1) AZO and 2) old negative

I have come into possession of a 100 sheet box of Kodak AZO F-3 paper 8x10. I can't seem to find a date anywhere on it. The box has NOT been stored cold, but has the factory seal on it unbroken.
1) what are the odds that it's any good?
2) Is there any way to tell what date it was "best used by"?

In the same package are a couple of old 4x5 B&W negatives which are stuck in their waxed paper sleeves from decades ago. Can I release them by soaking them in fixer or should I just soak them in water?

cheers and thanks

Chances are the Azo is still very good. Read the writings about Azo on michaelandpaula.com - there's one story about decades old Azo that sat on a shelf in New Orleans (or some other hot place) that still printed just fine.

I understand that years ago, Azo was not dated, so there is probably not a way to find a "best used by" date. Try it. Recommend Michael A.Smith's amidol formula which is on the same web site.
juan

John, it will be fine. No problems with old azo and development. You can try it with any negative you want, but a flat scene will do well with grade 3. Dektol, Neutol WA or whatever you have will do the job for a developer. As juan has said, there is a wealth of infromation on Michael & Paula's site.

For toning, try selenium at 1:20 for 3 minutes. Very nice tonality and it gets rid of the greenish tone. tim

Tim and Juan : Thanks for the info on the AZO.

Anybody have any ideas about the negatives? I'd hate to ruin them.

Oh, and there may be an altogether better way to release the negatives, but if I were soaking them, I'd do it in water rather than fixer.
juan

Want to sell that Azo? (which is fine, I'm sure, no matter how old). As for those stuck negs, try water first (of course) and that should get them un-stuck. If not, I don't know that fixer will fare better but it won't hurt the negs either.

As others have said, the Azo will be fine.

As to the negatives, I'd try water first, but if that didn't work I'd try water with a little PhotoFlo or unscented dishsoap next before I tried fix. My reasoning is that the second might help the water creep between the negative and the envelope. My fear with fix is that it might react in some way with the envelopes (since we have no idea what they're made of). Before I soaked the whole mess in fix, I'd pour a bit of fix into a small container, tear off a piece of the envelope, submerge it, and wait a few minutes. If the envelope dissolves completely or if it stays completely intact, then I'd go for soaking in fix. If it becomes some sort of gummy mess, I don't think I'd try soaking the negatives in it for fear that you'd create something that you couldn't get off of the negatives.

If you do manage to free the negatives, a good wash, a good fix, and another good wash are probably all you'll need to do to them afterwards.

Good luck.