DEKTOL bag was BROWN inside, so i made some D72

i was very ready to start diggin in and process some film and paper this morning,
FINALLY !
well, i got my 3.5 quarts of water 95ºF and cut open a bag of dektol i had ...
it had oxidized, was all brown so i looked in my cabinet and said to myself
i'll just look up the recipe for D72 ...
i did and mixed a gallon of it ...
i searched and wrote down the ingredients / recipe
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
and used 4x the ingredients
as i measured and mixed i looked at the 320g of sodium carbonate
and i had to come back to the computer and make sure i didn't make a gigantic mistake, cause that is a lot of carbonate !

my developer has that washing soda smell now ... and i can't wait to use it late tonight when everyone's alseep.
tom, thanks for posting the recipe, i'm sure you are still logging on to apug upstairs ...

jnanian said:

i was very ready to start diggin in and process some film and paper this morning,
FINALLY !
well, i got my 3.5 quarts of water 95ºF and cut open a bag of dektol i had ...
it had oxidized, was all brown so i looked in my cabinet and said to myself
i'll just look up the recipe for D72 ...
i did and mixed a gallon of it ...
i searched and wrote down the ingredients / recipe
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
and used 4x the ingredients
as i measured and mixed i looked at the 320g of sodium carbonate
and i had to come back to the computer and make sure i didn't make a gigantic mistake, cause that is a lot of carbonate !

my developer has that washing soda smell now ... and i can't wait to use it late tonight when everyone's alseep.
tom, thanks for posting the recipe, i'm sure you are still logging on to apug upstairs ...

Click to expand...

amazing things happen ehen one gets off APUG and actually does some work in the darkroom!well done!

yes indeed !

I once dissolved some brown metol in water (small quantities) and added Na Ascorbate for interest's sake. The brown disappeared and I let it evaporate over a day or so. The crystals were white but gradually returned to brown in a week. My thought is - could you resuscitate the Dektol with Na Ascorbate for laffs? I never went any further with the idea.
Note you would have to use ascorbate and not Vit C so as not to alter the developer pH.
Cheers
Murray

thanks for the suggestion murray ...!

but... i put it in the discard bin after i noticed it was brown

over the years i have given away powdered
chemistry i didn't use but for some strange reason i saved this bag
probably for 15 years. it was the old style paper/foil bag
not the new high gloss plastic-y one ...

haven't had a chance to use my mix, kids home from vacation
have kept me out of the dark and away from the camera ... and usually
after i cook dinner i either have a meeting to go to, or i am dead tired ...
can't wait to use what i mixed up though ( i put a few drops on a room lit strip of paper
to see if it worked ( and it did ) ) so i think i will be ok ... i have no idea
how long scratch mixed d72 will last for in an amber/brown stoppered bottle. i'm thinking
maybe i should have mixed 1L instead of 4 just in case it dies in a week...

even if it does go bad fast, its simple to mix --- i just have to get another box of washing soda...

If I was doing any wet printing now I would take my own advice! I have a couple of the packs you describe but labelled Kodak Special Developer Powders. They look ancient and brown. They were old stock when they gave them to me in the 50's! Funny how much junk we cart around from house to house.

cheers
Murray