Cheap Dagger Display Cases!

[johnrtse]

I went to my local Michael's craft store today looking for something to display my daggers in. What I found is a couple of hinged wooden display cases meant for spoon collectors that are easily converted to dagger use. They measure 17" by 13.5". The wooden cross pieces that held the spoons were simply pulled out, then fiber batting was added, along with some satin cloth from WalMart.

It looks great, and and was very inexpensive; The cases were on sale for $17 each (thru 7/3), the batting was $4, and the satin from WalMart was $4 for one yard. So, For less than $50 my daggers are protected and displayed nicely!

Another tip; Go to a shoe store near you and ask them for some of the silica packets that come in the boxes with new shoes. These will help remove moisture from inside the cases and keep your daggers from rusting. Best thing is that they will usually give these to you for free!!

Let me know what you think!
John

[herrgeezer]

Looks great John!

Just goes to show how a lot of imagination/creativity and little money can make make a big impact with your select pieces.

Great tip about the silica too!

Thanks for sharing.

[Laurence Strong]

Hi John

That really looks good I Picked up my cases at Micheals up here but they were not the spoon one's I will have to check those out. Mine were more expensive and came with an acid free batting already. I will have to check out the shoe stores for the silica packages because I put my crosses and badges in them

[Billy G]

Beautiful and quite reasonable display ideas! I would be careful, however, with using too much silica. I heard many moons ago that drying agents like silica can cause the grips daggers, particularly SS/SA daggers to become more brittle than usual and thus prone to chipping/cracking. Skipper might know better but I thought it good to bring up anyway.

[Larry Lipps]

Just a tip on the silica gel packets. These packets absorb moisture, but eventually they become saturated. Some types aren't designed to be regenerated, but those that are can be restored by spending about an hour in a 350 degree oven. Depending on the humidity in your area, this may have to be done about every three months to keep your packets functional.

[Skipper Greenwade]

The risk from the silica packets is worth considering, but they probably don't pose as much of a threat as excess humidity. Fortunately for most of us, using air conditioning and/or other climate controls to maintain our homes at comfortable levels with respect to temperature and humidity generally means that our daggers are stored under better conditions than they were orignially.

Even though I'm probably one of the world's worst about doing it (I have daggers I haven't looked at in well over a year!), there is really no substitute for regular inspections of your daggers - and the other items in your collections.

Best,
Skip