How do you improve the smell of your gun safe?

[Ozzieman]

We have two gun safes, my wife has one and I have one. Her's is half guns the rest paperwork and whatever.
The other day she came to me and asked what was OK to use in the safe since it has started smelling like the back side an open grave (her words).
I opened my safe this morning and between the oil residue and gun smell I would agree it does smell like the back side of an open grave (not that I have any idea what that actually smells like).
Just wondering if anyone else has a fix for this “problem”:o

[rtpzwms]

Some put baking soda in the fridge so it should work in the safe. But I think I'd place a open bottle of Hoppies in the corner, "there is nothing like the smell of hoppies in the safe".

[gedenke]

+1...you can't "improve" the smell of Hoppes #9. Well, you could try, but it'd probably look like this:

http://www.hoppes.com/products/ca_air_freshener.html

[Ozzieman]

I knew this was going to turn silly!
So far we have one vote for backing soda, sounds like good idea.
And two for Hoppes 9,,, well that one is out, we are talking about my wife’s gun save that she lets me store guns in,,,,, and that won’t work,,,, even the air freshener.:barf:

[rtpzwms]

Maybe they make a girls scented hoppies?!!:eek: I can see it coming now Vanilla scented hoppies, blueberry hoppies, honeysuckle hoppies. Then what hoppies bubble bath?:D

[10-96]

Little satchet bags of cedar chips? Moth balls? Automotive air fresheners? Satchet bags of coffee beans? (some of those smell pretty good y'know).

Or, buy your wife her own safe and invite her to make it smell however she wants it to?

Good luck there.

[rjrivero]

Drop a dryer sheet in there. Change it every 30 days or so.

[4thPointofContact]

I use Febreeze.
It also works when you've worked 4 18-hour days in a row and you've got one more customer to see on Friday before you can find a laundromat on the weekend.

[gedenke]

Try explaining to the guys at the range why yer gun smells like "fabreeze". Sorry...couldn't resist!

[rjrivero]

In case you haven't noticed, EVERYTHING now a days has either Fabreeze or GREEN TEA.

[TheGoldenState]

fresh heavenly roses, cut daily from your well manicured garden ecstasy.


Ill now slap myself on behalf of all of you.:D

[Sport45]

Paint the roof of the safe with cosmoline. Then it will smell right.;)

[Kreyzhorse]

+1...you can't "improve" the smell of Hoppes #9.

+1. I strive for that smell!

[highvel]

Gun powder, I love the smell of burnt powder in the morning!

[yzingerr]

I would look at what you use with a fine tooth comb.
Febreeze probably isnt the greatest, I would use some sort of odor neutralizing item that doesn't put moisture in the air.
Something that pulls moisture and hides odors?
The cedar chips may work?!?

[oneounceload]

What's causing the smell in there? DID a small critter get in and die, or is it just the chemicals used on the guns, or maybe it is mold from moisture?

Identify the cause first, then you can best determine how to attack the issue.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

agree with looking for the cause of the smell, could be decomposing glue ( if there is felt on anything... if it's just the gun smell then there is nothing to worry about...

my 1st thought was those little pine tree air fresheners, but you must be carefull about some of the smelly things you may hang in there, some may give off slightly corrosive vapors... dryer sheets may be ok, as well as the cedar chips or popori ( spelling ) in a little bag, or a cigar box maybe even an incense stick or oil

[Jo6pak]

Step 1= Remove all the guns that you can carry
Step 2= Remove a bunch of ammo for each
Step 3= go to the range
Step 4= empty all loaded cartridges (the fun way)
Step 5= Clean guns
Step 6= replace guns into safe.
:D

[the blur]

cut some basil leaves from my garden, and it'll smell fine.
I just threw some in my truck, (with a water leak)

[m.p.driver]

My safe smells like linseed oil and breakfree,if yours smells like death then theres something wrong.

[wild willy]

The smell of a new gun helps

[B. Lahey]

it has started smelling like the back side an open grave

Remove the corpse of the dead mouse / rat / squirrel / possum that crawled into the safe and died.:D

The other suggestions will work better once the source of the funk is removed.

