Borax versus Metaborate...?

[oldlugs]

Hi folks!

I'm curious about the functional differences between using Borax or Sodium Metaborate in my Metol and MQ film developers.

Is there any advantage in using one over the other? Any difference in shelf life of mixed stock solution? Image quality or grain?
May they be interchanged at the same quantities?

Thanks for your input, Duane

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Hi folks!

I'm curious about the functional differences between using Borax or Sodium Metaborate in my Metol and MQ film developers.

Is there any advantage in using one over the other? Any difference in shelf life of mixed stock solution? Image quality or grain?
May they be interchanged at the same quantities?

Thanks for your input, Duane

You asked: May they be interchanged at the same quantities? Not at the same quantities,

Try this APUG thread:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[titrisol]

Also this yeras old discussion (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
and this one on D23

 

[dancqu]

Hi folks!
I'm curious about the functional differences between
using Borax or Sodium Metaborate in my Metol and
MQ film developers. Thanks for your input, Duane

In any quantity the two are not interchangeable. The two
act to make the solution alkaline and in so doing activate
the developing agents; the metaborate more than a little
so. An exception may be those solutions which are long
on other activators; ie sodium sulfite or carbonate. Dan

 

[gainer]

To make borax into metaborate: 69 grams borax + 14.5 g sodium hydroxide in water to make 1 liter is equivalent to 100 grams metaborate in water to make 1 liter. Each of these solutions would be equal to 10% metaborate solution. It should not be necessary to try to make a borax equivalent from the metaborate, considering that borax in very pure form is readily available at drugstores and supermarkets and is cheaper than the stuff you would need to make an equivalent from metaborate. Sodium hydroxide (lye) is not as easy to get as it once was, but can be had at places that cater to people who like to make soap.

You may or may not see the difference between borax and metaborate in D-76. D-76 has its own lore.