Project: Cigar Humidor as Dehumidifier for Straight Razor Box

[PolsBirthday]

Sweet caddy, the 2 razor edition might be good for daily shavers, without putting the rest in danger from the moisture, did you buy those cases new? or are they older?

Also, anybody remember what the procedure is for "renewing" silica gel packs? I heard you're supposed to put them in the oven for a while, but I don't know on which temperature or for how long.

 

[sapito318]

I'm sure that you could easily restore silica gel packets in the oven, but i say... Why? To me thats like sharpening a Derby DE blade which are so cheap anyway, why not just grab a new one?. Honestly, the silica gel packets are so cheap and easy to come by I see no reason to "renew" them nor do I think that they would be in any way as effective, although thats just my opinion... Your time would prolly be better spent stopping by Walmart's shoe center and go through and pull out the silica packets from the shoes . The shoes dont need 'em at that point anyway Or just follow the link to http://www.silicagelpackets.com/ mentioned in the original post.

 

[PolsBirthday]

I was going to make a nice sleeve for them out of fine cheesecloth, plus I don't like to leave my house, why browse walmart (a 20 min drive for me) if i can just bake for 10 minutes on 250 degrees every few months?(speculation)

 

[Seraphim]

Sweet caddy, the 2 razor edition might be good for daily shavers, without putting the rest in danger from the moisture, did you buy those cases new? or are they older?

Also, anybody remember what the procedure is for "renewing" silica gel packs? I heard you're supposed to put them in the oven for a while, but I don't know on which temperature or for how long.

Exactly.

I use the double to put two razors quite safely into my dopp kit.


I bought them new on Amazon, you can also find them on Ebay. They are bombproof, super rugged, O-ring sealed. A wooden ciger humidor will be classier, but I'm going for more of a Fort Knox kind of feel!

 

[PolsBirthday]

Here are some pictures of that set-up I mentioned earlier btw if anyone cares to see....woot two layers

 

[withoutink]

^ I like the look of that a lot 8)
Must hunt down cigar box this weekend...

 

[sapito318]

Ok folks! I have just finished the "Razor De-Humidor" and am writing up the Tutorial right now. Includes pics and everything

 

[sapito318]

HOW TO MAKE A RAZOR DE-HUMIDOR​

Materials List:
Cigar Humidor or used Cigar Box.
Felt or Silk
Foam or Styrofoam
Silica Gel Packets

Tools:
Glue Gun with lots of glue sticks
Utility Knife
Scissors

Some Notes:

Where to aquire materials:
Nothing here is difficult to come by, and most everything can be picked up from your local craft store. Possibly even the silica gel packets, but IDK. The cigar humidor I purchased off eBay for $30. Can also be found on Amazon similarly priced. If you want a cigar box just stop by your local smoke shop and see what they have available.

This is a very simple job that I does not need any "shop" skill to do. The most you'll have to be able to do is see and think...
I think if I did it again I would use a different material than felt, maybe silk or something similar to what the member above used for his. You can use just about anything for the frame of the holders, so long as you cut it to fit. I used foam which I picked up at a craft store along with the felt. Easy to cut it with a utility knife. You could also use styrofoam or even wood, if you feel like cutting it all.

The Glue gun worked great for this, and made it a snap. You could use something like krazy glue, but that is really easy to make a mess out of and hot glue simply rolls right up into a ball, and also dries nice and quick. Silica gel packets can be picked up online, or around the house if you have em. You can also substitute rice for the gel packets if you just spread it out along the bottom of the box, underneath your razor holder.

The Purpose: To provide a good looking case to store your razors in, and protect them from humidty. It also functions as a safe haven for your dangerous razors if you have young kids running around the house. Also, it is pretty cheap to make, compared to purchasing a custom razor box.

The Process:

I'll keep this really simple as it is not all that difficult anyway.

1. Cut the base to fit. Does not have to be pretty, as we will be covering it with material anyway. I am using foam in my example.

2. Cut the razor holders. These are just strips of the foam that are the length in the direction you want your razors to lay. I chose to put mine left to right. Lay out the strips on the base foam, using a straight razor to judge how far apart you want them. With the hot glue gun, glue the foam strips to the base at the desired locations.

3. Cut a strip of felt long enough to wrap all the way around the foam base, and overlap it a little to account for tightening. Also, make sure and include the "dips" caused by the foam strips that act as the razor holders. Additionally, you want a bit of play on the sides as well. See pics if you dont follow.

4. Glue the felt to the foam base one razor holder at a time. Try and make the ends meet at the bottom around the middle of the base. You will now have a wrapped base with undone sides. Cut off the "joined" half of the excess so that you will have an even and unparted strip left over to nicely wrap the sides with. Fold the uncut side over and Glue the sides to the foam. Remove excess to fit. Glue the seams together and make the look decent. This is the bottom piece, so this does not have to be real pretty. Consider it practice for the top layer

5. Repeat the process for the top layer. The only difference here is that I made my top layer shorter so that the bottom layer was still visible (SWMBO'S idea ) which I though looked a lot cooler than just covering the bottom with the top layer. I also alternated the top rows with the bottom rows, as it looked nice.To make the top layer stay on top, I simply added some foam strips underneath the top layer to both give it support and allow it to stay upright. I made the middle pieces a bit shorter than the sides for aesthetic purposes. Glue, wrap and touch up the top layer and your almost done!

Final step is to toss in some silica gel packets underneath the bottom layer. Your razors will now be well protected from moisture

 

[withoutink]

Im starting to build one of these... I bought a silica gel dehumidifier and will be using it, instead of rice / or packs.

Here is a pic:

 

[Crouse229]

Just out of curiosity, would the foam on the interior absorb moisture while the box was open, and then retain it while the box was sealed? Obviously the silica packets would soak up the moisture, but I was starting to look into doing something similar and wondered if putting foam like that on the inside would be a positive or negative.

 

[withoutink]

I was actually thinking about another method as well.

Take a piece of fabric, sew it into a small pillow, stitching valleys where you want to hold the razors. Sew a zipper on and fill with rice. So its kind of a bean bag of sorts. and you drop the straights into the "valleys".

 

[sapito318]

Hm, I doubt that the foam would absorb much moisture on its own. Maybe if dumped into a glass of water, that may pose a problem. Also, the humidor has a "sure-fit" technology which is said to guarantee that no outside moisture will enter. So, unless I plan on soaking my box, I dont have anything to worry about. Of course, you could also use styrofoam instead.