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 Replies: 13 / Views: 3,458 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1191 Posts |
Inspired by the survivalist blog. First off I don't plan to go get a bunch of nickels to bury but one paragraph caught my interest. http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/s...out-nickels/"After years of experimenting, I have found the perfect solution. Home Depot sells pre-cut 24-inch sections of thick walled 4-inch black ABS pipe. They also sell the 4 inch ABS end caps and ABS cement. This combination makes a perfect long-term burial solution. The ABS cement causes a reaction to occur that is the chemical equivalent of welding the plastic end caps on by chemically softening, melting, and then permanently binding the adjoining surfaces of the two plastic pipe fittings together. PVC pipe also works. The nickels will last for decades in pristine condition underground when stored in these pipes." Could you really store coins in ABS pipes like the article mentioned to keep them prestine (no verdigris)? The writer states by following his steps above the plumbing pipe becomes air tight. Typically one wouldn't store copper (or even silver for that matter) in the attic, basement, or outside due to moisture. If these pipes were truly airtite would it really stop verdigris no matter where you store them? I just found this interesting and know we have some experts on the forum. What do you guys think? I don't want this to turn into a discussion about keeping nickels, I just want to know if the method would protect coins from moisture. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
Well, unless you are sealing the container inside a vacuum or something similar, you still have the original air in your air tight environment.
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
And what about off gassing? John1  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1191 Posts |
John1 - I'm not sure what that means  and allranger that's a very good point. Technically it could not be airtite since the original air would still be there. With that said, assuming the cap bonds property onto the pipe.. would it stop moisture from getting through to the coins (therefore stopping verdigris)? The OP states he tested this and dug up coins he buried outside 3 years later and they were pristine. I would have to think that "outside" would expose the plumbing pipe to a lot of moisture. I don't know anything about the author though but I did find this interesting (assuming it's true). Wanted to get some expert opinions to see if it would really work. I don't have anything worth burying plus I would have to wait years to find out (and if it doesn't work, your coins are all ruined)!! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7621 Posts |
Unless the pipe is vacuum sealed the ambient temperature fluctuation will cause the humidity in the pipe to condense and evaporate.
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Moderator
United States
34413 Posts |
Here is an engineering perspective: assuming that the pvc pipe is properly sealed (which reasonable since we all use these materials to provide water- tight seals in our home's plumbing), the only moisture available to react with the coins would be whatever humidity existed inside the pipe when it was sealed. Not a big deal when the humidity is low, but maybe consequential if you did your sealing in New Orleans in July. I would expect the moisture in that air to repeatedly condense and evaporate off of the coins' surfaces as the ambient temperature went up and down. Of course, you could also move to a state where the temperature never crosses 32 degrees or even bury them below the frost line. In any case, this doesn't sound like the best way to protect coins for lomg periods of time.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4212 Posts |
I'd take any info from that site w/a grain of salt. There's too much "end of days" crap to take any of it seriously. Bible prophecy, doom & gloom included. I really dont think there's an expert among 'em.
I'm still trying to figure out, why the metal needs to be in pristine condition.
If the bird ever hit the fan, I believe the govt. would have control of the refineries.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
1. You would have to wait several hundred years to see if any of this works.
2. Then after those several hundred years, if it doesn't work, just who would you complain to?
3. And where would you hide, store or bury them so no one would mess with them?
4. OK so now 400 years has passed and you open this thing and the nickels are perfect. So what? Now you have to find a person that collects coins from this time frame or you have a pile of Nickel.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1314 Posts |
If you just want air tight long term storage, I like ammo cans. They come in a variety of sizes and are designed to protect against vertigris and oxidation.
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Valued Member
United States
449 Posts |
300 years from now someone is going to be digging a foundation for their house and dig into this guys stash of nickels that were never recovered because no one else knew where they were when he died.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Chute -  |
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Moderator
Australia
16832 Posts |
For the OP's question: yes, for the time periods in question ("decades") this should work fine. Of course, plastic coin storage tubes kept inside the house would work just as well. FOr a timespan of "centuries", it's a differnt matter; the plastic will decompose and liquefy, given enough time.
I find the prepper argument about keeping nickels bizarre, though. In a doomsday scenario, who will want bulk quantities of coinage cupronickel? No-one - coinage cupronickel has no practical purpose, except for making coins out of it. It is worth less than it's constituent components, because in order to turn cupronickel into the much more useful pure copper and pure nickel, you need to put in an awful lot of time and energy refining it.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1247 Posts |
fill the extra space with silica packs.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
If there's a "Bizarre Threads" category, this should be near the top. |
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Replies: 13 / Views: 3,458 |
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Posted 03/19/2016 1:43 pm
