[pure-silver] Re: b&w print has discolored - re:Richard's comment on washing

"Janet Cull" <jcull@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>


Here's how I wash my prints. [quick rinse, then
emulsion side up, under a running tap for a "few minutes"] 

Not good...

You may want to consider re-washing all your prints.
Though Richard seems to feel it is a lost cause, and it
certainly may be. At the least test a few with residual hypo tester where you can snip off a bit of border. You may also wish to clean whatever method you use for drying prints. 

Have you collected the running tap water to see how much
water per print your method uses?  You may find a tray siphon
that washes ~10 prints at a time to be more economical.
You need to do residual hypo testing if you use HCA, especially the Orbit, Permawash etc. types. HCA goes bad in 
a few hours [or faster if the stock is old].  The stock
goes bad after a few months.  There is _no_ indication the
HCA has gone bad - well maybe after a few years when the
prints washed in expired HCA all turn odd colors.

See
http://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Archival/archival.html
for residual hypo test, fixer test (is the fixer any good)
and residual silver test (did the fixer remove the silver).

It is important the water used for washing is 70 to 85F.

My present darkroom doesn't have running water.  Well it
does, in the sense that I run with the bucket. My method is sparing on water. It uses a deep wash tray [called a 'hypo tray' at B&H], agitation and periodic changes of water. There are as many methods as people you ask. 

Method:
After the first fix, all prints are held in water in the large wash tray after first fix, they accumulate there until (normally) the end of the session. 

 Keepers are run through a second fix, keep some scrap
 sheets to test washing efficacy

 Large tray then used for the wash -

 2 changes of water, 30 seconds each with agitation
HCA with agitation as needed: 1 minute for RC, 10 minutes for FB.
Take to bathroom and rinse under tap to remove 'soapy feel' 

 Prints back in the large tray, with occasional
agitation and water changes at increasing time intervals until prints test clear for hypo
I wash till the prints test clear, and not for a fixed time: there is no point washing the prints after they are free of hypo; and there is certainly no point in continuing with prints that still have hypo in the emulsion/base.
== Nicholas O. Lindan 
Cleveland Engineering Design, LLC
Cleveland, Ohio 44121

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