A "Boarding" Question

[sterlingcomics]

I've compared costs and features among Bill Cole and Jef Hind's mylars and boards. I seem sold on Hind's mylars. The boards though...

 

The cost difference between Cole's Life Extenders and Hind's BUFFER BOARDS seems substantial. They both claim acid absorbing features, for long term storage etc.

 

Which one is better and why?

[OldGuy]

I use Mylar and boards from http://www.egerber.com because of the better price.

[fantastic_four]

I use Mylar and boards from http://www.egerber.com because of the better price.

 

Me too. No problems, except I wouldn't buy their Modern-sized Archives. I can't fit ANY comic into those, from Copper to fresh-off-the-stands.

[FFB]

I use Mylar and boards from http://www.egerber.com because of the better price.

 

Me too. No problems, except I wouldn't buy their Modern-sized Archives. I can't fit ANY comic into those, from Copper to fresh-off-the-stands.

 

Ditto. I use the E. Gerber Silver/Golden age 4 mil Mylars and Full Backs for pretty much everything. I love 'em.

[flink]

I use Mylar and boards from http://www.egerber.com because of the better price.

 

Me four. Shipped quickly too.

[FFB]

I use Mylar and boards from http://www.egerber.com because of the better price.

 

Me four. Shipped quickly too.

 

Where did you get that avatar pic?

[jimm94]

I also recommend Gerber fullbacks. Every other board I have used pales in comparison.

 

End of line.

[flink]

Looked for Halloween costumes and I liked that one!

[FFB]

Looked for Halloween costumes and I liked that one!

 

Are you saying that's a picture of you? Don't tell the hubby what you're doing!

[sterlingcomics]

ok, so why Gerber?

 

I heard cost on one response...are they "better"? If so, how? Or, is it just cost?

 

"Archive L" TWO sides open--freaky... I don't like the flaps--do they have a product with the traditional "open top"?

 

Thanks so far....

Sterling

[flink]

Nah, I have blonde hair. Hubby might be leaving the picture.

[sterlingcomics]

EGERBER MYLARS $288.00 FULLBACKS $150.00 = $438.00

JEF HINDS MYLARS $375.00 BUFFERBOARDS $185.95 = $561.00

BILL COLE MYLARS $491.00 TIME-EXTENDERS $271.00 = $762.00

 

All prices in unit/1000.

 

An interesting note: (gasp)

LIFE-EXTENDERS $845.00

 

So, I definitely get the feeling I may be comparing apples to oranges, as I'm using FULLBACKS, BUFFERBOARDS, and COLE SPECIFIC TERMINOLOGY.

 

Why the variance in price, which is considered "higher quality". (especially for life extenders).

[FFB]

ok, so why Gerber?

 

I heard cost on one response...are they "better"? If so, how? Or, is it just cost?

 

"Archive L" TWO sides open--freaky... I don't like the flaps--do they have a product with the traditional "open top"?

 

Thanks so far....

Sterling

 

I don't see much of a quality difference, good or bad, between E. Gerbers and other companies' mylars. Bob Storms swears by the Jef Hinds mylars as being the strongest and least likely to pop open at the bottom. I've never broken a mylar at the bottom before so I don't know how prevalent this is. I imagine that when storing a thick squarebound book in them, they could pop open at the bottom if the book is stored too close to the bottom, but who knows? Never broken on and never want to.

 

The Gerber 4 mil Archives are open topped. The "flaps" don't fold over. They are just the tabbed tops you see on typical 4 mil mylars that extend beyond the top of the back board so that when you pull the mylar out of a box, you are not gripping the actual book.

 

I don't know anyone who uses the Archive L holders. I imagine that they make it a lot easier to remove and replace the book when viewing it, and as long as the book is kept in an acid free box, it probably doesn't make much difference. This is all speculation though.

 

Is there anyone here who has used the Archive L mylars that are open on two sides?

[shadroch]

I switched over to Mylite2s a couple of years.I pretty much just use the Mylars on really expensive books.As I still have a couple hundred cheaper books in Mylar,and every expensive book I've bought has come with one,I doubt I'll ever buy any again.

[fantastic_four]

"Archive L" TWO sides open--freaky...

 

I used to think it was freaky too until I saw the Library of Congress research using "advanced aging tests" indicating that two sides open, one sides open, or NO sides open all trap acid release in with paper documents and are an inferior way to store as compared to leaving ALL sides open.

 

We discussed this in a thread a year or so ago in the "grading and restoration" forum, and I'm still having trouble putting it into perspective with traditional wisdom on encapsulation.

[fantastic_four]

I heard cost on one response...are they "better"? If so, how? Or, is it just cost?

 

Oh, and I went with Gerber for one primary reason--they're the only company I've ever seen that makes a 2-mil melinex bag, and I greatly prefer those to the 1-mil because they're more solid and not all crinkly. Gerber's 2-mil's were approximately the same price as Cole's 1-mil when I bought a few thousand back in 2001.

[Jayman]

I switched over to Mylite2s a couple of years.I pretty much just use the Mylars on really expensive books.As I still have a couple hundred cheaper books in Mylar,and every expensive book I've bought has come with one,I doubt I'll ever buy any again.

 

Curious, at what price range do you consider a book expensive enough to switch from a Mylite2 to a 4Mil Mylar $20, $50, $100 or over?

[sterlingcomics]

Curious, at what price range do you consider a book expensive enough to switch from a Mylite2 to a 4Mil Mylar $20, $50, $100 or over?

 

I've traditionally used the Cole Mylites for my Bronze; my Cole top of the line 4Mil Mylars (with those nasty flaps) are currently used for my Golden Age books. I use poly bags for my Modern books, which I replace every 2 years or so.

 

In regards to mylites: I've always found myself "tearing" them while trying to enclose the flap on the back of the book. As a result, I want to go with the thicker 4Mil mylars. In addition, I'm also tired of the variance of the use of different vendor products, so I want to "Standardize" as well. Thanks FFB for the info. I was leaning on blazingbob's recommendation but there's enough cost difference for me to try eGerber's first. Most of my 52pagers and up are slabbed, or on the way to be slabbed, so I hope that won't be an issue.

 

Thanks for the additional info-

[sterlingcomics]

"Archive L" TWO sides open--freaky...

 

I used to think it was freaky too until I saw the Library of Congress research using "advanced aging tests" indicating that two sides open, one sides open, or NO sides open all trap acid release in with paper documents and are an inferior way to store as compared to leaving ALL sides open.

 

We discussed this in a thread a year or so ago in the "grading and restoration" forum, and I'm still having trouble putting it into perspective with traditional wisdom on encapsulation.

 

yeah, I remember the thread.

[FFB]

"Archive L" TWO sides open--freaky...

 

I used to think it was freaky too until I saw the Library of Congress research using "advanced aging tests" indicating that two sides open, one sides open, or NO sides open all trap acid release in with paper documents and are an inferior way to store as compared to leaving ALL sides open.

 

We discussed this in a thread a year or so ago in the "grading and restoration" forum, and I'm still having trouble putting it into perspective with traditional wisdom on encapsulation.

 

James, can you post a link to that research? I can't recall whether that was where they said that sealing the environment was ok as long as an alkaline reserve was placed within the environment, or whether I read that in a different place. But I do recall reading the research that I think you're referring to.