Kitchen and darkroom...

[Roger Hicks]

Prompted by the "Who has a pestle and mortar" thread. What are your most specialized kitchen tools? And darkroom/photographic tools (separately I hope)? Here's some of mine:

Kitchen: mezzoluna, salamander, mandolin, asparagus kettle, meat press, steak hammer, tortilla press, chestnut roasting pan, bagna caoda pot, chawan mushi cups, kebab swords...

Darkroom: Novatanks, E6 hand line, densitometer, 11x14 inch hinge-back printing frame (for POP, etc.), MIKAS adapter for photomicrography of film, Paterson water filters, drying cabinet, Shirley Wellard bulk loader...

With any luck this thread will remind some people (including me) of things they have, but haven't used for a while, and introduce others to things they either never saw a use for, or never knew existed.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

I ran across some Shirley's in some of my old darkroom stuff. Anybody even remember them, much less use them?

 

[Pickett Wilson]

No kitchen stuff to speak of...my wife and I have never really cooked.

The only darkroom stuff I still use is a Gralab 300 timer, some Jobo developing tanks and reels and a small film dryer. Haven't had a darkroom in years.

 

[Proteus617]

What are your most specialized kitchen tools? And darkroom/photographic tools (separately I hope)?

My darkroom is my kitchen and my pyrex beakers do triple duty: coffee mugs, mixing chems, and mixing cocktails. I'm VERY careful to clean them immediately after use. At a certain point in it's lifespan, Rodinal looks remarkably like bourbon.

 

[wgerrard]

I have a Japanese countertop electric grill that I used once. That's when I found out it can't be immersed in water. An absolute pain to clean.

Also have a few oddball coffeemakers that have always been stashed away after luring me to pull out my wallet.

Currently using a funny little tea maker that's essentially a big mug with a lid and a pressure-released drain in the bottom. When the tea is ready, you set it over the top of a cup, the drain is released, the tea comes out and the tea leaves stay in.

 

[Sparrow]

Typhoon grill, fair bit of Mauviel copper-wear, black (wrought) iron pans, a few bain-maries, a 1950's Kenwood, mincer, Gaggia grinder and a lever La Pavona and the M2 of pepper grinders a Peugeot from the 1980s

Plus lots of stuff a the back of cupboards or packed away like my darkroom

 

[Roger Hicks]

My darkroom is my kitchen and my pyrex beakers do triple duty: coffee mugs, mixing chems, and mixing cocktails. I'm VERY careful to clean them immediately after use. At a certain point in it's lifespan, Rodinal looks remarkably like bourbon.

Aaargh! You're a braver man than I am, Gunga Din (yes, I know it's a misquote). Whisk(e)y goes into glasses, chemicals into beakers/dedicated graduates, and cocktails for mixing into a wonderfully tacky gold anodized light alloy cocktail shaker I bought 15 years ago in Selma, Alabama.

Cheers,

R.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Inside the darkroom, and still in duty:

AP and Lloyd's bulk loaders.

Beseler 23C II with condenser and DGA dichro heads.

AP film developing tanks for BW, Colour C41 and Colour E6 processing.

Durst RCP-20 automatic roller print processor modified for RA-4. F-R adjustable cut film tank.

A kitchen scale for weighing chemicals for making paRodinal, etc.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Typhoon grill, fair bit of Mauviel copper-wear, black (wrought) iron pans, a few bain-maries, a 1950's Kenwood, mincer, Gaggia grinder and a lever La Pavona and the M2 of pepper grinders a Peugeot from the 1980s

Plus lots of stuff a the back of cupboards or packed away like my darkroom

Oh, yes! Like a idiot I gave mine away when I moved to California in '87.

Are the pans wrought or cast? Most of mine are cast. And for pepper mills, my 1980s Peter Piper is better than anything I've tried to replace it with (the only reason for replacement is more capacity).

My coffee grinder is 1920s Turkish: brass, hand-cranked. Frances uses a modern Cuisinart power grinder but it can't powder the coffee the way mine does.

For darkroom weighing: Ohaus beam balance from an estate sale in California in the 80s.

Cheers,

R.

 

[rbiemer]

I don't really have too much specialized stuff in my home kitchen but: a 1970s Mirro coffee pot (that one my parents gave me a long time ago), a couple of "spatter lids"--these are round screens that sit on top of a skillet and reduce the mess left on the stove top, and I always have my thermometer with me in any kitchen I'm cooking in.
All my darkroom stuff is packed in a large box under the bed until I can get the large closet in my bathroom set up as a darkroom but I don't really have anything too exotic in that stuff except for a couple of old Kodak daylight tanks without reels but with aprons. Unfortunately, the aprons are not usable and I haven't found replacements for 'em so I'll need to get some new tanks and reels, I guess.
Rob

 

[Roger Hicks]

I don't really have too much specialized stuff in my home kitchen but: a 1970s Mirro coffee pot (that one my parents gave me a long time ago), a couple of "spatter lids"--these are round screens that sit on top of a skillet and reduce the mess left on the stove top, and I always have my thermometer with me in any kitchen I'm cooking in.
All my darkroom stuff is packed in a large box under the bed until I can get the large closet in my bathroom set up as a darkroom but I don't really have anything too exotic in that stuff except for a couple of old Kodak daylight tanks without reels but with aprons. Unfortunately, the aprons are not usable and I haven't found replacements for 'em so I'll need to get some new tanks and reels, I guess.
Rob

Dear Rob,

Those are incredibly useful, aren't they?

What sort of thermometer? I have both meat and oven thermometers, but they're all fairly crude and inacurate bimetallic type. I had a liquid-in-glass meat thermometer but it got dropped and broken.

