Old chemicals - what shoud I do ?

Joao

Joao

Negativistic forever
Local time
9:56 AM
Joined
Oct 14, 2006
Messages
1,410
Hello
I was given three original almost full bottles (tightly capped) of darkroom chemicals aged 3 to 4 years old. They were kept at room temperatures ( average 10ºC to 30ºC around here)
One is Kodak Max-Stop. It is 22% acetic acid and I believe I can use it in film and in paper (maybe the “Indicator” function will be lost ?). Am I correct ?
The second is Ilford rapid fixer. I will test it in a strip of film and use it according to the clearing time. No problem here, I guess.
The last one is Ilford Multigrade paper developer (also kept tightly capped).Ilford instructions predict a 6 months life for it. Is there any reliable way of using it ?? Increasing developing times, for example? Or should I forget and discard it ?
I am grateful for any opinions on the possible use of these old chemicals.
Thank you
Joao
 
Pennywise ...

Pennywise ...

Joao said:
Hello
I was given three original almost full bottles (tightly capped) of darkroom chemicals aged 3 to 4 years old. They were kept at room temperatures ( average 10ºC to 30ºC around here)
One is Kodak Max-Stop. It is 22% acetic acid and I believe I can use it in film and in paper (maybe the “Indicator” function will be lost ?). Am I correct ?
The second is Ilford rapid fixer. I will test it in a strip of film and use it according to the clearing time. No problem here, I guess.
The last one is Ilford Multigrade paper developer (also kept tightly capped).Ilford instructions predict a 6 months life for it. Is there any reliable way of using it ?? Increasing developing times, for example? Or should I forget and discard it ?
I am grateful for any opinions on the possible use of these old chemicals.
Thank you
Joao
Click to expand...

Acetic acid should be relatively fine. The fixer may be problematic, not sure; for one thing, I would like to know if the fixer was mixed with harder, etc.
But the developing agents are pretty sensitive to oxidation. For a small outlay you can mix fresh developer, replace the fixer with a rapid fix of your choice, and save yourself lots of irritation ...

I always preferred mixing my own solutions within 24 hours of their use. For film development, I always used distilled water, a high quality scale (I mixed developers from raw materials), etc. I found, over the years, that a few dollars spent on processing workflow payed off handsomely.
 
Simple: don’t risk it. If you try it and lose all pictures on the roll how are you going to feel? If you’re willing to buy the film then pay for fresh chemicals too.
 
The chemicals listed should all be fne. I've used older ones with no problem. I recently opened a bottle of Ilford Multigrade paper developer that was sitting on the shelf for at least 5 years, unopened. I thought I would need to throw it out but turned out to work just fine. Since it's for paper developing, there is really no risk in trying it. ---jb.
 
Timely question. I have three bottles of original Rodinal. Maybe 10 years old. Two bottles never opened. I'm pretty certain I won't develop B&W anymore. What should be done with this stuff?
 
My degree is in chemistry but I've worked as a commercial photographer for fifty years. Your stop bath is fine, just dilute as recommended and you'll be ok. Acetic acid really doesn't go bad if capped to prevent evaporation. It's basically white vinegar. The fix should be no problem if there's no precipitate in the bottle. It shows up as a white residue. if there's any in the bottle toss it otherwise dilute as recommended and use it. Your developer is the most sensitive. When you mix per instructions there may be a little straw color like ginger ale but anything darker, toss it.

Rodianl is essentially good for decades. It can turn almost black and it's still good. I've used Ordinal since 1968 or so and had bottles turn almost black with no loss of activity.
 
ptpdprinter said:
I am constantly surprised at how little people value their time and effort.
Click to expand...

I'd say one of the biggest wastes of time is cruising the photo forums.

If you're referring to the use of older chemicals, I wouldn't say this is a waste of time. If his developer was film developer I'd say to toss it but since it's paper developer what's the big deal? How much waste will there be, one or two test strips? Acetic acid doesn't go bad and rapid fix, if it's undiluted concentrate, will form a precipitate in the bottom if it goes bad. There's no magic in these chemicals and nothing exotic about them. They're straight forward compounds that should last for a very long time. Mixed chemicals are a different story. Anything mixed, I'd toss.
 
Thank you

Thank you

Thank you for your input.
Those chemicals (undiluted) are still in their original plastic bottles, a small portion of each was used and since then all were kept tightly closed.
My major concern was the paper developer, but after reading some of the above answers, I will try it.
Best regards
Joao
 
I've found that once the bottle has been opened, Multigrade developer concentrate is good for another 2-4 months. It will most likely be dark brown, but is easy to test and you only risk one sheet of paper. The resulting print will be faint, have low contrast, or not develop at all.
 
wjlapier said:
Timely question. I have three bottles of original Rodinal. Maybe 10 years old. Two bottles never opened. I'm pretty certain I won't develop B&W anymore. What should be done with this stuff?
Click to expand...
Post it in the Classifieds here on RFF. Rodinal is one of the longest-lasting developers, especially if unopened and stored under reasonable conditions.
 
x-ray said:
If you're referring to the use of older chemicals, I wouldn't say this is a waste of time. If his developer was film developer I'd say to toss it but since it's paper developer what's the big deal? How much waste will there be, one or two test strips? Acetic acid doesn't go bad and rapid fix, if it's undiluted concentrate, will form a precipitate in the bottom if it goes bad. There's no magic in these chemicals and nothing exotic about them. They're straight forward compounds that should last for a very long time. Mixed chemicals are a different story. Anything mixed, I'd toss.
Click to expand...
The time and effort I was referring to was the time and effort expended in shooting a roll of film and processing it, and setting up and printing. The cost to replace the aforementioned three or four year old chemicals with fresh ones is about $25. But you are right: the stop bath and fixer are probably okay. I would just start with fresh chemicals and not take a chance. Everyone's different.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom