Silica gel was Re: Excercising vintage items

[der Mouse]

> If you don't mind a liquid, concentrated sulphuric acid is a more
> active dessicant than either silca gel or calcium chloride ;-)

A rather caustic liquid, though.  (Anhydrous acetic acid is similar in
both regards: highly caustic and extremely water-hungry.)

Any good chemistry lab can tell you what they use as a dessicant for
storing things that must be kept dry; they use - or used back when I
was hanging out in chem lab - dessicants that just need a few hours in
an oven to reactivate them, and don't give off vapours that corrode
stuff (in contrast to concentrated acids).  It's been too long, though;
I forget the name of the chemical.

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