Antique Curio As A Humidor!

[Simian504]

So, it's here! & its sooooooo prettaaay.
One of the horrible/wonderful things about living is south Louisiana is high humidity. I put the hygro in and it read 63% standing empty. I put all my bovedas & humicare blocks in it and within minutes it was holding 68%. So can ya guess what happened next?

LOADED HER UP & SHE'S DEAD SEXY!

There's more to load in but I just had to get a glimpse...

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[Almi]

That is a thing of beauty right there !!!!

I had to take a look on Craigs to see if there was something like that one. I will keep my eye out because I want something like that in my house.

 

[CVAC085]

That's a pretty sight! Any thoughts of adding some lighting in there???

 

[Simian504]

I have. I think I'd like it to be low lit and very warm. I'm afraid if I use l.e.d.s it might harsh up the appearance. I'd love to hook up a touch control to one of the hinges too.


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[Genuine]

That looks Great,, enjoy and all the best of luck with tinkering with it.

 

[Simian504]

That looks Great,, enjoy and all the best of luck with tinkering with it.

Thank you. I can't wait! I plan on using cork and felt strips to seal the door, and keep it as subtle as possible. The top and bottom of the side glass panels need tiny beads of silicone to get right, but also, like xjsnake said...

I looked at that exact model last year. The back on the one I saw was plywood, and will need to be isolated from the moisture.

I could put my finger through that back panel if tried a little. I think I'm going to leave that alone until it gets a little worse off. It's still looks really nice but it won't last.




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[mdwest]

I could put my finger through that back panel if tried a little. I think I'm going to leave that alone until it gets a little worse off. It's still looks really nice but it won't last.

Flex Seal




Tape off the sides so you don't overspray onto a surface that can be seen... and then totally seal the back wall of the cabinet (and the bottom too if you are so inclined..)...

This will reinforce that thin/deteriorated wood you have on the back.. and completely seal the wood ( which should help control RH)..

 

[Simian504]

Flex Seal

View attachment 88284


Tape off the sides so you don't overspray onto a surface that can be seen... and then totally seal the back wall of the cabinet (and the bottom too if you are so inclined..)...

This will reinforce that thin/deteriorated wood you have on the back.. and completely seal the wood ( which should help control RH)..

Thank you for the pro tip! Does it stink much?



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[mdwest]

not after 24 hours..

I used it on my last cabinet.. I sprayed it out in the garage and let it sit out there over the weekend.. then moved it into the house the following Monday morning..

By the time I moved it inside I couldn't smell anything at all...

I didn't use it on my current cabinet.. my current cabinet has a piece of 1/4" thick solid wood on the back (no pressboard, plywood, or laminate.. its a solid piece of wood..).. and then has mirror panels with decorative framing/trim work on top of that.. it was rock solid without me having to seal the entire back wall..

My last cabinet had a thin (maybe 1/8"?) piece of plywood that was used for the back wall... It was weak, and I thought probably a bit porous as well.... 1 can of flex seal solved both problems.. the back wall was reinforced.. and rubber/plastic coated.. which created a great seal..

I still recommend using a food grade silicon caulk for all of your joints in addition to the flex seal..

your thoughts on cork and felt are spot on as well..

It might be a bit much with the curved glass on your cabinet.. but also consider getting some brown weather stripping that is designed specifically for windows (is thin, and has a small tab that slips between the wood and the glass).. you can get 25' of it for about $7 at Home Depot IIRC..

the weather stripping is low profile and is barely noticeable.. but makes a HUGE difference in keeping RH stable..

on lights.. be careful here.. bulbs will bump up your internal temps.. and also cause pretty significant temp variance from the top to the bottom...

My last cabinet has a nice low wattage bulb at the top.. but.. I never turned it on... it would raise the internal temp of the top shelf of my cabinet 5-8 degrees within just a few minutes.. and raise the internal temp of my bottom shelf by about 2-3 degrees.. if it was 70 degrees inside the house, it would be 78 degrees inside the cabinet... no Bueno....

led's or some other light source if you really want illumination in there might be a better option than an incandescent bulb like I had (my current cabinet has lights built into it.. I have never turned them on..)..

 

[Simian504]

@mdwest
Good! Thanks again!


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[btubes18]

Wow impressive!

 

[ccd1977]

I was thinking about something like this a few years back. The rubber spray sounds ingenious. What stopped me in the paste were the spacing between the doors and the cabinet. This has been wanting to dig into storage. What are you using for humidification?

 

[mjones9630]

Looks great! And I like how it has that classy, unique antique touch that nola is all about! Such an awesome find!

 

[Simian504]

Wow impressive!

Thank you! It's been a great experience, and will be an ongoing project. I love that this thing will continue to evolve over time. Even Emily is excited and involved. She checks the humidity and temp for me when I'm gone, and reports back to me. The kids love too. It just adds to my hero mythos I have going with them. They know which ones are theirs (from a their birth years), and aging for their future special occasions. It's fun for the whole family!


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[Simian504]

I was thinking about something like this a few years back. The rubber spray sounds ingenious. What stopped me in the paste were the spacing between the doors and the cabinet. This has been wanting to dig into storage. What are you using for humidification?

I'd recommend it to anyone with the space for it in their home, and wants to get their collection out of the igloo and on display. The space isn't as tight as you'd imagine. I had an absolutely stuffed 94qt igloo, a desktop, and a tray of singles go into this thing. The bottom shelf will be stacked boxes, eventually. The top three will remain for display.

The humidification is passive. I have four humicare blocks Velcro'd underneath the shelves, a Zederkoff on the top shelf, bovedas stuffed into 2 empties on the bottom, and three wooden bowls with 1/4" of distilled water in there. Holds a rock solid 68%, and recovers very quickly. The humicare blocks aren't as attractive as I'd like, and I've considered applying gold or copper leaf to them. They are relatively well concealed, and not an eyesore, but could look better. They are basically filled with Heartfelt beads. I think they perform very well.


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[Simian504]

Looks great! And I like how it has that classy, unique antique touch that nola is all about! Such an awesome find!

Thanks! Em did a great job finding it. I love that this thing is a century old, and I get to care for it. Just like the leaf, I get to be it's curator now. It's nice to imagine that I might get to hand it down to one of the kids one day. Hopefully stuffed with well aged fine tobaccos in it.



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[Simian504]

I did end up using Velcro tape to make my seal on the parts of the top and outer side of the door. The bottom is perfect without it.

I used cork tape for the hinged side.

Where, the RH fluctuated by as much as 4% pts. over the course of the day, now it stays at 68%.


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[Simian504]

Some shots without the bovedas all over the shelves.

My little guy on the AB itsaboys' box.

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[ccd1977]

Avions! Yum

 

[ccd1977]

I'd recommend it to anyone with the space for it in their home, and wants to get their collection out of the igloo and on display. The space isn't as tight as you'd imagine. I had an absolutely stuffed 94qt igloo, a desktop, and a tray of singles go into this thing. The bottom shelf will be stacked boxes, eventually. The top three will remain for display.

The humidification is passive. I have four humicare blocks Velcro'd underneath the shelves, a Zederkoff on the top shelf, bovedas stuffed into 2 empties on the bottom, and three wooden bowls with 1/4" of distilled water in there. Holds a rock solid 68%, and recovers very quickly. The humicare blocks aren't as attractive as I'd like, and I've considered applying gold or copper leaf to them. They are relatively well concealed, and not an eyesore, but could look better. They are basically filled with Heartfelt beads. I think they perform very well.


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Ingenius! Well thought out.