Storage advice needed
 

Hello everyone, I have a few keris that I like a lot. My kids, however, have some doofus friends that I would rather not be messing with any blades, much less my keris. I think my collection needs to go into storage, before something dumb happens. Does anyone have advice on the medium term storage of keris? Most particularly I am interested in what type of dun age I can pack them with.

A chest that can be locked may do well in living rooms, etc.

If you have a place where looks are not important, you may be able to find something with narrow drawers (e. g. for tools or maps), preferably made from metal. If there is no locking mechanism in place, a lockable iron bar securely installed across the drawers should keep all but the most inquisitive hands away.

The best storage conditions are those with climate parameters (especially temperature and humidity) as stable as possible; humidity should not be high and, if possible, temperature cool. More important than meeting specific parameters is to avoid fluctuations - both, daily and seasonally.

Wrapping well-oiled blades with kitchen foil is certainly recommended - cp. Alan's postings. Wether you need any additional wrapping of your pieces will mainly depend on details of your storage conditions. I've seen bubble foil used for packing things in crowded places (less layers needed than during shipping though); however be careful since softeners leaching from plastic may stain silver and bronze/etc. Some spare cotton fabric may be a better choice and will allow moisture to reach an equilibrium as well as any excess oil to be absorbed.

If you have any horn or, especially, hair/fur/hide/leather in the collection, make sure to include sufficient pest control! Moths can be controlled easily with traps; dermestid beetles and their larvae are a major pain though.

Also keep an eye on any wooden parts; however, in my experience woodworms/etc. are not likely to gain a foothold with pieces that get handled regularly.

Make sure to quarantine any new arrivals until proven safe or getting full treatment though!

Regards,
Kai

Mr. Workman, I understand your problems. I experienced similar disruption to my home values when my kids were growing up --- now its pay-back time, their kids are causing them similar headaches.

I don't understand :- "---what kind of dun age I can pack them with ---"

I solved my problems by closing off a part of a much larger room and making a small storage room that I kept locked, even before this I did not display my keris & etc, but I also didn't keep them locked away. Personally I don't think its necessary to put things into storage, just deny the little dipsticks access.

Thanks, spell correction! The word is dunnage!
My kids are OK, they understand safe firearm handling (and so generally how to respect weapons), as well as the value of old objects and private property. They have friends over who, to use a crude local phrase "don't know horse shit from applesauce", and will and have just snatched one of my keris up, pulled it out of its sheath, handled the blade, tried to resheath it the wrong way and basically made themselves a huge nuisance. Plus, one of them has an older brother who, if you'll forgive me for being so quick to judge, just has that "junkie in training" look that makes me think that the less he knows about my possessions the better.

Yeah, my kids were OK too, but you can't separate them from their mates, and therein lays the problem.

Thanks for clarification.

Just to store, bubble wrap and cardboard boxes. Put the keris into a singep first --- cloth bag specifically for keris storage. No singep? Wrap in an old towel. I recently needed to store everything of value in the house for a 4 month period, packed like this and into security storage. No problems.

We've been over the oil/wax/ plastic sleeve thing a number of times, there's plenty of that sort of info in previous posts.

Bubble wrap offers excellent protection.

OK, thanks for the info, I will search the older posts.

Never had any problems with my son .
Stuff was on the walls all the time he was growing up; I think he felt responsible if anything were to go awry .
Parties were necessarily off-limits at our house .
Teens in an armory ?

Don't think so . :D

Yep, my kids are fine. I live in a state where about half the people believe that all weapons are evil, and the other half concealed carries pistols or has a shotgun in their car. The children of the former group don't know how to handle weapons, having never been around them, and that's what makes them liable to get into a pickle. With guns especially.