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  #1  
Old 4th September 2008, 06:57 PM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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Default Blending your own

Personally I use nothing that I didn’t have to break a bottle seal to get at, so have the greatest admiration for those of you that mix your own with out causing an explosion. Please let me in on the secret of your success.
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Old 9th October 2008, 10:22 AM
Ag-Bromide Ag-Bromide is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave View Post
Personally I use nothing that I didn’t have to break a bottle seal to get at, so have the greatest admiration for those of you that mix your own with out causing an explosion. Please let me in on the secret of your success.
I have had some fun with making my own developers for film and papers, but to be honest, I think your way of buying ready to dilute stock solutions is the sensible way.
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Old 9th October 2008, 04:10 PM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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Originally Posted by Ag-Bromide View Post
I have had some fun with making my own developers for film and papers, but to be honest, I think your way of buying ready to dilute stock solutions is the sensible way.
It's nice to hear I may be doing something right, but why do you think so?
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Old 10th October 2008, 08:44 AM
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B&W Neil B&W Neil is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave View Post
Personally I use nothing that I didn’t have to break a bottle seal to get at, so have the greatest admiration for those of you that mix your own with out causing an explosion. Please let me in on the secret of your success.
Dave,

I use both - home brew and buy it in.

My main trade dev over the last 8 years of so has been XTOL at 1+1, which I find cooks most films very nicely. But that's when I'm not trying tanning devs (not convinced), Rodinal (great for slow films), HC110 (too fast!) and my own stuff

With home brews there is no big secret as all the chems are available from Silverprint (and others) and the formulas are all on the net, or in books such as those from Barry Thornton. You can make it as complicated as you like but a lot of the good old style formulas (stocklers / Beutler etc) are easy to mix from just a few basic chems.

I am just ending an XTOL 1+1 spell and are about to have a go at making up D76H which I have heard good reports on, and seen some results. D76H is in effect an easy to mix up D76 with metol as the dev agent. I went through all the stockler types / and varients about 18 months ago but found the Beutler 'neil' modified dev more suited my needs than stocklers. If D76H does not impress me I will go back to my Beutler formula and run with that for a while.

Have look at http://www.jackspcs.com/ and see what fun there is to be had

Cheers,

Neil.
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Old 10th October 2008, 09:34 AM
Ag-Bromide Ag-Bromide is offline
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Neil, also consider DK-76b which is almost the same as D-76H, but uses Kodalk instead of Borax and is claimed to give a longer shelf life.
http://www.udmercy.edu/crna/agm/phenvitc.htm
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Old 10th October 2008, 09:42 AM
Ag-Bromide Ag-Bromide is offline
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It's nice to hear I may be doing something right, but why do you think so?
Because from a health and safety point of view, you are less likely to come into contact with airborne dust particles of dry components in case you accidentally drop or spill an opened packet of developer. This shouldn`t put people off using dry chemicals, but you should be extra careful with preparing stock solutions in case of mishaps.
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Old 10th October 2008, 11:25 AM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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Originally Posted by Ag-Bromide View Post
Because from a health and safety point of view, you are less likely to come into contact with airborne dust particles of dry components in case you accidentally drop or spill an opened packet of developer. This shouldn`t put people off using dry chemicals, but you should be extra careful with preparing stock solutions in case of mishaps.
Excellent point, well made.
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Old 10th October 2008, 01:35 PM
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B&W Neil B&W Neil is offline
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Originally Posted by Ag-Bromide View Post
Neil, also consider DK-76b which is almost the same as D-76H, but uses Kodalk instead of Borax and is claimed to give a longer shelf life.
http://www.udmercy.edu/crna/agm/phenvitc.htm
Many thanks - that's a very handy link. Will be trying both D76h and D76b.
Watch this space !

Cheers,

Neil.
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Old 11th October 2008, 09:38 AM
Ag-Bromide Ag-Bromide is offline
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Just a thought, I saw a simple recipe by Patrick Gainer for a developer which uses just three easily dissolved ingredients which you measure with spoons and dissolve in a litre of water.
L-ascorbic acid = half a level teaspoon full, Metol = one-eigth level teaspoon full and sodium carbonate = one level teaspoon full. No sulphite required, just pour the solution into your developing tank and use the times for undiluted D-76/ID-11.

http://www.nigella.com/living_kitche...a=4&article=56
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Old 11th October 2008, 11:48 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ag-Bromide View Post
Just a thought, I saw a simple recipe by Patrick Gainer for a developer which uses just three easily dissolved ingredients which you measure with spoons and dissolve in a litre of water.
L-ascorbic acid = half a level teaspoon full, Metol = one-eigth level teaspoon full and sodium carbonate = one level teaspoon full. No sulphite required, just pour the solution into your developing tank and use the times for undiluted D-76/ID-11.

http://www.nigella.com/living_kitche...a=4&article=56
Somewhere in my files I have something similar that uses teaspoons for measurements - but I have never had the nerve to try it. Anyone seen the results?

Neil.
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