![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/box.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMany years ago I got tired of dealing with ordinary comic book storage boxes, especially after some minor flooding in the room where I stored a lot of mine. I built myself a great big waterproof box that held a significant portion of my collections, as seen in the picture here, and set it up on some shelving: <\/p>\n
(That picture was taken when I was in the middle of emptying it. Notice that it even had a Masonite lid I could set on top — that’s what’s behind it, against the wall, in the picture.)<\/p>\n
It was useful. I overflowed it almost immediately, of course, but it definitely helped keep everything in order and manageable.<\/p>\n
In 2009 we moved from Gaithersburg to Takoma Park, and I sold off 12,000 of my 14,000 comics, and once again the box could hold most (but not all) of my collection. It was equivalent, I eventually figured out, to about nine standard long boxes.<\/p>\n
Then this<\/i> year, 2018, we started preparing to move again, but this time we’re going across the continent instead of across Montgomery County, and we expect to wind up in a much smaller home. So I had to prune the collection again, and sold off four long boxes, and trashed a few that were seriously damaged.<\/p>\n
That actually got us to the point where I could fit all my comic books in the box and even have a little space left (maybe half a slot).<\/p>\n
But it also brought up the question of what to do with the box. Taking it with us didn’t seem very practical. Julie didn’t even want to consider<\/i> keeping it, and I had to admit she had a point.<\/p>\n
So I started talking to people I thought might be able to use it. My local comics shop didn’t want it; they already had enough storage. They asked a few customers, but no one was interested. We talked to some neighbors, but got no takers. It was just too big and awkward for most comic collectors.<\/p>\n
But I had an inspiration. If I stood it on end, it could be a bookcase!<\/p>\n
The only problem was that it would be eight feet tall, and since most people have eight-foot ceilings, or less, that was an issue.<\/p>\n
But then I had what I think was a really clever idea.<\/p>\n
I cut it in half, and had two four-foot bookcases, with shelves exactly the right height for paperbacks. See?<\/p>\n
![\"Divided!\"](\"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/bookcase1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Of course, they’re kind of deep, but that just means you can shelve books two rows deep and still have a little room in front for knicknacks. ![\"One](\"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/bookcase2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Now that it’s a pair of fairly normal bookcases, it’s much easier to re-home. If we don’t find anyone who wants them, we can just donate them as if they were ordinary furniture.<\/p>\n
Problem solved! And my comics are (at least for now) back in standard boxes, ready to be shipped to the west coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Many years ago I got tired of dealing with ordinary comic book storage boxes, especially after some minor flooding in the room where I stored a lot of mine. I built myself a great big waterproof box that held a significant portion of my collections, as seen in the picture here, and set it up… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-generalities-rants","category-strange-days"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1207,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions\/1207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.watt-evans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}