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Old 24th January 2016, 10:25 PM
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Default Borax availability and alternatives

Many developer formulae use borax, most notably ID11 / D76. Few photographic suppliers now stock borax as (in the EU anyway) sale is restricted, apparently as it can affect 'reproductive health'! What alternatives are there to borax? I'm no chemist but do mix my own developers and don't fancy a whole round of testing non-borax home-brews. Fortunately I've still got quite a bit of borax left but it's going to run out in the next year or so.

Anyone out there with info - either on suppliers of borax or practical alternative?
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Old 25th January 2016, 08:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Rob Archer View Post
Many developer formulae use borax, most notably ID11 / D76. Few photographic suppliers now stock borax as (in the EU anyway) sale is restricted, apparently as it can affect 'reproductive health'! What alternatives are there to borax? I'm no chemist but do mix my own developers and don't fancy a whole round of testing non-borax home-brews. Fortunately I've still got quite a bit of borax left but it's going to run out in the next year or so.

Anyone out there with info - either on suppliers of borax or practical alternative?
I don't think there is a suitable alternative to be honest. Look for some more borax and buy as much as you consider practical.

I despair at the excuses the EU come up with to ban certain components required for photographic products.
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Old 25th January 2016, 09:00 AM
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Rob
Try Intralabs http://www.intralabs.co.uk/borax/100g-borax.html
or Bestmineral via eBay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BORAX-bora...IAAOSweW5VRKqr
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Old 25th January 2016, 09:02 AM
Lostlabours Lostlabours is offline
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Borax is very readily available, if you don't have a good local chemical supplier buy it on Ebay. It's use as a household item might be restricted.

I used to buy Borax for work probably about 10-12 metric tons a year direct from Consolidated Borax (Twenty Mule Team). They still supply the company I worked for and its competitors.

Ian
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Old 25th January 2016, 11:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Lostlabours View Post
Borax is very readily available, if you don't have a good local chemical supplier buy it on Ebay. It's use as a household item might be restricted.

I used to buy Borax for work probably about 10-12 metric tons a year direct from Consolidated Borax (Twenty Mule Team). They still supply the company I worked for and its competitors.

Ian
Yes Borax is available in Europe. It can easily be sourced from Fototechnik Suvatlar in Hamburg.

When I hear these claims about the EU my heart sinks. UK bureaucrats have for far too long used the EU as an excuse to introduce unpopular measures and it is no wonder that the UK population now hates the EU.

As one simple example, in the 1980s I used to work in pubs and everyone had a sink full of hot soapy water with vertical brushes so that pint glasses could be easily washed. Then we were told that this was no longer acceptable due to EU regulations and could no longer be used. Well, today 25 January 2016, if you go into any pub near me in Berlin how do they wash their glasses?

Yes you guessed correctly, they have a sink full of hot soapy water with vertical brushes! So was this really a EU directive that the law abiding Germans have been ignoring for at least 30 years or were our home grown bureaucrats telling us porkies?

Back to the OP, Fototechnik Suvatlar only have an e-mail address and I am not sure how good their English is. If you contact them and have no luck, send me a PM and I can send you the text in German.

Bests,

David.
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Old 25th January 2016, 02:08 PM
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Thanks for that. Intralabs looks promising, although I'll have to convince them I'm a 'professional' borax user! I've done a bit more digging and apparently the restriction is because borax has (unproven) therapeutic benefits and people have been taking it for anything from arthritis to MS and there have been cases of borax poisoning! Also prolonged exposure can affect reproductive health. Not sure about that as I've been working in the darkroom for 30+ years and still managed to help produce 5 children! The restriction is probably sensible but is having unintended consequences.

Last edited by Rob Archer; 25th January 2016 at 02:22 PM.
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