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Superior Wooden Art Panels

The difference is forever

A. B. Durand "Beeches" (detail)
.... The most durable wooden boards.
The most advanced wood primer. A design geared towards maximized life span. These are the features that make our PRIMEWOOD and PRIMEWOOD PLUS panels the best wooden art panels available anywhere. Read the descriptions below, then see our "Wood Panel Science Guide" to learn even more about artist panels, and we think you'll agree.

Our Boards:

Our PRIMEWOOD panel is made with a light weight ¼" Thin MDF board.
PRIMEWOOD PLUS is made of our own unique reinforced sandwich panel.
PRIMEWOOD PLUS is a strong and rigid 5/8" panel, made by laminating
1/8" Thin MDF sheets to both sides of an ultra-light end-grain balsa core.
Premium TMDF (Thin Medium Density Fiberboard) has many significant
advantages over hardboard (Masonite©) sheets and plywood panels.
(You can read more about MDF and other types of fiberboards in our "Wood Glossary".)
Compared to hardboard, our MDF resists warpage better; has greater dimensional stability;
has greater internal bond strength and resistance to de-lamination, and retains strength
and fiber cohesiveness far better over time. Our PRIMEWOOD PLUS has the
strength and rigidity of plywood, with much less weight and more reliable flatness.
It's components won't split like plywood veneers can, and it has better long-term
cohesiveness than plywood panels. In short, these are beautiful wooden boards.
A summary of our exhaustive research into wood panel products, presented in our
"Wood Science Guide", explains why we are absolutely convinced that these
are the most durable and long lasting substrates for wooden art panels.

Our Primer:

The right primer can significantly increase the life span of wood panels.
Wood decays over time primarily due to loss of its volatile chemical components.

So we looked for a wood primer that would provide the most impermeable vapor and moisture barrier, in order to minimize the exchange of moisture and gasses which results in wood panel deterioration. We looked for a primer that would be absolutely durable and lightfast, and would grip the panel, as well an artist's paints, tenaciously and permanently. We looked for many years! Unfortunately, no paint existed that met all of those criteria. So we talked to innumerable art conservators, wood science experts, and paint chemists and decided to develop our own primer. An extremely tight seal is the best way to preserve wooden objects over long time periods. But we learned that no glue gesso, acrylic, alkyd, or oil-based coating would provide a vapor barrier tight enough to meaningfully improve the durability of a wood panel.

...
Asher B. Durand "Forenoon" (detail) 1847

In fact, the only coatings which could do so, and which were also durable enough
to use in permanent artworks, were urethanes. Industrially, urethanes are used as
tough and durable barrier coatings. We worked with a leading manufacturer of
urethane coatings to formulate a primer with all of the properties demanded by
conservators, and all of the working characteristics needed by painters.
Our primer incorporates the functions of both a sealant coat and a primer.
This minimizes the number of layers of dissimilar materials on the panel
interfaces of layers are the usual starting points of paint damage in old artworks.
Our primer is an archivally durable, catalyzed, baked-on, urethane finish.
It is an extraordinary primer which greatly increases the life expectancy of the panels.
It also provides stronger adhesion between wood and primer, and between
the primer and your paints. It accepts paint from your brush beautifully.
Smooth but not slippery, it is a dream to paint on,
and it won't wear out your brushes like so many other primers. *

Our Panel Design:

A.B. Durand "Woodland Path" (detail)
... To protect a panel effectively, a coating must seal the wood seamlessly, protecting the front, back, and most importantly, the porous edges of the board. Unlike other art panels on the market, ours are not painted in large sheets and cut to size. Each of our panels is individually primed to ensure continuous coverage of all surfaces. This insures their protection from vapor loss and damage from oxygen and UV radiation. Like all of our fine panels, PRIMEWOOD and PRIMEWOOD PLUS wood panels are designed to work better and last longer. They accept paint from your brush superbly, and will be more durable and long lived than any other wood panels.


For more about PRIMEWOOD Panels,

visit our Wood Panel Library!....

 
 

 

Other pages about PRIMEWOOD that you might like to read:
Appearance of PRIMEWOOD Thin MDF panels vs. hardboard panels
Smoothness of primed wood panel surfaces

 

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