My $ 0.02 worth: Dividing the chemical into equal portions and saving
quantities for later seems to me to be quite a formidable undertaking--the
packages are (I believe pre-mixed) and not readily subdivided. Instead, I'd
recommend mixing full gallons of stock and then dividing it into two or
three smaller airtight bottles.
This is what I've been doing w/ Xtol and it works nicely. And rather than
working with stock and replenisher, use dilute formulas (i.e. D76 @ 1:1 or
!:3) as a one short developer.
As far as the fixer and Dektol go, well I'm not sure how to help you there.
My only suggestion is that you begin to develop a lot of film/prints. Or
for the Dektol, rather the 8X10 make 16x20s--that'll take you through the
developer quicker.
Glen
-----Original Message-----
From: Garth Wood <garth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: October 9, 1999 7:41 PM
Subject: Re: [OM] Storage of chemicals
>At 10:32 AM 10/9/99 -0400, Tim Clark wrote:
>>Hi all,
>>
>>I just received a package from B&H of black and white processing chemicals
>>(Kodak Fixer, D-76 and Dektol) in gallon packages with the intention of
>>breaking them down into quart sizes since the cost is so much lower. I
have
>>a venerable Eastman Studio Scale, so we're talking low tech here. My
>>question is, can I store the portions in heavy duty zip-lock storage bags
>>without any sort of damage to the chemicals?
>
>
>It's been years since I did my own darkroom work (hoping to get back into
B&W processing soon), but if these are powdered chemicals you're talking
about, don't some of them come with "binary" or even "trinary" formulas?
That is, aren't some of them multi-step, requiring first that you open one
powder pack, dissolve it in water of an appropriate temperature, then open
another and so on? If so, you might have trouble keeping the proportions
constant, and I'm *sure* you can't successfully mix them in the dry state
(they have vastly different solubilities in plain water, and the order in
which they're mixed is very important). Besides, I'd be worried about
stirring up chemical dust (I remember Ilford's acid hardening fixers used to
be quite nasty when you poured the powder into water -- we used to jokingly
say [adopting Monty Python accent] "Run away! Run away!").
>
>Just my $0.02 worth.
>
>Garth
>
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