BCW Supplies

The coating is the buffer. It is a coating of calcium carbonate, also referred to as clay coating. If you reference Mike's original post you'll see that we state very clearly on the package that the board is solid bleached sulfate. Thank you for pointing out that it is not clearly stated in the description of the item on the web page. We will correct this. And, if you can recommend a better way to describe the calcium carbonate coating on the board we will correct that as well. Again, it is not our intention to mislead our customers. We provide a quality product at a competitive price, and we do not try to hide the fact that the board is solid bleached sulfate. In fact, we want to promote the fact that the board is solid bleached sulfate as opposed to clay coated news back (CCNews) for example, which is.recycled paperboard.

Excellent question, Whisp. Calcium carbonate absorbs the ink when the ink is wet, not once it is dry. That is why it is recommended that your store your comic books in a cool, dry, place. Moisture can cause the ink to be transferred to whatever the comic book is in contact with, including a polypropylene, polyethylene, or polyester (Mylar) comic bag, while heat provides the energy to break the chemical bonds that hold the ink on the paper, and the chemical bonds that hold the paper together, causing accelerated deterioration of your comic books.

As we stated before, Mike has collected some useful data and we're not disputing the data itself. It is the conclusion that we believe is in error. We have in fact conducted our own study. We submitted our board for a hot extraction test which is TAPPI T 435. The results indicated that our board has a pH of 8.01. However, we are still left to draw our own conclusions. You'll have to decide for yourself which conclusion is more accurate. Wouldn't logic dictate that a 3% buffer in the form of a coating absorb more acid than if the 3% buffer were distributed throughout the board? We believe that is why Mike's data suggests that the used BCW Comic Backing Boards have become acidic on the coated side after a 2 year period and the E. Gerber half-backs are still neutral. It appears that the E. Gerber half-backs are not absorbing any residual acid, which is the purpose of the comic backing board. Perhaps it would help to understand what solid bleached sulfate (SBS) with a coating of calcium carbonate is typically used for. Solid bleached sulfate is typically used for packaging applications that require printing. The SBS is printed on the coated side because the calcium carbonate absorbs the ink. Coincidently, it is this property that makes it desirable for use as comic backing boards. Not only does the calcium carbonate absorb ink, it also absorbs the residual acid that migrates from the pages of a comic book.

We like Mike, too. We assume that he is trying to provide you with accurate information to help you preserve your valuable collections, and that's a good thing. We simply differ in our opinions about what is best for your comic books. We do agree on one thing, though. Microchamber paper is the best solution for preserving your comic books, but it is expensive. We must agree that the statement that you have quoted above could use some revision. However, we would disagree that the rest of the site would fully pass muster with the most demanding of high school English teachers. Regarding the issue of the buffered board itself, we state that the board has a 3% buffer of calcium carbonate. We do not use words like "buffered throughout" or "infused" and we clearly state that the product is made of solid bleached sulfate because we do not intend to mislead our customers. We're not really certain how we would better describe the buffer on our coated backing boards, but suggestions are welcome.

While we at BCW Supplies appreciate the time and effort that went into Mike Schmidt’s extensive study of comic backing boards, we believe that his conclusion is in error. In the images that Mike provides in his article he demonstrates that the coated side of the BCW Comic Backing Board is indeed neutral with a pH level of 7, as are the other brands of comic boards. However, in his test results, Mike states that “the 2-year old E Gerber half-back shows hardly any change in its surface pH, the shiny coating on the 2-year old BCW backing board has broken down & both the front and the back of the board is now acidic.” Consider this; a comic backing board serves only two purposes. One is to act as a stiffener to prevent damage and the other is to absorb the residual acid migrating from the pages of the comic book (this is the reason that it is recommended that you change your bags and boards every 3 to 5 years). If the 2-year old E. Gerber half-back shows hardly any change in its surface pH as Mike has aptly demonstrated, then it isn’t absorbing any residual acid that migrates from the pages of the comic book. Also in the images that Mike provides, he demonstrates that the uncoated side of the new BCW Comic Backing Board is acidic with a pH level of 4. Further, he demonstrates that the pH level of the 2-year old BCW Comic Backing Board is acidic, also with a pH level of 4. Mike states in his conclusion that “these boards will actively contribute, on a molecular level, to the decay of your comic book from the moment they're placed inside the bag.” However, the fact that the pH level of the uncoated side of the BCW Comic Backing Board remains constant is evidence that the acid within the solid bleached sulfate board does not migrate to the comic book. Mike’s assertion that “it would be safer for your comic book to store them in a bag without a coated backing board” is absolutely false. Since there would be nothing to absorb the residual acid, your comic book would deteriorate more quickly. One of the controls that appear to be lacking in this study is the description and/or images of the comic books used. Consider the fact that comic books can be in various degrees of deterioration depending on what materials were used and when the book was produced. Are we left to assume that Mike used 4 copies of the same comic book for his study? Another control that is missing from this study is the time period. Mike states that the E. Gerber half-backs and the BCW brand used boards are 1 1/2 – 2 years old. Is that 2 years for the E. Gerber half-backs and 1 1/2 years for the BCW Comic Backing Boards or vice versa? Is Mike implying that the boards have been used for the same period of time as the reader is left to assume? We at BCW Supplies believe that Mike has gathered some useful data, but the study is lacking some scientific controls and does not support his conclusion.