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Old 13th November 2021, 06:02 PM
John King John King is offline
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Default Farmers Reducer.

I have been having a clear-out and come across a box with 10 sealed metal foil sachets of Farmer's Reducer. It must be 50+ years since I used Farmer's and have totally forgotten how to use it apart from the print must be properly fixed and washed before treatment. There are no destructions with the box so a few hints would help.

(The box had a postage stamp on it for two shillings and sixpence (12.5p in new money so that will give an idea how old it is)
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Old 13th November 2021, 06:27 PM
Nat Polton Nat Polton is offline
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Not sure if you want diluting instructions for your particular sachets, or general instructions for use.
If it is the latter, Peter Elgar does a nice demonstration on his youtube channel, and John Finch does one on his youtube channel Pictorial Planet under the heading "Liquid Sunshine."

I have only used it in the past when spotting. For that have a look at The Naked Photographer, again on youtube.

Cheers.

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Old 13th November 2021, 06:39 PM
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Uwe Pilz Uwe Pilz is offline
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A package is usual said to solve in 250 ml of water. That is much too strong. I recommend solving it in a liter or more.
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Old 13th November 2021, 08:19 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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The problem with Farmer's is that it apparently lasts only about 15 mins before needing replacement so if you need to do only a few prints then depending on the sachet size you might waste a lot of the liquid

What I am unsure of is whether you can simply use say only a quarter of the sachet provided you have shaken the ingredients so each quarter contains the same amount of each ingredient proportionally speaking

Mike
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Old 13th November 2021, 09:21 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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I hadn’t heard that it has such a short life, Mike. I thought it was the same as the bleach used for some sepia toning processes, which I believe is Potassium Ferricyanide. If that’s correct, the dilute solution lasts for months, maybe years. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong. I agree with Uwe that some suggested dilutions are too strong to control the effect.
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Old 13th November 2021, 09:30 PM
Stocky Stocky is offline
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Once the ferricyanide and thiosulphate are mixed the life is short, which is why we generally use two separate stock solutions and mix small quantities when about to be used.
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Old 13th November 2021, 09:54 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stocky View Post
Once the ferricyanide and thiosulphate are mixed the life is short, which is why we generally use two separate stock solutions and mix small quantities when about to be used.
So in effect you sort of pay heavily for the convenience of a ready made sachet which is what I had thought. I have a feeling that John Finch in the video that was mentioned here with a link maybe stated a rough time time limit

Mind you in John's case the sachets were in essence a windfall find

Mike
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Old 14th November 2021, 05:50 AM
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Uwe Pilz Uwe Pilz is offline
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You may use ferricyanide alone as I do. This ha two advantages:
- The solution lives longer
- You may re-develop if you have over-bleached
Disadvantage: The need of fixing again after bleaching,
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Old 14th November 2021, 09:07 AM
John King John King is offline
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Default Farmer's

Since posting I have realised that I do not have the Ferricyanide component. All the sachets which are in silver foil (10) and I had to open each one to find out what was in there, are the white thiosulphate crystals. Not a lot of use unless I can get some Ferricyanide. There was no indication on the packets what they contained.

I think 'First Call' in Taunton still do complete kits but possibly 'Silverprint' near Southampton sell raw chemicals.

I have managed for all this time without using any, so a few more weeks won't harm
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Old 14th November 2021, 09:17 AM
John King John King is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Uwe Pilz View Post
A package is usual said to solve in 250 ml of water. That is much too strong. I recommend solving it in a liter or more.
I have not got a set of scales to measure how much thiosulphate is in each individual packet but at a guess I would think there is about the same as a level desert spoon which I would estimate as about 20gms. I can only think the Ferricyanide would have been about the same.

Uwe, with the Ferricyanide if the concentration is to much with the amount of water that is suggested, what would you suggest?

Last edited by John King; 14th November 2021 at 09:33 AM.
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