Spray sealant for wood spacers? Any suggestions?

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ronson5

Grumbler in Training
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Nov 8, 2011
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Hi there-
I'm full of questions today...

Could anyone recommend a sealant spray? Am using wood spacers for an exhibition framing project, and all I can get is a raw bass wood, which I assume is not "acid-free." Can anyone recommend a clear spray that would seal wood and make it more archivally sound? Am checking out Krylon sprays, but they all seem to be geared towards paper.

Thanks!!!
 
Edit-
Doesn't have to be a spray, any brush-on sealer that anyone could recommend would work too.
 
Sealant for what?

The only impermeable barrier (sealant) is either Glass or Metal.

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing that can be sprayed (or brushed) that is impermeable - which is why preservation spacers should be made from specialized plastics like the ones used by FrameTek or from materials like 8 ply rag faced with decorative rag to achieve the appropriate thickness.

How is it that you only have access to basswood? What about Framespace or Arlo Spacemaker?

What about making spacers from 8 ply rag laminated with 4 ply rag?

In addition, FACTS guidelines state that if what you are framing is 1" (you have 1"+ of float space) away from an inappropriate source, (such as a basswood setback) you meet conservation/preservation standards.

Please give us more information.
 
I am wondering if good old Shellac is worthy ?
It is very widly used in the timber / furniture finishing trades.

We use if for sealing all of our repro (and other) frames we make, mostly to seal edges for sanding, but also to prevent moisture ingress.

For interest sake, I googled it and Wiki has some interesting reading . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellac

The opening paras . . .
__

"Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes (pictured at right), which are dissolved in ethyl alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze and wood finish. Shellac functions as a tough natural primer, sanding sealant, tannin-blocker, odour-blocker, stain, and high-gloss varnish. Shellac was once used in electrical applications as it possesses good insulation qualities and it seals out moisture. Phonograph (gramophone) records were also made of it during the pre-1950s, 78-rpm recording era.

Shellac is one of the few historically appropriate finishes (including casein paint, spar varnishes, boiled linseed oil and lacquer) for early 20th-century hardwood floors, and wooden wall and ceiling paneling.

From the time it replaced oil and wax finishes in the 19th century, shellac was one of the dominant wood finishes in the western world until it was replaced by nitrocellulose lacquer in the 1920s and 1930s."
__

Other interesting info from the Wiki . . . It takes about 100,000 lac bugs to make 500 grams of shellac flakes. The colour is influenced by the sap of the tree the lac bug is living on, as well as the time of harvest. Shellac is a natural bioadhesive polymer and is chemically similar to synthetic polymers, and thus can be considered a natural form of plastic. The earliest record of shellac goes back 3000 years, but shellac is known to have been used earlier. According to the Mahabharata (scriptures from ancient India and Nepal origin), an entire palace was built out of dried shellac.

In the Wiki info, the uses near the bottom of the page are so varied, it is quite incredible.

Cheers,
Les
 
clear sealer

While shellac may help and Camger may be even better, until someone comes up with a cermaic impregnated sealer, which functions as Escal does, Rob will continue to be right; only metal and glass can be counted on as vapor barriers.




Hugh
 
Thanks for the excellent info all. Seeking to use the wood mostly for aesthetics, as it matches the look of the frame itself...8-ply would not work aesthetically. Also, I've found that on large pieces, the framespace/arlo plastic spacers don't have enough depth (and when using plexi instead of glass for travelling exhibition pieces, the flexibility can be an issue and can get too close the artwork, especially in the "middle" of the glazing). I came across the Camger coating, and I think that's what we'll try from now on. Funnily enough, because of time constraints, I think we'll be forced to go with good ole' Arlo spacers for this project.
 
ronson5 said:
... Seeking to use the wood mostly for aesthetics, as it matches the look of the frame itself...the framespace/arlo plastic spacers don't have enough depth...
Click to expand...

How much depth do you need? FrameSpace goes up to 3/4". If you use the transparent version, you could put any color behind it.

If you need considerable depth and want to use the wood, a painted coating of Camger waterborne polyurethane would be OK, but you could save time and money, and get a more effective barrier by separating the wood from the frame's interior by adding strips of glass scrap on the inside edges. A tiny dab of transparent adhesive, such as acrylic medium, carefully placed on the ends of each piece of glass would hold them in position.
 
ronson5 said:
all I can get is a raw bass wood, which I assume is not "acid-free."
Click to expand...

You assumed - - that was your first mistake.

For the most part (and year after year of my independent testing) Bass wood
tends to fall nicely between 6.5 & 7.5..... with a mean of 7
 
What role does the pH play?

Anyone taken Jim Miller's class on the "myth" of acid free? (I think it is a WCAF offering in January)

Aren't there other factors/criteria to consider for spacers besides pH?
 
Jim Miller said:
......... a painted coating of Camger waterborne polyurethane would be OK
Click to expand...

I think you would need two coats with 2-3 hours of drying time between coats. Do not use steel wool to sand between coats!
 
One thing no one has mentioned is the nature of the art itself. Is it paper-based? Canvas? Board?

Rob makes a good point that the acidity of wood is the only potentially harmful thing about it. Sap? Moisture? Oils? Any number of nasty chemicals..... In fact I would have doubts about some sealants. You may stop one thing creeping out only to replace it with something worse.

I think I read somewhere that Balsa is the least nasty of all woods in this situation. Don't quote me....:p
 
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