won't work as described. Heres what you do:
Get yourself a old car inner tube with a Schrader valve on it. Cut out a Schrader valve from another source tube and cut and Patch in the 2nd Schrader valve in your first inner tube so you have two Schrader valves on a car inner tube.
Now car inner tubes are quite large and you will make an incision big enough to insert and remove the brake hoods into the tube.
With the brake hoods inserted you can now seal the tube with a big patch.
Now you have a car inner tube with two valves and your brake hoods inside.
Go to your local welding/gas supply and buy a couple small of the small charges that look like CO2 BB gun canisters but are Nitrogen. Look similar to the CO2 charges used to inflate your tires.
With a helper manning one valve to allow the air inside the tube to escape you attach the inflator with N2O canister and inflate the tube while your buddy lets the air out. When he starts getting N2o he lets the valve stem up and the tire inflates with 100% Nitrogen inside. No air at all thus no degradation.
Regards,
Scott Dapson Devil Dog
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Raoul Delmare Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2003 10:57 AM To: C.R. List; Bruce C. Subject: [CR]Storage of gum brake hoods - low oxygen environment - rubber
Yes , a sealed metal container , with no oxygen inside , is best !
Dry ice , as a source of carbon dioxide is a very clever trick . Bottled carbon dioxide , for "fountain soft-drinks" might be another idea . Bottled nitrogen might be even better . Some "car nuts" actually set up a system to allow them to fill their tires with bottled nitrogen . Keeps out the oxygen , and the excess moisture .
My cheap , quick , easy to do , hard to describe , not perfect , but pretty good , method :
Buy top-quality "Ziploc" bags , in the "Freezer Bag" version . They are much thicker and sturdier . Drop your items to be preserved , into the bag , and carefully arrange them . Suck the air out . Seal it up tight . Carefully fit the first bag inside another bag . Suck the air out of the second bag . Seal the second bag .
Total time - maybe a minute and a half .
Store in a place which is cool , and also has a consistent temperature . Store away from all light . Tossing the bag into a cardboard box in my basement works for me .
Tricks -
Human saliva is EXTREMELY bad for "gum rubber" . Be careful . Do NOT get any on the INSIDE of the bag .
Plastic bags are NOT air tight . Even if the seal actually did seal perfectly , air molecules do slowly go right through the plastic itself ! But , blocking out 99% ( or whatever the real number ) is good enough for me .
Cardboard is EXTREMELY acidic ( for a paper product anyway ) . Cardboard is considered bad by the "archival storage" folks . So , when I put my sealed plastic bags into a cardboard box , I'm not worried . But , I wouldn't put any bare unprotected "gum rubber" into a cardboard box . ( but some gum hoods originally came in little cardboard boxes !?! - store the little boxes separately ?? - yer on yer own ! )
If you're going to put them into the refrigerator , put the clear plastic bags into a light-proof container . Be worried about moisture . Be worried about some corners of the refrigerator being too freezing cold !
Having trouble sucking out the air ? Not always easy ? Try using a plastic soda straw ! You can stick it down into the very bottom of the bag . Not to be too disgusting , but don't drool down the straw ! Remember that saliva will do bad things to the rubber .
Biggest hint - seal the whole seam tightly , then open up one corner . Pinch the edge of the seam tightly with one hand , to keep the rest of the seal from opening , while pushing that corner open with the other hand . It allows you to pull a pretty fair vacuum , despite the walls of the bag trying to collapse shut .
Perhaps there will be a few rubber ( and / or plastic ) items still around , a few decades from now , for the next generations to look at and study , learn from and enjoy .
Raoul Delmare
Marysville Kansas
> David
>
> This is interesting, how do create the low oxygen micro-climate ?
>
> Wayne Jolly (An amazing August morning) Toronto, Canada
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Hallam" <zzdhalla@ozemail.com.au>
> To: "Wayne Davidson" <wayne.collect@xtra.co.nz>
> Cc: "CR BIKE LIST" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2003 2:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [CR]storage of gum brake hoods......
>
>
> > In a low temp low oxygen environment.
> > /dlh.
> >
> > On Sun, 2003-08-17 at 08:30, Wayne Davidson wrote:
> > > Hi all, what is the best method of storage for NOS gum brake
> > > hoods?......regards wayne davidson Invers NZ......
> > > _______________________________________________
> > --
> > David Hallam
> > Queanbeyan NSW Australia
> > Motobecane, Claude Butler, Legnano, Raleigh,and some nice Japanese ones.
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