Temperatures and Cylinders?

[OrthoSean]

I know, this sounds stupid, I know you don't unpack wax cylinders in 20 degree weather and play them (crack!)...

My question is this. I have a six drawer oak cabinet full of cylinders, about half wax two and four minute and the other half BAs. The BAs I'm not worried about. I'm thinking about moving this cabinet and my Triumph into my living room from my record room. The record room is constantly at about 60-64 degrees and dry all winter and the cylinders are fine there. If I move all of it into the LR, the temp changes more. With a fireplace and fire nearly nightly, the temp may vary from 60-80 degrees over several hours.

What do you guys think? Too risky? I'm really not sure on this one...

Sean

[WDC]

Sean, I don't really think that this is a severe problem. I do not consider temperature changes over several hours as a real threat to wax cylinders. Unless you do not have climate chamber to store all your record in, I would not see a potential problem.
Lower temperatures (even if constant) seem to be a potential threat to Blue Amberols as the celluloid get very, very brittle.

I keep my cylinders in the living room and as I still have a coal heater in use, the described temperature changes are normal to my place. So far, I never had any identified breakage here.

Just try to avoid punctual and rapid changes, including when you intend to open the window during winter time.

[OrthoSean]

Thanks! I was mostly concerned about 4 minute wax amberols more than anything else!

Sean

[EdisonSquirrel]

Sean,

I remember Wyatt's account of slipping a two-minute cylinder onto the mandrel and then turning on the air conditioning. The rapid change in temperature caused the cylinder to break. To be on the safe side, it couldn't hurt to avoid playing a cylinder immediately following a sudden change in the room's temperature. I understand that Kurt Nauck advises people who get wax Amberols in his auction to wait 24 hours before opening the package in winter. And it goes without saying that one should remove a wax cylinder from the mandrel when the song is over.

Rocky

[coyote]

I wish those 4-min wax "Damberols" weren't so brittle. They're the only ones I've ever broken or had arrive broken in the mail. I know shrinkage of BAs was addressed before, but I was wondering about the ones that have shrunk so much that the end (usually the one opposite the title end) is starting to crack in multiple places. Will all these tiny cracks in the edge of the cylinder eventually work their way "around the bend"? Is the timeframe for this anyone's guess?

[OrthoSean]

I've heard of drilling a tiny hole at the end of the crack through the celluloid to stop the split from going to the grooves, but I've never tried it personally.

Yea, damberols, perfect. I'm afraid my Marie Dressler and Sophie Tuckers are going to shatter on me one day. I've already lost one copy of "He's My Soft Shell Crab On Toast" and was recently able to replace it cheaply (OK, free!). I don't want it to happen again!

Rocky, I know all about severe changes and these wouldn't be so severe (or sudden, rather) where I'll have all of this, I'd just hate to open a drawer up one evening to a pile of wax rubble.

Sean

[richardh]

Some of you may recall my bid to resuce a collection of cyliners from porr storage conditions (not mine but my fathers!) well they are all back with me now and stored in nice even dry temperature conditions! Just need to go through them now and see just what I have!

RJ

[WDC]

Yep, Sean, drilling a hole is absolutely essential. If you have some tiny cracks on expensive records you should definitely do it. Take a small 40 mil drill and do it by hand. You can stop until you have a straight hole through the celluloid. It is possible to fill it with epoxy to prevent potential damage to the diamond but you should try this on a rotten one before regular use. A friend once told me that some of his Blue Amberols split during winter time at around 55-60 F.

And I received a lot Blue Amberols during winter where one of them was also split through.

So, drill, Baby, drill!

[OrthoSean]

Hey I've got a mint Jacques Urlus 28000 series BA that looks like that! Dammit, I didn't even get to hear it first, and I haven't the heart to throw it out.....yet!

Sean

[EdisonSquirrel]

I have some BAs with splits on the end. Should I drill through both the celluloid and the plaster?

Rocky