a darkroom conundrum

Formalin is available in the US from several supplier. I bought 2L on eBay for a song just recently. You just have to watch the prices, and if there's a "make offer" offer them half the posted price.

Watch out for outrageous shipping, as always of eBay.

michaelbsc said:

Formalin is available in the US from several supplier. I bought 2L on eBay for a song just recently. You just have to watch the prices, and if there's a "make offer" offer them half the posted price.

Watch out for outrageous shipping, as always of eBay.

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Formalin is considered a dangerous good, shipping companies that can ship it charge a lot, and the shipper is responsible for the costs of cleanup if it gets spilled, that can be huge....

Thanks for the info. i will look into Formalin. Not too much to be done to negs. that are already damaged...i have soaked in a week 28% AA solution rewashed and refixed but white spots still remain. This is on 4x5 as well as 120 negs.
Question: if Formalin is used i assume it should be the last bath...but for how long and at what dilution?

wogster said:

michaelbsc said:

Formalin is available in the US from several supplier. I bought 2L on eBay for a song just recently. You just have to watch the prices, and if there's a "make offer" offer them half the posted price.

Watch out for outrageous shipping, as always of eBay.

Click to expand...

Formalin is considered a dangerous good, shipping companies that can ship it charge a lot, and the shipper is responsible for the costs of cleanup if it gets spilled, that can be huge....

Click to expand...

So? That's the chemical company's issue to deal with, not the receipient's. If they can ship for a reasonable cost then take them up on it.

I did say pay attention to the shipping costs.

cr frank said:

Question: if Formalin is used i assume it should be the last bath...but for how long and at what dilution?

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My final bath uses aldeide formica (formaldeide, formaldehyde) diluted at 4.75%.
Instructions say to use it at 10ml in half a litre of this solution.

Instructions say 20 seconds of bath are enough. I exaggerate, spin the film for 20 seconds and then let it there for another minute.

michaelbsc said:

So? That's the chemical company's issue to deal with, not the receipient's. If they can ship for a reasonable cost then take them up on it.

I did say pay attention to the shipping costs.

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I was just sayin' that outrageous shipping costs may be legit, due to the material being shipped incurring Dangerous Goods fees and costing extra to ship.

wogster said:

michaelbsc said:

So? That\'s the chemical company\'s issue to deal with, not the receipient\'s. If they can ship for a reasonable cost then take them up on it.



I did say pay attention to the shipping costs.

Click to expand...

I was just sayin\' that outrageous shipping costs may be legit, due to the material being shipped incurring Dangerous Goods fees and costing extra to ship.

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I suspect that if it is shipped interstate in the US, or across the national border, then it would get hit with a hefty HAZMAT fee. You\'re right in the mark about that.

michaelbsc said:

I suspect that if it is shipped interstate in the US, or across the national border, then it would get hit with a hefty HAZMAT fee. You\'re right in the mark about that.

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Internationally, you really don't want to go there, which is why you will see a lot of US companies don't ship to Canada.

The ones that do, typically don't ship across the border, they deal with a domestic distributor for those products and it's shipped directly from the distributor to the customer.

A lot of companies do that now, even domestically, think about it, say you own Mikey's Camera Shoppe and your customer wants to buy camera X online, so you ring up your distributor, and place the order, rather then paying the distributors shipping charges to your store, where you need to turn around and ship it paying shipping charges again, you have the distributor ship it to directly to your customer. The customer gets it quicker, and you can pass on the distributors shipping & handling charges to the customer.