The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello,

If I may ask, can anyone give me some advice on how to pack a collection of roughly 2,000 78 records, the best boxes to use, sources, etc.? I will likely need to put my collection in storage at a minimum, and then move it across an ocean at a later date. The records are currently just sitting on shelves, and there is no way to move them that way.

There was a great thread on this awhile back, but I can't find it.

Thank you,

Garret

The best way I have found to move records is to use plastic milk crates that dairies use to bring milk to a store. They are the perfect size, strong and have handles. If you stack your records tightly on edge, you shouldn't have any trouble and the milk crates are made to stack on each other, even full of records... Finding enough or a source to buy them might be your only problem. They won't work for 12" records, but 10" are perfect...

For shipment by freight it is best to buy special boxes. U-line sells 200# test 11" cube boxes for $1.31 each in lots of 25.
Cut several squares of corrugated cardboard to fit the bottom of the first box. Place two sheets in the bottom of the box. Fasten them in place with hot glue. Cut cardboard spacers for the sides of the box.these should fit the box tightly, but only be the height of your record sleeves. Fasten these in place with a hot glue gun. Place two sleeved Diamond Discs first in the box, fill reasonably tightly with sleeved records and finish with another pair of sleeved Diamond Discs. Place courrigated cardboard spacers on top of the sleeve edges to fill box. Seal.

Do the same with 12" discs but of course use 13" boxes, and substitute a half-dozen sleeved "packing records" (junk LPs) for the Diamond Discs inneaxh box.

2000 records boxed in this way will make a nice pallet. After the boxes are stacked on a pallet made from engineered lumber which has been covered with 7/16" OSB, the entire package should be shrink wrapped to protect, water-proof, and firmly fasten it to the pallet.

I would buy ½” thick 4’x8’ sheets of Styrofoam or high density foam (from Home Depot or Lowe’s) , cut to size, and line your boxes with that. Or least the bottoms.

2000 records boxed in this way will make a nice pallet. After the boxes are stacked on a pallet made from engineered lumber which has been covered with 7/16" OSB, the entire package should be shrink wrapped to protect, water-proof, and firmly fasten it to the pallet.

I can sense your engineer's mind at work in this detailed description! I didn't know that 2000 78s could possibly be put on one pallet! I looked on the Internet to find out how heavy a 10" shellac record is, but could find nothing about its weight. How much would 2000 78's weigh anyway? If 1000 78s weigh 500 lbs, then you would have a 1000 lb. load plus about a 150 lb. pallet. You would definitely need a heavy duty fork lift the move that pallet! Another consideration would be, "do you want all 2000 of these records enough to ship them overseas?" Unless you have already done that, I would go through them to cherry pick the duds to sell or donate. What continent are you moving to?

He's moving from the US to Europe... I would probably turn them into MP3s... then you could carry them in your pocket...

Bob, thank you so much for the advice. This is really helpful.

Marcapra, it's still a bit remote, but there's a good chance I will be moving from the USA to France, or at least putting what I still have left of my collection in storage. I do need to cherry pick a bit more, but what I have at this point represents about 18 years of buying and cherry picking.

Garret

Curt A wrote:He's moving from the US to Europe... I would probably turn them into MP3s... then you could carry them in your pocket...

Sorry, but the NM-Jelly Roll Morton Scrolls are not going to fit in my pocket.

Garret

Uncle Vanya wrote:For shipment by freight it is best to buy special boxes. U-line sells 200# test 11" cube boxes for $1.31 each in lots of 25.
Cut several squares of corrugated cardboard to fit the bottom of the first box. Place two sheets in the bottom of the box. Fasten them in place with hot glue. Cut cardboard spacers for the sides of the box.these should fit the box tightly, but only be the height of your record sleeves. Fasten these in place with a hot glue gun. Place two sleeved Diamond Discs first in the box, fill reasonably tightly with sleeved records and finish with another pair of sleeved Diamond Discs. Place courrigated cardboard spacers on top of the sleeve edges to fill box. Seal.

Do the same with 12" discs but of course use 13" boxes, and substitute a half-dozen sleeved "packing records" (junk LPs) for the Diamond Discs inneaxh box.

Pretty much exactly the same way I've packed up my 18,000+ records, now in storage pending my house move. I have very few Diamond Discs but placed less important records at the ends. Hopefully all will be well apart from the possibility of any warped discs fracturing when they come under pressure from the overall weight, but that would be unavoidable anyway. I can't imagine a safer method when quantities are in the thousands.

Just as a reminder, overseas shipments must use pallets constructed of IPPC-approved materials. This is for pest control. Plywood is fine, but any solid wood used (such as on the pallet feet or runners) must bear the IPPC stamp. Failure to do so can result in quarrantine and/or even more severe measures, which can include incinerating of the entire shipment. Sounds extreme, but having learned my lesson the hard way about 10 years ago, compliance with the standards is a lot easier than trying to circumvent them.

Raphael