Kraft paper

Description

A strong, coarse paper made from unbleached Sulfate pulp. The wood pulp is primarily obtained from pine trees such as the Southern pine. Kraft paper is water resistant and is normally brown in color. It is made in basis weights from 25 to 60 pounds. Kraft paper is used commercially for packaging and grocery bags. In painting conservation, strips of the strong paper have been used to attach the exterior edges of the painting in a temporary stretcher. Some commercial framing studios use the nonarchival paper to seal the back of framed photographs and prints. Kraft paper contains Lignin and will become brittle and acidic with age.

Synonyms and Related Terms

brown paper; papier kraft (Fr.)

Other Properties

Nonarchival. Can easily be recycled.

Hazards and Safety

Contains lignin. Will become acidic and may emit fumes as it degrades.

Authority

• Marjorie Shelley, The Care and Handling of Art Objects, The Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1987

• Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Boise Cascade Paper Group, The Paper Handbook, Boise Cascade, Portland OR, 1989

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996

• The Dictionary of Paper, American Paper Institute, New York, Fourth Edition, 1980

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• A Glossary of Paper Conservation Terms, Margaret Ellis (ed.), Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York City, 1998

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000