How to preserve rubber in vintage gear?

[simonbeans]

Most of the divers who actually use the vintage gear and modern models of double hose regulators (Argonaut, Phoenix, etc.) now use the silicone hoses available through Vintage Double Hose.com. The perishability of them is a non-factor. The amount of bacteria is reduced and they do NOT take a "set" when awaiting their next use.

 

[Rred]

Sam-
The ammo boxes are probably the most effective hermetic sealed containers you can buy. The real ones, military spec or surplus, not the plastic stuff sold as tackle boxes of course.
I've got several, waited for a good sale to get some "new" ones. The used ones I clean up, prime and paint, so there's no surface rusting. Keeping the gasket unpainted means a little patience and extra work. Mainly I use them just that way, clean and sealed. But I do have a container of pyrotechnics, which have expiry dates. Those decay with the presence of oxygen and moisture. So, the container was loaded, then I tossed in two desiccant packs and two oxygen absorber packs and closed it up. With a label on the outside saying it is hermetically sealed, not to open it, and the contents. I've also done the same thing in Pelican cases for equipment that might develop surface rust while stored.
With oxygen absorber packs, when you order them they come in sealed mylar bags. Once you open the bag, they are all going to start absorbing oxygen no matter how you reseal them. (Mason jars are probably best.) So don't buy huge bags, and be generous with the packets when you do use them. You can't use too many, they stop working when the oxygen is consumed in a space. Desiccant packets can often be reused just by slowly heating them, and ordered with color spots to indicate they are used/good. You can use the ones that electronics and things are shipped with, but they never have the color spots and I'm never sure these days which ones are what kind of absorbers, so I just buy new packets.
The book will certainly appreciate that. There's probably an optimal storage environment for it and 100% dry probably is too dry, but I suspect it will "rehydrate" to normal after it has been out for a few days. It just might be brittle when it is too dry. The lack of oxygen and light will certainly help, unless it is printed on acidic paper, in which case it is going to age anyway.
Yeah, I hate putting something in storage and then ten years later going to fetch it and finding...crumbs. These days there are many copies of Pelican cases, some cheap some inexpensive, it pays to look around.

 

[АлександрД]

in the old soviet time there was no any silicone oil and similar things. There was not too much different kinds of high reliable rubber...

But always exists talc (talcum powder).

It is one of the best rubber preserver (and shure no ozone or sunlight or heat).
Sometimes people finds old military stores with tones of gasmasks - when you opening wooden box - inside it looks like newone!

Once I bought old oxygen rebreather IPSA - it was produced in 1964. but green (it one of the worse rubber) breathing bag was like a new! Just because it was full of talc inside and outside.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I’ve had good luck storing sensitive vintage items in a sealed container and purged with argon. I have a lot of argon available with my welders around.
However, my view on vintage gear has changed over the years. I’m at the point now that unless I use the stuff, I move it on to someone who will. I don’t see the point of storing and hoarding certain gear just because it’s percieved as precious for one reason or another. Gear was made to be used. It’s not appreciated unless it’s used, it’s not admired my others unless it’s out there on the beach or the boat and being used.
If it’s sitting in a sealed box up on a shelf out of view, I don't see the point. If it’s not going to be used (or it’s unusable) then at least display it in public in a dive shop vintage display case or a museum so others can enjoy viewing it.
The fires around here took care of a lot of precious things in peoples’ lives that were stored and hoarded. That kind of had a big impact on many peoples’ thinking. I have stories and could go on and on, but the point I’m trying to make is to use the stuff and enjoy it, physically live the history! If it disintegrates or breaks then fix it however you can and keep using it. If you don’t want to use it then sell it to someone who will. It’s the unselfish thing to do, it could bring somebody else a lot of joy.
Hiding it and hoarding it does nobody any good.
I’ve sold a lot of stuff that I really liked but never used.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Ed,

I believe the same, and have three Dacor double hose regulators, and all three are now dive-able. I have the R-2, R-3 and C-4 (now converted to an R-4). These are the double diaphragm regulators that came out from the 1950s to the 1980s. I have dived them, both in the pool and in open water.

The Dacor hoses simply cannot really be preserved. They were not made of long-lasting rubber/neoprene. They get hard, crack and break apart. So I have new hoses on them, and only have one Dacor mouthpiece. But my aim is to understand how the regulators themselves perform, and so have taken them into the open water (Clackamas River). (See the pool photo below.)

I also dive other double hose regulators, including this one from my brother, Don. I'm using his Royal Aquamaster in this video on the "Aquatic Life of the Clackamas River."


SeaRat