I've never actually used an apron tank, though I own one. Anyone with experience here?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Ronald M]

My shirly resides in my Kodak Color Darkroom Data book.

The Blac & White version has an exposure/magnification/f stop dial whic is useful. Also paper samples for Polycontrast, Opal, Ektalure, in various surfaces such as canvas, silk, fine grain and toners.

My neighbor is trying to donate to me 10x12 safe lights and stainless steel rotating print washing drum. He also has 30 Nikkor reels, 16 reel tanks, and water jacket. All left from a wedding business.


I am waiting until he he finds his collection of M brass cassetts so I can add them to my collection of 36.

 

[ZorkiKat]

Dear Rob,


I've never actually used an apron tank, though I own one. Anyone with experience here?

Cheers,

R.

Roger, we used one early this evening. Easy to load- nothing to worry about surfaces sticking and getting undeveloped. No threading, no fumbling, just reel the film and the apron together. Went in an invertible plastic tank. This is what we used:

The down side is that the film needs to be removed from the apron for the final wash. And that the apron itself has to be meticulously cleaned too. The apron will also take up drying space - it gets to be strung next to the film when drying.

 

[rbiemer]

I used to have a Taylor brand bi-metal them that worked just fine (for meat) but my health inspector has--for the last two annual inspections--been giving me a hard time about it because it is slow...about 30 seconds until it is reading correct temp.🙄 I'm not in that much of a hurry if I'm doing my job right. So I got myself a digital "instant read" Taylor. Don't recall the model number but it was about $16 and reads from -20 or so to 450 degrees F and is switchable to centigrade as well. So I can use it for almost every thing in my work. Except oven temps because it can't be left in the oven like the small bi-metal ones.

When I first was learning film developing back in the mid '70s, we had both stainless reels and the aprons available to use and the aprons were easier--at first until I learned the use of the stainless reels--and much faster. I shot for my high-school newspaper and even though it was a weekly, that little time saving was sometimes important.
Rob

 

[Sparrow]

Oh, yes! Like a idiot I gave mine away when I moved to California in '87.

Are the pans wrought or cast? Most of mine are cast. And for pepper mills, my 1980s Peter Piper is better than anything I've tried to replace it with (the only reason for replacement is more capacity).

My coffee grinder is 1920s Turkish: brass, hand-cranked. Frances uses a modern Cuisinart power grinder but it can't powder the coffee the way mine does.

For darkroom weighing: Ohaus beam balance from an estate sale in California in the 80s.

Cheers,


R.

we have cast but seasoned black-iron are the best crêpe/omelette pans

 

[Sparrow]

I too have a balance, a vernier Denier-scale from the 30's

 

[sepiareverb]

Not many kitchen gadgets here, just good knives and pans. I don't know that I've got any odd darkroom gadgets in current use either. I did print with an old Arkay (aka Air-Force??) contact printer a lot when I printed for a big catalog studio- that was a real art form. Tissue paper dodgers, pencil scribbling to reinforce highlights. Don't recall what paper we used, must have been some Kodak RC as we ran all the prints in a machine.

 

[DNG]

Don't have anything fancy, for steaming veggies, a 8qt deep pot and a colander, basic non-stick pans (12" and 16" are my fav's).
The counter top above the built-in dishwasher which is next to the left side of the sink is my "Darkroom" area.. Well for developing film after I load it in a Paterson tank in a large changing bag. I do have dedicated beakers for mixing and dedicated containers for stock and used chemicals that can be reused until they are exhausted.

My Timer is a great app for Android: Darkroom Timer... Free and fantastic. It even has a "Safe-light" mode!

I do have one very special cabinet though... It is a what is called an "Ice Box" design, made out of solid Oak, it is a free standing cabinet, about 4' high and is 22w x 18d. It has a key locking door, so I keep all my darkroom stuff in there. Chemicals, beakers, stir sticks, Daylight develop kit, Darkroom thermometer, etc.. Out of my 10 year old's sight and locked at all times.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Don't have anything fancy, for steaming veggies, a 8qt deep pot and a colander, basic non-stick pans (12" and 16" are my fav's).
The counter top above the built-in dishwasher which is next to the left side of the sink is my "Darkroom" area.. Well for developing film after I load it in a Paterson tank in a large changing bag. I do have dedicated beakers for mixing and dedicated containers for Stock and Used chemicals that can be reused until they arw exhausted.

I do have one very special cabinet though... It is a what is called a "Ice Box" design, made out of solid Oak, it is a free standing cabinet, about 4' high and is 22w x 18d. It has a key locking door, so I keep all my darkroom stuff in there. Chemicals, beakers, stir sticks, Daylight develop kit, Darkroom thermometer, etc.. Out of my 10 year old's sight and locked at all times.

An excellent idea!

Instead I have a big sign saying THIS HOUSE IS NOT CHILD-PROOF.

Cheers,

R.

 

[John Camp]

My girlfriend has a mysterious coffee machine in our kitchen used to make Nexpresso, which I guess is a coffee-like substance that comes in small capsules...I don't know what else is involved since I don't drink coffee, but every few weeks she goes off to a distant shopping center and comes back with 400 or so new capsules...complete mystery to me.

I no longer have a darkroom. Every once in a while, I'l see a stainless steel film processing tank in a camera store, and get the urge to process just a couple of rolls, but I lie down and the urge passes.

The weirdest thing I had in the darkroom was a circular plastic (I think -- might have been glass) thing about the size of a plate that had pie-shaped slices of differing densities. You could put it on a piece of undeveloped paper, which you would then expose and develop, and by examining the results determine exactly how much more time/stops you needed for a perfect exposure. I have no idea what it was called, or where I got it -- Miami, I suspect -- or what happened to it. It was only vaguely useful.