Christina,

I looked over the product literature from the web site (the MSDS
sheets are espeically important to review). Although you are correct
that this particle board product does not contain urea formaldehyde it
does contain phenol formaldehyde at % 0.1.

The other thing that a conservator will look at are the hazardous
decomposition products because this will give us a generalized view
into what may evovle from the product over time - and this product has
a lot of bad things in that list.

Although this is probably a much better product than commercial
plywood it may still contain some very undesirable chemicals that can
affect very sensitive media in collections.

So, I would encourage folks to have samples of this board assessed
through the standard Oddy test that conservators use (this is
qualitative), or you can use a more advanced test such as a GC -Mass
spec, that will give you hard numbers on the volatile contents,
espcially any organic acids that are present.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, California

On 1/8/07, Christina Phillips <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Morning,
>
> Are you, or are you aware of anyone in the Museum world that is using
> or has tried to use Roseburg Skyblend?
> www.rfpco.com/particleboard/skyblend.htm
> This is a LEED recycled wood fiber particleboard that has no Urea
> Formaldehyde added.
> Currently  we purchase plywood sheets for racking, which we then seal
> with Marvelseal.
>
> I'm looking to see if the product would be a recommended substitute for
> plywood and if anyone has used it long enough to know if it 'holds-up'.
>
> Your thoughts would be appreciated.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Christina M. Phillips
> New York State Museum
> Museum Collections Coordinator
> CEC - Museum Operations Rm 3021
> Albany, New York 12230
> telephone: 518-485-8845
> fax: 518-473-8496
> e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
>
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