Leather storage

[Fire88]

So since the cold decided to arrive finally in Ohio. I've had to move my work area from the barn to the basement. The basement is fine most of the year but being 100+ yrs old it has moisture problems in the spring. I know storing the leather in the basement would likely cause issues such as mildew or mold. So the only really solution I came up with is to lay it flat on some cardboard and slide it under the bed in the spare room(hardwood floors). 

Shoul I expect any problems with storing my leather this way? 

[alpha2]

"Shoul I expect any problems with storing my leather this way? "

 

YES!!! Cardboard has acids in it that will affect whatever is stored on it. (Learned that the hard way with Aircraft grade aluminum sheet, yes, for an airplane.)  I had to get the corroded parts cleaned off and apply zinc chromate primer to replace the nice pure aluminum layer that was previously on the vertical stabilizer. Lesson learned. I can only imagine what leather would look like after kissing up to it for a while.

[motocouture]

1 hour ago, alpha2 said:

"Shoul I expect any problems with storing my leather this way? "

 

YES!!! Cardboard has acids in it that will affect whatever is stored on it. (Learned that the hard way with Aircraft grade aluminum sheet, yes, for an airplane.)  I had to get the corroded parts cleaned off and apply zinc chromate primer to replace the nice pure aluminum layer that was previously on the vertical stabilizer. Lesson learned. I can only imagine what leather would look like after kissing up to it for a while.

Interesting, hadn’t thought of that. Maybe wrapping in some acid-free tissue paper would help? 

I’ve been looking at setting up some large cardboard tubes in a rack system on a wall (I work out of a basement as well, with an aquarium which doesn’t help much either

[Dwight]

1 hour ago, motocouture said:

Interesting, hadn’t thought of that. Maybe wrapping in some acid-free tissue paper would help? 

I’ve been looking at setting up some large cardboard tubes in a rack system on a wall (I work out of a basement as well, with an aquarium which doesn’t help much either

Motocouture, . . . I built a small shop off my garage that is sufficiently heated and cooled thru the year that my leather can stay there year round.

I had a problem as well, . . . "where do I store my leather????"  

Wound up taking two 4 x 8 sheets of OSB, . . . making a box out of them with 2 by 12 boards as the sides.  One side was left to open on hinges along the 8 foot side, . . . which gives me a 4 x 8 foot closet, . . . 1 foot deep.  I made bars along the hinge side to hold several pieces of leather each, . . . the leather hangs in there, . . . the bars can be flipped to one side making the leather hang like pages in a book, . . . 

My storage problem was just plain solved.

Your's wouldn't have to be that big maybe, . . . and you could get rid of that "curl" leather takes being in a roll for any real length of time.

May God bless,

Dwight

[RhodesAveDesigns]

There are acid-free papers/ cardboards/ matboards, as well as acid-free tissue paper. Not sure if there isn't a better solution for your situation, just throwing that out there... 

[mikesc]

Plastic drainage and plumbing tubes are better than using cardboard tubes, most of them are made from HDPE, which is very similar to POM which maul heads are made from, they are not going to "leech" acids out, they are approved for drinking water transport and storage..The plastic screw tops on bottled water..( and in the USA milk jugs ) are made from HDPE.
Diameters vary from less than an inch ( approximately 24mm ) inside , right upto diameters that you could drive a truck along the inside of the tube..It is a cheap material ( but worth enough..around a thousand two hundred euros per metric tonne in Europe.. that it gets collected for recycling )..anywhere selling builders supplies of DIY stuff will have it in various lengths and diameters..it is the stuff that the rainwater downpipes are also frequently made from ( sometimes they are made from PVC, which is not so good for long term storage, as it is not as inert as HDPE ) it will usually say somewhere on the tube of packaging or milk jug or bottle top etc what it is made from.

HTH

[motocouture]

On 10/31/2017 at 11:52 PM, Dwight said:

Motocouture, . . . I built a small shop off my garage that is sufficiently heated and cooled thru the year that my leather can stay there year round.

I had a problem as well, . . . "where do I store my leather????"  

Wound up taking two 4 x 8 sheets of OSB, . . . making a box out of them with 2 by 12 boards as the sides.  One side was left to open on hinges along the 8 foot side, . . . which gives me a 4 x 8 foot closet, . . . 1 foot deep.  I made bars along the hinge side to hold several pieces of leather each, . . . the leather hangs in there, . . . the bars can be flipped to one side making the leather hang like pages in a book, . . . 

My storage problem was just plain solved.

Your's wouldn't have to be that big maybe, . . . and you could get rid of that "curl" leather takes being in a roll for any real length of time.

May God bless,

Dwight

That’s a great idea, thank you! Reminds me of the holders you see in stores that sell a lot of rugs. 

Now, to task hubby with a building project...

[motocouture]

On 11/1/2017 at 6:52 AM, mikesc said:

Plastic drainage and plumbing tubes are better than using cardboard tubes, most of them are made from HDPE, which is very similar to POM which maul heads are made from, they are not going to "leech" acids out, they are approved for drinking water transport and storage..The plastic screw tops on bottled water..( and in the USA milk jugs ) are made from HDPE.
Diameters vary from less than an inch ( approximately 24mm ) inside , right upto diameters that you could drive a truck along the inside of the tube..It is a cheap material ( but worth enough..around a thousand two hundred euros per metric tonne in Europe.. that it gets collected for recycling )..anywhere selling builders supplies of DIY stuff will have it in various lengths and diameters..it is the stuff that the rainwater downpipes are also frequently made from ( sometimes they are made from PVC, which is not so good for long term storage, as it is not as inert as HDPE ) it will usually say somewhere on the tube of packaging or milk jug or bottle top etc what it is made from.

HTH

I’m always humbled and amazed at the knowledge shared on this site. We use HDPE for manufacturing at my work, but hadn’t thought of it in the context of storage, especially vis-à-vis PVC. 

Maybe I need to revise hubby’s building project to include tubes as well 

[wlg190861]

I just have a dog chain along my wall an hang all my chrome-tan leather from the chain. My veg-tan an latigo I roll up an put on wooden shelves. Cardboard in my opinion is  a no-no, it will dry your leather out

[strathmoredesigns]

@Dwight any chance you could share a picture of what you built?

[Dwight]

No problem.

The first picture is the outside of the door, hinged on the left, opens on the right, 8 ft 1/2 inch tall .

The second picture shows the side of the "vault" made of 2 x 12 boards.

Third picture shows the hangars and how they hinge back and forth from the left side.

The last picture shows the stuff hanging.

Really pretty simple, . . . truth is, I think I spent more time worrying and fretting over what I would do that the time it took to get it done once I figured it out.

One of my old gripes was having to struggle with rounded leather, . . . this way it becomes pretty flat, pretty quick, . . . makes life easier.

May God bless,

Dwight

[strathmoredesigns]

@Dwight very cool! Thanks for sharing.

[flagshipsupply]

@Dwight Wow - That's a super innovative storage solution. Thanks for sharing.  Its giving me some great ideas. Right now I'm keeping my rolled hides on OSB storage shelves, and my scraps in a big cardboard box. But now that I'm hearing that cardboard will leech acids and dry out the leather I might build a small closet like this! 

I'm curious, does anyone know if there is an ideal moisture level for leather storage? Sort of like how cigars store best in a humidor otherwise they dry out...can leather get too dry as it ages? 

 

[alpha2]

Great solution, Dwight! If I had room, I'd go to that solution. I'll put up a pic of my admittedly small solution. 

And thank you for your service.

 

Jeff