Much much good advice here. May I share with you, a few tips learned from a lifetime in the darkroom - I made my first enlargements in October, 1962, and I'm still shooting and processing B&W and printing in my home darkroom.
Now and then I think about giving it away and scanning negatives for the rest of my life (and resist the impulse to puke), but the lure of mixing chemicals and printing under a safelight to the sound of good jazz always lures me back to the darkroom. Sure, scanning is easier, but printing is more fun.
Buy the best enlarger you can afford. I struggled for years with Meoptas and other such junk brands until I bought a Durst 66 which made very fine prints for twenty years. In the early 2000s I was given six unwanted enlargers, all amateur models,which didn't really suit me and were passed on or given to charity shops. The best of these was an LPL 5700, a very good enlarger but only for 35mm. I now have a Leitz lc with an Multigrade 500 head (cost A$695 in 1997) and an LPL 7700 with a B&W filter head and a big box of accessories (cost A$700 in 2003). These will do me for the rest of my darkroom time and someone I know will then get them. Good gear lasts a lifetime. You may be interested that the Leitz, a condenser enlarger, often produces prints too sharp and high contrasty for my liking. The LPL, a diffusion enlarger, is so much better. Leitz made a diffusion glass for the 1c.I have one, but I prefer the LPL for softer prints. these small points do matter. Critical thinking before you buy is crucial here.
Ditto for lenses. Don't go cheap. I did for many years and finally bit the bullet and bought three new Nikkors (50mm, 80mm,135mm), hich have served me well since. Of course people then started giving me enlarging Nikkors. I've passed them all on. One lives and learns.
A good timer will save you time and preserve your sanity. I have an old Italian timer I bought in the 1980s when prices in Australia were so much cheaper. It still works well and times everything to the precision I enjoy. Yes, I print for 7.6 seconds or 19.4 seconds. Don't we all?
Enlarging paper isn't cheap - at least good quality paper isn't. In the '90s and early '00s everyone was giving up their darkrooms and I bought up big - I now have a large fridge full of the stuff in my darkroom, also films, most of the paper is still good, even the Multigrade III from 1990 doesn't yet show any of fogging. Now and then some very old stock (1970s Kodak Polycontrast, Multigrade II) shows signs of fog and gets thrown out. My good luck. My message here, is that if I had to repeat all this again, I would just buy good paper in small lots, and use it up pronto.
After single weight glossy papers were discontinued I went to pearl papers and still use these. Matte papers I particularly dislike, it never gave the contrast I liked. Your choices may vary. The pearl finish covers up a multitude of sins on my negatives and I find I nowadays never have to spot or retouch the final prints.
If buying new paper, avoid buying small or unusual sizes. My one exception to this rule is Ilford's quarter plate (6.5 by 8.5 inch) Multigrade, a size I particularly like. Otherwise I cut 8x10 sheets into two 5x8s or four 4x5s. My standard give away print size is 4x5. Those boxes of precut 3.5 x 5 snapshot print paper aren't really bargains. Chop your own and save.
The darkroom fridge is the best investment I ever made, after a good enlarger. It's big enough to hold everything I use (paper, films, concentrated chemicals) and chill it all for a longer life.
Everyone I know does test strips before printing. Well and good, but if you use a full 8x10 sheet or even a 4x10 (half size 8x10), you are wasting an enormous amount of good (and expensive) paper. Ilford makes a small andin expensive gadget that produces five test strips on a 4x5 sheet. For most prints I make, a 2x5 sheet (half 4x5) with the tester set up in the right position on the easel, produces the results I need, with a little fine tuning. If I plan to repeat the prints in future, I mark the backs of the test sheets with data (mostly contrast details) after washing and drying them. Every few years I send out a box of old unwanted test strips for paper recyling, but oh well, at least I have them if I need them.
For darkroom chemistry the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) rule works well. I use home brewed D76 1+1 for almost all my work, occasionally Thornton's two bath, and now and then a 'specialised' developer which I mix myself using a $7 electronic scale bought on Ebay. Ditto D72 (grandaddy of Kodak Dektol) which I also home mix.
I now mix my chemicals one shot, and never store anything. False economy. Also less need for washing and storing empty bottles.
Whether or not to use stop bath isn't an issue for me. I bought a liter bottle of Kodak indicator stop bath in 1990 and I still haven't quite emptied it, altho' it has been topped up here and there with gifted stop bath concentrate. A second bottle, also one liter, awaits the day I finish the first. If I didn't have these, I would buy Ilford stop bath, use vinegar diluted slightly more than the recommended mix, or plain water. Many years ago I discussed the vinegar vs stop bath issue with one of Kodak's photo chemists and he told me, vinegar is just as good, and unlikely to damage prints. End of story for me.
Almost everything you need in darkroom basics can be bought super cheaply in your nearest Reject Shop. If you are one who needs the ego satisfaction of owning brand name gear, buy new (and pay through then ose) or look for used in charity and secondhand shops. Now and then retail photo shops discount unwanted darkroom supplies, but don't hold your breath, that mob is in business for profit, not to provide you with nice new things at discount prices. Think (and look) laterally.
Some nights in the darkroom everything I print turns out just fine. Other times, nothing works. After many years I learned to just give up, pour out the chems, and do something else. A glass of good wine half way thru a printing session, goes a long way to perk me up. One glass, no more. Or a good beer or a Tasmanian dry cider, the very best. Get out of the darkroom, pour that drink, and enjoy it in the garden or another room at home. Drinking in the darkroom is a no-no for me now ('tho I did for many years).
So much for summing up a lifetime in the dark. I intensely dislike scanning, but I can foresee a time when everything I shoot and process will be printed (and not just proofed) from my Plustek or Epson. Time passes, everything changes. Old dogs and new tricks.
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