[pure-silver] Re: fixer question
- From: Charlie Thorsten <charlie_thorsten@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 01:40:31 -0700 (PDT)
--- On Mon, 6/2/08, Sissy Albertine <salbert@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>Hi all,
>I am printing on Ilford Multigrade FB paper and noticed the directions >state
>that it should be fixed in Ilford Paper Fixer (1 + 3) for 1 minute >with
>intermittent agitation. Being old school, I find it hard to believe >fiber
>base can be archivally fixed in 1 minute. Am I off here?
>Thanks,
>Sissy Albertine
Ilford did a lot of research into how to achieve shorter
washing times, mainly because much of England tries to
conserve water and a 1-2 hour wash was prohibitive. They
found that a 1 minute fix in FRESH rapid fixer (ammonium
thiosulfate), mixed 1:4, with CONSTANT agitation allows
complete fixing of the emulsion without too much fixer
penetrating the paper base. This allows a washing time
of 30 minutes, or a 5min wash/10min HypoClear/5min wash
cycle (See Ilford fact sheet "Processing B&W FB Paper":
http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/200621111117720.pdf)
This works only if you follow the rules exactly. The print
must be fixed vigorously for precisely one minute. Any
longer and fixer will saturate the paper base, negating
any short wash advantage. Second, the rapid fixer bath
(ammonium thiosulfate) must be FRESH. Ilford specifies a
capacity of only 10 8x10's per liter of working solution.
Remember this includes all test strips, work prints, etc.
It definitely works if this is followed precisely, but it's
easy to mess up. Two bath fixing followed by a longer wash
(one hour) is far more reliable and more forgiving. It
mainly depends if you're trying to save water or not. The
"old school" way is not wrong by any means.
-Charlie
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