Re: [ARSCLIST] Risk assessment tool

[David Lennick <dlennick@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Another archivist's nightmare (don't know if this has been addressed yet since I'm
just returning to this thread) is tapes that a radio station put in its OWN boxes,
with no indication as to the manufacturer. Don'tcha just love it? I have no idea
what Deutsche Welle was using in the early 90s, but those tapes (containing
programs sent to CJRT) turned sticky faster than any other I've ever run across.

dl

"Scott D. Smith" wrote:

> To confirm Mike's findings, we have also encountered any number of
> "white box" second grade tapes, mostly from the mid-fifties to early
> seventies, which exhibit what may appear at first glance to be sticky
> shed, but in fact suffer from other manufacturing problems (which is why
> the ended up in the second grade bin!). Some of these may respond to
> baking, others may not. (We just recently did a whole batch of tapes
> recorded on 1/4" 1 1/2 mil.acetate stock from a company out of New York
> called Magna-Reel. The stock appears to be second grade Ampex 611, with
> very poor slitting and areas where the coating was applied unevenly, in
> addition to some stiction).
>
> Unlike stocks from Ampex, 3M, AGFA/BASF and others, whose
> characteristics have been well documented, the off-brand tapes are a
> challenge unto themselves. The tapes are seldom the same, even if they
> appear to be from the same batch, and vary wildly in both their physical
> and magnetic characteristics. All in all, a real nightmare for an archivist.
>
> My advice is to tread carefully, and don't do any treatment that may be
> irreversible. (It should go without saying that you should never attempt
> to bake an acetate/mylar based tape, but I thought it would bear
> repeating-just in case a novice is reading through these posts!)
>
> I would be most curious as to whether Bob could identify the two tapes
> that wouldn't respond to baking, though.
>
> Scott D.Smith
>
> Chicago Audio Works, Inc.
>
> Chicago, IL
>
> *****************************
>
> Mwcpc6@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
> >In a message dated 1/4/2006 11:33:25 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> >micasey@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> >Bob,
> >
> >I'm curious about the two sss tapes that baking did not restore--any
> >thoughts on what might have been different with those two tapes compared
> >to the countless others that were succesfully baked?
> >
> >Mike
> >***************
> >
> >Not that it relates to Bob's case, but similar tapes that I've found were
> >green-box "Shamrock" reels in which the oxide did not seem sticky, but partly
> >smoothly transferred to the backing of the previous layer, leaving effectively
> >double coated tape.
> >
> >Considering the source, this may have represented a catastrophic
> >manufacturing defect that was passed on to the "white box" market.
> >
> >Mike Csontos
> >
> >
> >
> >