Appalling Crimes

Conservation Issues
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prospero
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue 05 Jun, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Appalling Crimes

Post by prospero »

Well it's been a bit quiet of the Forum lately, so everybody grab a cream cake......

The walls of the GCF thread are already covered in jelly and custard so I started a new fight over here.


MDF

There I said it. :o

A year or two back, a certain Antipodean framer who shall remain nameless (Hi Ormond. :D ) said that MDF was a magnet for mold. I hadn't at that time actually seen this happen and I said so. But just to demonstrate that I do take notice of what people say, I started putting a polypropylene membrane under the MDF. Just to be on the safe side. Thus combining the strength and rigidity of MDF with the water-resistance of that corrugated cornflake packet stuff and that plastic crumbly stuff. (Sorry. I'm allowed One surely? :lol: ). Anyhow, a few weeks back someone did bring a framed picture of mine back that had been on a less-than-dry wall and the back did have a big moldy patch. Inside and out. But, the membrane did it's job and not a trace of damp penetration. Artwork totally unaffected. And yes, I did replace the back. With another piece of MDF. :P But I did tell the customer not to hang it on the same wall.

Of course there is no way of telling if the same thing would have happened with 'alternative' backings. (Ok. Two. :oops: )


Wasn't that a nice story? :clap:

No "Don't call me Surely" cracks please. :bow:
Watch Out. There's A Humphrey About
Roboframer

Re: Appalling Crimes

Post by Roboframer »

My default backing is 5mm artcare foam board, way more expensive than MDF.

But .............

How more expensive, regarding both materials and time, is it than MDF with the poly-whotsit barrier? When I did use MDF, which was a long time ago, I had to score and snap the stuff, I didn't have a wall mounted maxi-slasher then and by the time I did I'd moved on from MDF. The maxi-slasher has a separate twin wheel head for MDF (etc); it's redundant, with the normal blade extended I can cut two mount boards and the foam board in one stroke.

I also waste very little foam board, offcuts are used for making things flush; long, skinny offcuts instead of being tossed, are hoarded until we have a mad day bevelling them and wrapping them with surface papers peeled off similar skinny strips of mount board. Money for nothing, bar time of course, but I charge £4 per foot for these and they sell well.

I could go on, trust me, and I might still.
stcstc

Re: Appalling Crimes

Post by stcstc »

well i have an order at the moment where the delivery came in today

its about 6ft tall pile of MDF. not for frames though, they are 18mm 2Ft square pieces with white edging.

each will have a print on bonded with Hotpress double sided mount film, and laminated with Hotpress heat seal matt lam.

the prints are on one of the cheapest gloss RC papers.

BUT they will be very stable, the print aint gonna get damaged by the MDF

and i make kerchinggggggg from doing em

as the man from hotpress says, its about framing for profit.
Graysalchemy

Re: Appalling Crimes

Post by Graysalchemy »

Mdf has its uses. I use tonnes of the stuff, literally tonnes but I don't use it for backing a frame. Why? because it is a pig to cut with my wall mounted cutter and my tendonitus (self diagnosis) in my elbow.

I use 2.5mm craft board. When its taped up it looks like MDF, unlike the corrugated stuff, as rigid as MDF and cuts very easily and I think is cheaper. It also has the advantage of not having all those nasty chemicals in it that we are always being told about (however like STCSTC I still have stacks of dusty 9mm MDF for other jobs, and a joinery workshop next door who use a fair few square miles of the stuff :giggle: ).

I often have to cut a hundred or so backing boards of the same size, with MDF I can only cut one at a time, with 2.5mm I can cut 3-4 using the blade on my Ultimat wall cutter. If I use the cutting wheel on the MDF then it usually pulls and you end up with a out of square backing board which evenly to a lowly commercial framer like myself looks bad.

Now the solution to all of this would be a wall mounted panel saw with a fine toothed blade I would then probably be able to cut 10-15 sheets at a time, but I still think I would use craft board.

As STCSTC says 18mm MDFis great for board mounting photo's posters etc. and good profit in it too.

With regards to wet walls, the majority of my commercial gets hung before the paint and plaster are dry, but there is never the budget for waterproof backing boards.
Framer Dave
Posts: 128
Joined: Fri 30 Mar, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Houston TX

Re: Appalling Crimes

Post by Framer Dave »

If the wall was that damp then I think that backing of any type (with the exception or fluted polypropylene or acrylic) would have the same issues.

Even so, I don't use MDF and I don't see that changing.
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