Framing glass - what's a good one these days?

[Henry Ambrose]

I think Denglas used to be a high end standard but it seems they are gone. What else is there and where can I buy cut pieces? Really clear, non glare, glass. Not plastic, please. Thanks in advance.

[Drew Wiley]

You'd want to see what's distributed in your area. Several substitutes for Denglas
have come up, and are actually better. The last time I bought a carton it was optically
coated TruVue (not to be confused with conventional nonglare or sandwiched museum
glass). Around 99% percent transmission with almost no reflections. They use a dipping process with titanium coatings rather than vacuum deposition with purplish
magnesium. More scratch resistant, but you need to avoid ammonia cleaners. You also
need to cut this with a wheel designed for tempered glass - a little more acute angle
on the glasscutter wheel than for window glass. I have one of those big wall-mounted
Fletcher machines, so haven't tried a handcutter per se. It's also thin like picture glass,
2mm, so would be hard to handle in big sizes. The largest prints I have put under it
are 20X24 Cibachromes, so glass no wider than 32" - but the look is spectacular since
you don't get secondary reflections from the glass itself.

[bob carnie]

We are moving to www.claryl.com for high quality glass it is a DSM brand

[Sal Santamaura]

We are moving to www.claryl.com for high quality glass...

Is it a low-iron substrate like TruVue AR, i.e. no green cast?

[Drew Wiley]

I just looked at their site, Sal, and it is low-iron. My main objection to glass is that it
not only breaks and is risky to ship, but that it's very difficult to handle given something like a 30x40 print, and worst of all for my purposes, prone to condensation.
Unfortunately, optically-coated acrylic is still well over $500 wholesale for an undersized sheet, so cost-wise a difficult option. Acrylic is also going up, just like all
petrochemical based things. I recommend optically-coated glass only when wall
temps are decently insulated from harsh temp/humidity swings. Acrylic is a far better
insulator. But glass lies flatter, and even the coated stuff is relatively affordable.

[Rafal Lukawiecki]

How does Denglas, TruVue or others compare to Nielsen's optically coated museum glass? I am planning ahead for my next framing.

I have just used Nielsen's Museum UV60 to frame 26 B&W prints for my exhibition and I was impressed how it looked in comparison to regular float glass. I also found that their UV60 looked better than their UV90 as it imparted almost no perceptible change in tone to my selenium treated prints. Their UV90 added a touch of sepia brown, which might suit others. Actual UV protection was of no concern to me. It was 2 mm, by the way, and it gave off a purplish-to-greenish "reflection" when held at certain angles.

I hope I have not hijacked this thread - I am quite interested in opinions on various types of museum glass.

[bob carnie]

Just went to the glass area with my frame tech.

here are his thoughts of the best in quality. or if we were in Westminister Best in Show.

1. Tru View Museum - best
2. Claryl AR -second
3. Tru View AR - third
4. regular glass - loser

museum is hideously expensive, We sell a lot of the AR and are moving more to Claryl as our main supplier of moulding supports this group.

[Drew Wiley]

I'm not terribly fond of "museum" glass because any somewhat effective UV filter is
going to impart a color cast of some sort. And certainly none of them is good enough
to significantly prolong the life of a color print placed under harsh halogens or direct
sunlight. I've done enought testing to figure that out. But I haven't used the Nielsen
brand, and don't know who actually makes it. Tru Vue offers a tinted Museum Glass too, but the option I described is neutrally coated, so no reflections, but no hue
change to the print either.

[Rafal Lukawiecki]

This is the glass which I have used: http://www.nielsenbainbridge.com/eng...our-uv-60.html

Having compared it at the framer's to a sample of the UV90 version, I did not feel there was much of a colour cast. On the other hand, regular float was casting olive hues heavily.

[Arne Croell]

Does anybody have experience with Schott's Mirogard in comparison to True-Vue?

(http://www.us.schott.com/2009_archit...lass/mirogard/)