Metal Seed Plates in Seoul's Humid Summers
Last August a client brought us a steel seed plate stored in a drawer three metres from a bathroom. The stamps were legible, but fine orange dust had settled in the letter grooves — early surface oxidation that would have made a future reading session stressful.
Seoul’s summer humidity regularly exceeds 80%. Metal plates marketed as “fireproof” are not always humidity-proof. The plate survives a house fire; the environment in a Gangnam apartment slowly works on it anyway.
Storage principles we recommend
Keep metal backups away from plumbing walls and unventilated closets. A sealed silica-gel pouch inside a fire-rated document box works better than an open desk drawer. Check the plate every twelve months under good light — not to memorise the words, but to confirm the stamps remain crisp.
When to replace
If grooves become shallow enough that a fingertip catches on the edge, consider stamping a fresh plate and retiring the old one through physical destruction. We document plate condition during every comprehensive review and note it in the bound report appendix.