Ed Herny (edphemra@pacbell.net)
Tue, 02 Feb 1999 15:08:01 -0800
Andy Darlow wrote:
>
> Speaking of archival issues, does anyone have a fairly simple and affordable
> method of protecting negs, chromes and prints from the dreaded f word(fire),
> without compromising the inherent film bases and various types of prints.
>
> I recently read about Ansel Adams's loss of many negatives from fire many years
> ago (in a View Camera article), and it got me wondering about the subject.
> Maybe a fire proof safe is the answer. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Hello Andy,
Speaking as someone who went through the Oakland Hills Firestorm in '91,
I can heartily recommend using fireproof file cabinets. The house I
was living in at the time of the fire was pretty much a total loss, but
the material I had stored in my fireproof file cabinet was unscathed.
You can often purchase these units secondhand from office furniture
dealers, the government (GSA- surplus property disposal, etc.), your
local county surplus property disposal or even your local school
district. Older units work fine, but many contain asbestos which
forces most government entities and corporations to have to buy new safe
asbestos-free units thereby creating many good condition used ones for
sale. Asbestos is a bad thing, but in this case, the material stays
put in the walls of the cabinet and shouldn't be that much of a problem.
One could always coat any exposed innner cabinet areas with polyurethane
or some other resin to be totally-totally for-sure for-sure that it
wouldn't be flaking off and getting into the air.
Also, these units are really heavy. A four drawer unit can weigh over
a thousand pounds empty. But they work - they are rated to keep the
contents from burning or scorching for one hour when the external
cabinet temperature is at 1000 degrees F.
The going rate in the second-hand market is about $50-$100 for two
drawer units and $100-200 for four drawer size.
The small lightweight units they sell at your local membership warehouse
store are usually far less beefy and less effective. A lot of fire
victims told stories of these small portable units failing utterly. So
a good rule of thumb is: If you can pick the unit up unaided, don't
buy it! Hope this helps.
Ed
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