The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

OrthoSean wrote:
Sometimes I wonder what my neighbors think when they see my driveway lined with record sleeves and storage albums...

Sean

Yes, I can relate to that, but I don't care anymore. UV light is being used to disinfect electric tooth brushes etc, so maybe a strong UV light would do the same trick and kill the mold spores? But even keeping them very dry should prevent new mold from growing. I've also sprayed Lysol into the cotton wadding before...

Andreas

De Soto Frank wrote:I was thinking of perhaps finding some old sheet-music cabinets with the slide-out shelves, and creating shelves with "cobbs" to hold the cylinders...


What is the usual spacing for cylinder cobbs / pegs, and diameter there-of ?

Here are 2 sheet music cabinets that I'm using. The first one has sliding shelves and pegs that we added. The second one had the glass shelves in it when I bought it and I'm thinking of adding either sliding shelves with pegs or drawers at some point. Just an idea.

It's funny that this gets brought up today. I have been looking everywhere for empty boxes, and as you guys know, the orange and blue ones are hard to get. Well, I finally just bought 25 from Gary at Shenandoah Supplies today. I don't like putting cylinders in a cylinder cabinet unless you can leave them in the box. Here is a pic of the boxes and his web site if anyone needs it.
http://www.shenandoahrestoration.com/supplies.html

When I was a beginning collector I too came to realization that a cardboard box was not enough storage for my growing cyclinder collection so I designed and built the below cabinet to hold the cylinders and display a few machines. Each tray has 24 divided "slots" that will either hold a cylinder in a box or will accept a cardboard tube that press fits into a hole that will hold a cylinder without a box just as an authentic cylinder cabinet would. Each tray slides out and tilts forward for easy access. It holds 360 cylinders. I built it out of Mahogany and did the leaded glass myself.

It is a very nice piece and having the variety of boxes visible through the glass doors makes a interesting conversation starter.

However, and this is the key point here, I quickly outgrew this and found myself with 360 + a cardboard box full of cylinders. I now have a few thousand cylinders.

My recommendation is, if you see your collection growing, choose an approach that will scale with your collection such as shelves, file boxes, etc.

De Soto Frank wrote:I was thinking of perhaps finding some old sheet-music cabinets with the slide-out shelves, and creating shelves with "cobbs" to hold the cylinders...


What is the usual spacing for cylinder cobbs / pegs, and diameter there-of ?

I have 2 different Herzog cabinets and the pegs are on 2 ¾" centers. In the cabinet I designed and built, I made the partitions on the same 2 ¾" grid.

I don't recall the cardboard peg diameters but, without stating the obvious , the pegs are smaller than a mandrel but not a lot smaller. You want a fair amount of play, don't make them tight.

Brad,

That is some VERY nice cabinetry ! I'm positively green with envy


I don't expect to accumulate thousands of cylinders, but one never knows, do one ?

De Soto Frank wrote:Brad,That is some VERY nice cabinetry ! I'm positively green with envy I don't expect to accumulate thousands of cylinders, but one never knows, do one ?

+1

Here is one of my recent purchases that allows me to store AND display my cylinder box collection. Though after seeing Brad's cabinet, I may be ordering one of those instead (Brad, you are taking orders, right?).

This cabinet was originally used to display ribbon. It came from a country store here in Montana (purchased in 1900). A craftsman built the rolling section underneath in the 1920's. It has been in that store, and in the same family since purchased new.


Both sides open like this.

Wow, some fantastic cabinets!

To simply store some out of the way I use these rolling under-bed boxes. You can fit dozens in these boxes.

69CamaroSS wrote:Wow, some fantastic cabinets!

To simply store some out of the way I use these rolling under-bed boxes. You can fit dozens in these boxes.

Indeed, I use those as well and I drop a few packets of silica gel in each one just to keep things dry. They're great and they keep your cylinders and lids dust-bunny free!

Sean

I have used original cylinder boxes for cylinder storage for years with no problems. I do use the Edison "peg" style boxes for my brown wax in order to avoid possibly scuffing the surface of the cylinders. I never use unlined (celluloid) boxes for wax cylinders for the same reason.
However, at the moment I have 3 cylinder cabinets plus the storage in my Amberola Ia, so I have more than enough cabinet space for the number of cylinders I own. That said, I do keep my cylinder boxes; in fact I recently bought a batch of good ones from a friend who made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

As far as killing mold in original boxes, I would mist the interior with vinegar, replace the lids and let them sit for a week or two. Vinegar not only kills mold but it also kills spores, which bleach does not. If there is still a musty odor, baking soda will cure that.

Jim