Fireproof Archival Storage. No Ball Cubes.

[steve B]

I haven't tested it, but 350 over a longer time will probably do bad things to leather and ink. If the plastic doesn't stick to anything it might provide a bit of thermal resistance that could help.
It it does stick then obviously it's useless.



Fireproof safes have come a long way. Years ago, the use of one made stamp collection insurance void as they provided the protection by having moisture boil out of the firebrick. Not a huge problem for cash or most documents, but for stuff coated with water activated adhesive it was very bad.

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by steve B

I haven't tested it, but 350 over a longer time will probably do bad things to leather and ink. If the plastic doesn't stick to anything it might provide a bit of thermal resistance that could help.
It it does stick then obviously it's useless.

I have tested it. A loose signed baseball is undamaged after one hour at 350º F. I'm sure, though, as you say, prolonged exposure would certainly not be helpful.
Switching to archival board and mylar boxes seems to me the prudent thing to do, should I buy the safe.

[steve B]

That does seem like a better option, if only to eliminate the nuisance of removing the plastic.

If it gets hot enough to cause trouble with the mylar I doubt much would survive. If I remember right mylar gets bad around 800.

I saw really mixed stuff about leather and heat. And of course, that was all about regular leather.

If baseballs were cheap enough I might try doing one cubed and one not at fairly high temps for a long time, checking every hour or so. Maybe once flea market season starts back up and I can find them for a buck each or less.

[khw]

the biggest worry is not heat and fire it will be the mold that grows inside those type safes , very hard like a gun safe dealing with humidity , the more secure the safe the more problem you will have , the only way to maybe get a handle is have a safe with a power built in control and even then i would be worried about the balls over anything. you would almost have to weekly monitor and open it

[ocjack]

Wouldn't placing desiccants inside the safe be the best option for reducing the humidity inside? They can be purchased for various size spaces.

[khw]

very tricky because you end up having to monitoring it and the ball would be a perfect thing to get jacked , guns will still start to rust , with balls bleeding anyway it would be to me very risky

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by khw

very tricky because you end up having to monitoring it and the ball would be a perfect thing to get jacked , guns will still start to rust , with balls bleeding anyway it would be to me very risky

Get jacked? It's a 400 lb safe, bolted to the floor. Even the locksmith would have to drill it open, which would take quite a few hours.
Balls bleeding? A desiccant works fine. Not to mention that just opening the safe every so often deals with any humidity.
What's risky is having your collection in your house with no fire protection.