Impressions on Foam & wood

[Rich G]

Good info so far...

I take it softwood (such as pine) is a no-no? But would pine be OK if it too is sealed with polyurathane?

I have a few shadow boxes that I display some awards in and these are made of Pine. As of yet I haven't stained them as I'm not sure what stain to use, (if any).

Any thoughts on the pine option?

Rich

[Ed_Haynes]

One of the cabinetmakers I have been talking with has suggested that any wood you can "smell" should be taken off the list, as it exudes something that may be harmful. Not sure I completely buy this explanation, but here it is for whatever it is worth. If accurate, this would take out pine.

My list is narrowing around Mahogany or Teak.

And any veneers are out due to the glues and chemicals used in manufacture and the garbage wood at the core.

But maybe my cabinetmaker's suggestions have something to do with his profit margins?

Expert wisdom sought . . . .



Ed Haynes

[Sebastian Bianchi]

I don’t know if this will help anyone but this site has a long list of wood properties, not so much in relation to storage, but still very useful,

http://www.woodzone.com/properties.htm

In my opinion, and if may go out on a limb here, I say that while we want to maintain the awards in a good environment, obsessing over very minute details is probably not warranted. As I mentioned before I am building a cabinet right now, I am making it out of oak and will coat it with water based polyurethane. My Iron Crosses will look great in a finely painted, custom made cabinet. I proceeded with due diligence when researching my options, but, is my cabinet the absolute best possible storage solution? Probably not, a dark, air tight, acid free, climate controlled environment would be probably be better. But then, what fun would that be?

Who amongst us doesn’t enjoy a few good beers and pizza with friends on Friday night? Not the best thing for you, you’d probably live a lot longer if you ate veggies and drank water every day. All I’m trying to say is that while you don’t want to store your militaria in an empty can of acetone, as long as you are responsible you should be ok.

[David Tiffin]

I've been following this thread with interest as I like to build display cases myself. Oak is pretty easy to come by and looks good finished light or dark. I agree with the meathod of sealing. Other woods I would use are Cherry and Mahogany. The cherry can be finished light or dark while I think the mahogany would always be dark. Here is a photo of a cherry case I picked up from BlueGrass cases.

[David Tiffin]

Here are a couple of cases I did out of oak.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Gulp..... my cases are out of oak...... I guess I need to seal them......

[Chris Boonzaier]

"Who amongst us doesnÂ’t enjoy a few good beers and pizza with friends on Friday night? "

Seba drinks booze....

I had kinda pictured him a bit more serious..... I mean, a juicer at the head of the Wehrmacht.com empire could lead to ruin .....