Buffered/Non-Buffered mat board

Traditionally, black and white photos have been mounted/matted with buffered mat board, and color photos have called for unbuffered board.

Does anyone know what type (buffered/unbuffered) board should be used with Hahnemuhle PhotoRag and/or the new Crane Museo Silver Rag? I'll be printing on these papers with the Cone Piezography inks and the Epson K3 inks. I had been planning to use Bainbridge's Alpharag Artcare board, but it's buffered, and I'm now a bit concerned that could present a problem.

Greg: being that both papers are slightly alkaline (according to their spec sheets), a non-buffered board might be more appropriate. You might find this article helpful.

Great link Michael, Thanks.

Paul

Michael, thanks for the link. That's fantastic material.

In reading through it, though, I don't see how you reached your conclusion that alkaline papers should be matted/mounted using non-buffered board. The article seemed to stress that the paper pass P.A.T. over all else. What am I missing here? Could you elaborate further?

Greg: buffered boards are so to counteract acidic papers. Given that your papers are slightly alkaline, not acidic, there is technically no reason to use a buffered board (although there would be no real harm in doing so).

Ahh. Got it. Thanks for the clarification!