OEM Media Packaging - good for long term storage?

[samueljohnchia]

I've always read to keep paper and canvas in their original packaging. Seeing that the roll paper box is container board or corrugated case material, and the cardboard tube that the paper is rolled over is also the usual yellow-brown stuff, one wonders how acidic those items are and how they would affect the paper in the long term, especially for slower moving paper stock.

For cut sheets, many Hahnemuhle cut sheet matte paper just sit in the cardboard box they come in, with no plastic bag unlike the baryta papers. Wondering if the cardboard material for that is also acid free?

Is the plastic bags for roll and sheet media also acid free from all the good name manufacturers - Epson, Hahnumuhle, Canson, Harman, etc?

[Geraldo Garcia]

I heard this from Hahnemühle's and also from Canson's support managers: "The cardboard box protects the paper from the environment, the poly bag protects the paper from the box."
Those boxes are not "archival" but are not terrible also, the thick poly bag is a nice barrier and should always be used.

[samueljohnchia]

Thanks for the info Geraldo. So the cut sheets that lie in the cardboard box with no poly bag isn't a good thing. Hahnemuhle should include the poly bag there but no idea why they do not. Canson does.

[Geraldo Garcia]

That is odd! I rarely print on cut sheets, but I have a few cut sheet boxes from Hahnemühle and all of them came with a poly bag inside. All A3+ size, Photo Rag 308 and Bamboo papers.

[samueljohnchia]

Interesting statement from Hahnemuhle and Canson: So the box protects the paper from the environment and the poly bag protects the paper from the box - but what protects the paper from the poly bag?

All the information I could dig up tells me that long term storage in poly bags is not ideal. I have no indication that these are acid free bags. I have seen these bag yellow over time too.

I also rarely print on cut sheets. My Hahnemuhle Bamboo A3+ cut sheets were purchased a couple of years ago. I also had Museum Etching, Photo Rag, Fine Art Pearl etc all never came with poly bags. Only the Baryta papers did.

If Hahnemuhle did change their packing of late, it only shows how little they cared for their paper initially.

All the Canson cut sheet paper I have tried came protected in poly bags/acid free bags - don't know which it is.