One of the rare fortunes of a computer geek is a life time supply of drying agents called “desiccants.” These packets come in nearly all of the computer shipping containers and every time I see one I toss it in my drawer.

Most are anhydrous silica gel, “gel” being a misleading term for crystal beads of varying dimensions. They are a real boon to the dry fly fisherman, as a soaked fly can be dried in seconds.

Never content to pay the retail price, I accumulate it and then pass it to fishing buddies so they have one less $6.00 purchase to make.

It’s a mystery to coworkers why I never sweat under pressure, the real reason is the 40lbs of desiccant in my bottom drawer, spend more than seven minutes in my cubicle and they’ll need to deliver liquids to you intravenously…

I never thought to see where to buy the stuff, the latest armload I brought home reminded me to check. Sorb-It is the brand most commonly encountered, I don’t recommend the bulk 50lb pail as it will give you dry mouth if you break the 100 yd perimeter. 10 gram packets (and smaller) can be purchased for about 65 cents each. That’s a remarkable savings compared to the $5.50 retail price advertised at the shops I browsed.

A simple film canister is enough to contain it, fill it half way so you can give it a vigorous shake. The powder works faster than the crystal spheres, just take a hammer to the packet to reduce them to the powder form.

Bentonite Clay is used by some vendors – often mixed with the Silica Gel spheres. I grabbed a picture of the Loon Outdoors product, it has both opaque and clear spheres – likely that is the mixture they are using. Bentonite Clay is a naturally occurring substance that is mined. Both Sorb-It and Bentonite are non-toxic and used for moisture wicking (preservation) of food and medicine.

What you may not know is that both are reusable. Desiccant dryers are sold for large users, but you can use simpler methods like microwave ovens. The material needs to attain 150 Celsius to dry completely.

…and if you get caught by the spouse drying your desiccant, remember the SingleBarbed mantra, “I saved six bucks…”

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