dustin Posted June 4, 2013 Author #26 Posted June 4, 2013 Very nice display. I am curious....How do you keep the rubber from hardening and rotting? Do you have to do anything special to preserve all of your artifacts? ....Kat You are left at the mercy of the rubber!! there is pretty much nothing you can do. However the orignal techinque used when packing rafts for example was the use of talc powder for moisture purposes but is a bit messing. The best thing is climate control. The reason we find stiff items is because in its lifetime there were in poor/dramatic climatic conditions...moisture, heat etc. But also another factor that plays a role is the type of rubber used. For the mnaufacture of life rafts and preservers or anything rubber for that fact there were various forumlas utilized by manufacturers. Sometimes in production runs they were using what could be considered "experimental" formulas, this was all in attempt to graduate past the use of natural rubber or greatly reduce the use of. Some of these formulas stiffened up and cracked only after a few months in service. Some of these rubber items in collections could have been "lemons" from the get go! Basically its all dictated by climate control and once its starts to deteriate ...its over!!
max0073 Posted June 4, 2013 #27 Posted June 4, 2013 Hi Dustin, thank you for your reply. As I assumed, almost only period documents. Congrats for the time passed on working on these docs. Max
RustyCanteen Posted June 4, 2013 #30 Posted June 4, 2013 You are left at the mercy of the rubber!! there is pretty much nothing you can do. However the orignal techinque used when packing rafts for example was the use of talc powder for moisture purposes but is a bit messing. The best thing is climate control. The reason we find stiff items is because in its lifetime there were in poor/dramatic climatic conditions...moisture, heat etc. But also another factor that plays a role is the type of rubber used. For the mnaufacture of life rafts and preservers or anything rubber for that fact there were various forumlas utilized by manufacturers. Sometimes in production runs they were using what could be considered "experimental" formulas, this was all in attempt to graduate past the use of natural rubber or greatly reduce the use of. Some of these formulas stiffened up and cracked only after a few months in service. Some of these rubber items in collections could have been "lemons" from the get go! Basically its all dictated by climate control and once its starts to deteriate ...its over!! Years, and years ago I passed on an original MKI life preserver because it could not be displayed on a mannequin, it was too stiff! I really should have picked it up I guess, it was only $20..
jerry_k Posted June 4, 2013 #31 Posted June 4, 2013 Welcome back Dustin!!!!!! It take too much years to bring You back here! Cheers, Jerry
cutiger83 Posted June 4, 2013 #32 Posted June 4, 2013 You are left at the mercy of the rubber!! there is pretty much nothing you can do. Thanks a bunch for the info.....Kat
1stusmcdiv42 Posted June 4, 2013 #35 Posted June 4, 2013 This is one of the best displays I have ever seen of some of the most unique items to enter military use in WWII. Very well done, I love what you have collected.
dustin Posted June 4, 2013 Author #36 Posted June 4, 2013 I am trying to figure out this image thing....and i think I figured it out
Fly USMC Posted June 4, 2013 #38 Posted June 4, 2013 Outstanding is an understatement! Thanks for posting
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now