Tomoe River Longevity

January 21, 2016

Hello All,

Just a random inquiry here. As my love affair with Tomoe River continues, I looked at another pristine sheet of Tomoe River in my Seven Seas Journal and can see the translucent areas on the paper, holding it up in front of a dark object.

I'm wondering, does anybody know whether Tomoe River has archival qualities?

Will the paper be around, decades, or centuries from now?

A part of me wants it to self destruct, because I don't want my private thoughts to be around after I'm gone. But I don't have the heart to burn my journals or shred them to dispose of them forever.

January 21, 2016

Tomoe River is advertised as acid free and pH neutral.

I have tested it with a pH testing pen and while it's not a very accurate method it did indicate a neutral pH.

Looking at all the books I have, even cheap acidic paper will last decades. The oldest books I have are some detective novels from late 1930s. They are yellowed and slightly brittle but not even close to disintegrating.

I do have one really nice example of the difference between acidic and acid free paper. A book from 1993 has turned very dark yellow except for the endpapers which are still pure white. My pH testing pen indicates that the endpapers are pH neutral and the cover and pages are acidic.

Based on my experiences I would guess that Tomoe River will probably last several decades without much change.

Of course, storage conditions make a huge difference on how paper survives long term.

January 21, 2016

Tomoe River is advertised as acid free and pH neutral.
I have tested it with a pH testing pen and while it's not a very accurate method it did indicate a neutral pH.

Looking at all the books I have, even cheap acidic paper will last decades. The oldest books I have are some detective novels from late 1930s. They are yellowed and slightly brittle but not even close to disintegrating.

I do have one really nice example of the difference between acidic and acid free paper. A book from 1993 has turned very dark yellow except for the endpapers which are still pure white. My pH testing pen indicates that the endpapers are pH neutral and the cover and pages are acidic.

Based on my experiences I would guess that Tomoe River will probably last several decades without much change.
Of course, storage conditions make a huge difference on how paper survives long term.

Thanks for that. That's good information.

January 21, 2016

Tomoe River is advertised as acid free and pH neutral.
I have tested it with a pH testing pen and while it's not a very accurate method it did indicate a neutral pH.

Looking at all the books I have, even cheap acidic paper will last decades. The oldest books I have are some detective novels from late 1930s. They are yellowed and slightly brittle but not even close to disintegrating.

I do have one really nice example of the difference between acidic and acid free paper. A book from 1993 has turned very dark yellow except for the endpapers which are still pure white. My pH testing pen indicates that the endpapers are pH neutral and the cover and pages are acidic.

Based on my experiences I would guess that Tomoe River will probably last several decades without much change.
Of course, storage conditions make a huge difference on how paper survives long term.

That is actually very interesting. May I ask where you got this testing pen? Does it just indicate if it is acidic or not, or it indicades the degree too?

January 21, 2016

That is actually very interesting. May I ask where you got this testing pen? Does it just indicate if it is acidic or not, or it indicades the degree too?

It's the Lineco pH Testing Pen.

I bought it from Museoiden hankintakeskus which is a Finnish online shop that sells conservation materials and tools (I'm pretty sure they only sell within Finland).

It's a yes/no kind of indicator. The line it produces is purple if the material is neutral or alcaline and colorless or yellow if the material is acidic.

Edited January 21, 2016 by thecla

January 2, 2018

Hello, I came across this thread when researching acid-free paper types. If I were to have acidic paper in contact with acid-free paper, would the acid in the acidic paper also cause the acid-free paper to deteriorate? Does acid-free paper need to be archived separately from acidic paper in order to avoid "cross-contamination" from contact?

Thanks so much!