Nosing through the cabinet in my darkroom, undisturbed for many years, it's interesting to come across jugs of this and that, reminding me of my previous workflow. Some of these bear handy grease-pencil notations about usage.
Nacco Nufix fixer 1 gal unopened container with a separate hardener bottle, also about 1/2 gal of diluted mix for use (marked "film"), and a small bottle of Hypo Check that confirms the old mixed fixer is still good.
Also a gallon bottle with Hypo Clearing Agent marked with grease pencil "for film", so I figured this stuff would shorten wash times. Interestingly, this mix also includes Selenium Toner. I recall this as another aid to archival stability.
I like liquid concentrate chemicals better than powders. Easier to deal with I think, and I've often had trouble getting the powders to dissolve right away. Hot water helps, but containes more air to start the mix oxidizing, and then you have hot mix to cool down. Often there's one powder component that's particularly reluctant to dissolve, and gets trapped in my filter. I was reminded of this the other day in preparing some Diafine from powder. Best to mix it up a day or two ahead of time I think, to give the powders plenty of time to dissolve fully.
Good point about individual recipes, Gene!
