[frameconnews] Re: Fwd: Alkaline reserve, what is it?

["CXD" <info@conservation-by-design.co.uk>]

I Found this reply from Ellen McCrady very interesting and informative as I
had always used either term to mean the same thing. George Kelly's buffer
has been used by some of us in a different way. I have used alkaline buffer
to mean buffered against acidity in the way railway engine buffers work to
absorb impact. When I set up Atlantis France in 1985 to sell acid free
boards to the French market we translated Buffer into Tampon which is the
French for railway engine buffer. This term is still used by them to mean a
reserve amount of alkaline over and above what is needed to ensure the
neutral pH of the paper and to act as a Buffer, ie; absorbing the impact of
acids which would otherwise attack the paper fibres.

Stuart Welch ( formally: Atlantis Paper Company Ltd )
Now Managing Director:
Conservation By Design Limited
Timecare Works
5 Singer Way
Woburn Road Industrial Estate
Kempston,
Bedford
MK42 7AW
Tel + 44 (0) 1234 853 555
Fax + 44 (0) 1234 852 334
e-mail: info@conservation-by-design.co.uk
web site : conservation-by-design.co.uk

----------
>From: "Stephen Todd" <Stephen.Todd@btinternet.com>
>To: "'Post to Mail Group'" <frameconnews@egroups.com>
>Subject: [frameconnews] Re: Fwd:  Alkaline reserve, what is it?
>Date: Sat, Jul 17, 1999, 1:25 pm
>

> Strangely enough, I have downloaded his paper from
> Alkaline Paper Advocate. [For those interested see
> http://cool.conservation-us.org/byorg/abbey/ap/ap02/ap02-1/ap02-1
> 11.html ]
>
> In this he states "The titrations also give also give a measure
> of the alkaline reserve left in the paper by the deacidification
> methods.."
> To me this suggests that the chemical purification of high alpha
> cellulose
> woodpulp, leave an alkaline residue, called the reserve, and
> that
> subsequent calcium carbonate or other additives form the
> `buffer' against
> further retrograde changes in the pH of the material. I think
> these can
> also be `fillers' added to impart a finish to the pulp board.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Abbey Publications [mailto:abbeypub@flash.net]
> Sent: 17 July 1999 01:57
> To: Stephen Todd
> Cc: CGrzywacz@getty.edu
> Subject: Re: Fwd: [frameconnews] Alkaline reserve, what is it?
>
>
> Mr. Todd - When I was at the Library of Congress in 1979-80, I
> used to talk
> to George Kelly, one of the chemists there, because I was hungry
> for
> information about paper permanence, and he was doing research on
> it for the
> LC.  In fact, the LC specifications for its own paper and board
> served as
> the de facto permanence standard for this country at the time.
> (Framers
> still use them.)  He said one time that he had been wondering
> whether to
> call the calcium carbonate and magnesium compounds added during
> aqueous
> deacidification "alkaline buffers" (which was the usual chemical
> term for a
> compound that fixed the pH of something at a certain level) or
> an "alkaline
> reserve," and I remember when he decided that "alkaline reserve"
> was going
> to be his preferred term, because, if I remember correctly, it
> described
> more accurately what it did.  The alkaline reserve functioned
> like an army
> reserve, going into action when needed, rather than fixing the
> pH of the
> paper.  He was good at communicating with nonchemists, and I
> also think he
> felt this phrase would be easier to explain.
>
> Others could have gone through a similar thought process, and
> come to a
> similar conclusion, but this is what I remember.
>
>
>>We are discussing mountboard used in the
>>storage and display of art on paper. Both
>>cotton and purified woodpulp furnish. We
>>are aware of the implications of buffering
>>and photographs.
>>
>>We are not discussing papers used to make
>>documents, newspapers or books etc.
>>
>>We are not discussing buffer solutions used
>>by conservators working with materials that
>>may be acidic.
>>
>>2. The question:
>>
>>Please give your definition of the difference between:
>>
>>Alkaline reserve and, alkaline(of course)buffer.
>>
>>Stephen Todd
>>Moderator Frameconnews.
>
> Ellen McCrady
> 7105 Geneva Dr.
> Austin, TX  78723
> 512/929-3992; fax 929-3995
>
>
>
>
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