Meghan,

A few months ago Conservator Marc A. Williams posted some really helpful recommendations on wood sealing to this listserv.  He was generous enough to allow us to repost his advice on our blog.  Hope you find this link helpful. http://collectionsconversations.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/sealing-wooden-storage-equipment/

Best regards,
Adrienne Berney
NC Connecting to Collections.

________________________________
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Meghan Molloy
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 11:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Building storage racks for paintings on the cheap

Hello All,

My institution is currently planning out a storage area for our collection of 500+ paintings.  We are a small not for profit museum so we are building the racks with volunteer labor and are looking to do it cheaply enough without endangering the collection.
The volunteer is planning on building with oriented strand board (OSB), however I looked it up and found that it emits low levels of formaldehyde.  The wood has already been ordered unfortunately.
My question is:  is there anything the wood can be coated with to nullify any dangers? What are the effects of formaldehyde on paintings? Does anyone have any other relevant info? Are we better off just canceling the order and getting a different kind of wood?  What kind is the safest?

Thanks!
Meghan Molloy
Curator at CCHS

________________________________

To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).