[ClydeFrog]

I would suggest buying a few Yankee Candle Car Jars. They come in a variety of scents. They are not very expensive and will last several weeks. I hung up a few in my small kitchen. The Yankee Candle scents are strong at first but not over-powering. The car jar scent will level off but still work after 2/3 days, ;).
Other stick-ups or car type units may work too but the Yankee Candle line offers more choices in a low cost, no mess scent.

[Don P]

Seems strange,:confused: the odor part. I have been using my safe since 2007 and to date there are no open grave smells present.:eek:

[007BondJamesBond]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwDGKDTuSlk&feature=related


or it could be worse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwDGKDTuSlk&feature=related

[draggon]

If it's happening to both your safes then the problem is somethings rotting, probably a carpet lining or similar and that the problem is most likely mold.

Doesn't have to be really obvious or advanced to be smelly.

Masking the smell is the wrong way to go, need to stop it happening.

Probably doesn't require anything drastic like replacing linings or whatever, just stop the process. The easiest thing is to reduce the moisture that's required for rotting to happen.

Baking Soda has been mentioned, I am loath to put anything in a gun safe that is potentially corrosive.

What does work is silica gel and/or clay kitty litter.

Both these are available cheaply as cat litter, the silica gel is reusable, the clay is not.

Both will get rid of moisture and smell. The silica gel gets rid of moisture quicker but smell slowly, the clay the other way around which is why I use both initially.

I put big buckets of the stuff in my safe, not just a cup or two. never had a problem since doing that.

[Toolman]

Generally, guns don't stink. They smell like Hoppe's, CLP or gun oil. Uncleaned guns that have shot black powder may stink. If black powder ain't the culprit, I would pull up the carpet & check everywhere in your safe to see if there's a dead critter in/under there.

[Ozzieman]

Update on safe stink.
Removed the guns over night (And no there were NO dead critters) and let it air out.
Still had a smell. I think it’s made up of old guns, some not so clean and old ammo pouches that are older than I am (WW2 M1 Grand).
There was no mold and I have several items that remove moisture from the safe. I also put a hygrometer in the safe overnight to see what the humidity was and it stayed under 20%.
Also this is a fire proof safe and air tight.
All the carpet is good and really couldn’t find anything.
Put two drier sheets and it’s gone. And it has that fresh smell.
Thanks for all the input.

[BarryLee]

Have you considered utilizing activated carbon? I am pretty sure you can buy sheets of carbon filter felt like material from industrial supply houses. The material is used to filter odors and contaminates out of air and water.

[saltydog452]

In a previous life, I picked up and delivered foodstuff. It wasn't unusual to have a trailer that had a funky smell to it. You never know what was in there before you got under it.

A funky smell in your trailer will get an outbound load declined.

If the situtation was such that it was impractical to get another trailer, it was fairly common to spend 5 bucks on a pound of cheap coffee grounds, scatter them around the floor a bit, and sweep them out when you arrived at the shippers whse.

It worked every time.

There isn't too many things that smell better than fresh coffee.

salty

[Magnum Wheel Man]

SALTY... where are you from ??? I've been in the powdered food ingredient industry for what seems like forever... the only way we could put coffee creamer ( or another neutral flavored powder ) in a trailer that had hauled tires before, was to do the coffee trick... & yes, it worked every time :D

[saltydog452]

Texas.

The absolute worse is Captan. Its the stuff that is added to give natural gas its odor.

A close runner-up would be Asian canned foodstuff, damaged in loading, and spent a few weeks in the confines of a Sea-Land container. Shark Fin soup do get kinda ripe after a while.

By comparison, either would make the the repulsive odor in the safe of the gent that started this thread smell like Sunday morning in church.

salty

[ethan95]

http://www.hoppes.com/products/ca_air_freshener.html

+1 i got them form my safe :D and my dresser drawer:p And those damp rid things you can get at home depot work great too, not a shimmer of pitting on any gun since i got them. there cheap and reusable.