THE REAL VILLAIN!

I see a lot of posts here regarding the deterioration of rubber or rubberised items such as wetsuits and the like.
Let me introduce you to the biggest culprit in this common problem for collectors.

It's FORMALDEHYDE!
Now most of you will be thinking embalming fluid, and yes, it is used for that, but that won't be a problem for you unless you are storing your collection in a morgue!
HOWEVER, formaldehyde is also a major component of any chipboard, craftwood and most modern furniture is full of the damned stuff, not only in the frame if it's wood based but also in any synthetic material used in the covering.
It leaks out all the time and it's lethal to rubber. (Actually is not all that great for humans either...)

Want proof?
Ever wondered why the elastic in the waistband of your underwear goes "crunchy" and loses its stretch so soon?
You're probably blaming cheap manufacture but the real problem is more likely coming from the drawer where you store your drawers!

Formaldehyde will be in any wooden elements of your display shelves, even if they are veneered.
Keeping water near your item will do nothing to alleviate its devastating effects.
It's also another problem for those who like to "keep it in the box".
That clear panel you look through in older boxes contains....yes, you've guessed it , formaldehyde. That's the primary reason for the yellowing of the acetate if the box is left in the light.
Of course that gas will have a terribly concentrated effect on anything within the box. It will even attack solid plastics over time, with a sinister effect akin to acetone.

( I made the stupid mistake once of trying to remove marks from a treasured Lanard figure with acetone, ....and it did NOT end well! But that's another story!)

Good ventilation is recommended of course but for you folks in colder climates, when you shut the windows and doors and turn up the heat for winter, you are really increasing the percentage of the damned stuff being given off by just about everything in your home.

My grandfather worked in a chemical factory that manufactured formaldehyde.

Back when he started there, safety was not exactly a priority. He used to tell us how the employees would crawl inside the empty formaldehyde tanks between batches with a mop to clean up the residue. No respirators, not even a painters' mask.

Them was the days, huh?

Remember when you could go to the fair and see a sideshow exhibit of a two-headed baby pickled in a jar of formaldehyde?

Yeah, them really was the days!

I believe formaldehyde is still very much in use in the funeral industry, .......and in the manufacture of particle board.

I had a wonderfully talented woodworker make a staircase for me in a previous home.
He did an excellent job and insisted on using something called "craft-wood".
I wanted storage underneath and so there was a small room with a door. That space was totally uninhabitable and unuseable for well over a year! You could only bear to be in it for a few moments before your eyes, (and lungs) started to burn.

Interesting!

LeStryge wrote:

I believe formaldehyde is still very much in use in the funeral industry, .......and in the manufacture of particle board.

I had a wonderfully talented woodworker make a staircase for me in a previous home.
He did an excellent job and insisted on using something called "craft-wood".
I wanted storage underneath and so there was a small room with a door. That space was totally uninhabitable and unuseable for well over a year! You could only bear to be in it for a few moments before your eyes, (and lungs) started to burn.

just a few minutes a day in that room will stop the aging process.......

gibri wrote:

just a few minutes a day in that room will stop the aging process.......

Indeed it would,..........unfortunately though it might be for good!