Silica Gel; yay or nay?

[cerbera147]

Last winter my multitool collection consisted of a Squirt S4 and a Wave. Easily kept in the house

As my 'collection' has expanded over the year I too have my own red drawers that live in the shed and house my meagre collection. I have noticed the odd rust spot appear and I can only assume it is the coldness, etc. in the shed.

So my question is would a handful of silica gel sachets in each drawer help the situation?
Like these:
I kept the ones that came with my Maxped bags and they have done a good job there 

I have my tools in their own spongey space which I had hoped would help. There are a few more now and various knives to look after.


The other option is to sneak them all in at night and hide them throughout the house until Spring 

[Neil]

Silica gel will work well in a sealed box to absorb small amounts of moisture but I don't think it'll be much help in your situation.

You're either going to have to bring them in or wipe them all down with oil or the like.

[nuphoria]

I like the bringing them in the house option.

You can have a MT Easter egg hunt in the spring

[cerbera147]

I think you may be right Neil.

Not all the multi's are permanently in the drawers; they tend to rotate through various bags and pouches. Perhaps now is the time for some housekeeping and oiling 

I do have a weatherproof, waterproof box that could hold some of the tools. Might take a look at that 

The MT Easter bunny option sounds good as well  Kinda like high value geocaching

[Threeme2189]

Just oil them up real good.
If you have tools that rust easily (Leather-something... ), you could consider wrapping them in a piece of oily cloth.

[Mike 56]

If you know someone that works in a furniture store they can get you big packets of silica gel as they come in new furniture. I also think it is better to keep your tools in the house.

Mike

 

[Turnstone]

Winter is coming, get them into the house!

You could buy those huge packs of silica you can get for humid rooms. I don't know how they are called in English, but over here they look like this


or this


And you can buy refills for them. You could put it near your drawer or the refills inside...

[cerbera147]

Thanks for all the replies 

I think I'll take the best of both worlds

Give them all some TLC and oil and sneak them inside one at time 

The drawers will have stay out there

I picked this needle precision oiler today for £3.99 from Halfords. Highly recommended and refillable 

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_758231_langId_-1_categoryId_241551

[Sparky415]

Have you seen these Dan? 

http://www.axminster.co.uk/toolguard-vci-prod719283/

[rp252]

Hey mate,

I've stored almost all my tools long term back in the UK.  I checked on them a while back (after 8 months storage) and they have all kept brilliantly.

I've kept them in a large plastic box with two silica units which is then sealed with the ever useful duct tape.  Other stuff has been oiled.  Works pretty well.

As has been said the main problem with the silica is that it needs to be in a relatively contained environment to work at peak.  It can help keep a draw dryer than usual but it'll get saturated relatively quickly.  Bring them inside to a warmer, drier place.  Would SWMBO not understand?