Edwal scratch remover?

eli griggs · May 22, 2020

What do experienced darkroom printers think about this product and what are the positive and negative (no pun) viewpoint that you have to share about its use and other, "remedies" for fine scratches on film?

If you have other favorite materials and methods, please share with us your choices.

Cheers.

tomkatf · May 22, 2020

I used it for years with good results... not sure how if affects the longevity of the negative, if at all. Contains turpentine IIRC. One old instructor suggested nose oil...lol

Rick A · May 22, 2020

I have an ancient bottle of it packed away, haven't used it(or needed it) in many years. It works, but can be messy, use sparingly.

eli griggs · May 22, 2020

Yes, I did find it messy when I used it and nose oil is what most photographers I've know have used/suggested, but, like many things photographic, both nose oil and the Edwal product both are very old remidies that it seems no one has bothered to replace or upgrade.

Paul Howell · May 22, 2020

I've used it for years, it works well as long the scratch is not in the elmusion.

Patrick Robert James · May 22, 2020

eli griggs said:
Yes, I did find it messy when I used it and nose oil is what most photographers I've know have used/suggested, but, like many things photographic, both nose oil and the Edwal product both are very old remidies that it seems no one has bothered to replace or upgrade.

You can upgrade your Nozoil by eating organic....

Another way is to wet mount the neg. Always seems more of a pain than it is worth though unless you made a neg carrier specifically to do that.

Bill Burk · May 22, 2020

Now if you have a diffusion enlarger you might not need it at all. The way I know scratches are invisible is that one way to retouch clear spots on negatives is to scratch the base a little. I do that hen when I print nothing appears (I still get black spots on the print)

AgX · May 23, 2020

The idea behind that Edwal product was to yield a temporally scratch removal, just for a printing session.
A alternative once Tetenal offerred: a laquer into which the respective filmstrip was to be dipped. This was intented as lasting remedy. But if I remember right Tetenal hinted at a solvent by which that lacquer could be dissolved again without harming the film.

removed account4 · May 23, 2020

Patrick Robert James said:
You can upgrade your Nozoil by eating organic....

LOL

I dropped a 5x7 negative of the State Governor on a concrete floor many years ago, it was to be printed 500 times ( rc prints ) for his re-election campaign. To quote my mentor "never the nose, always behind the ear!" you couldn't even tell it had been on the floor.

markbau · May 23, 2020

At a Howard Bond worshop he showed us how to apply nose oil to a scratched neg. I look after my negs so have only had to do it a couple of times in a long career.

MattKing · May 23, 2020

jnantz said:
To quote my mentor "never the nose, always behind the ear!"

But that means you will have to move your cigarette!

David A. Goldfarb · May 23, 2020

I’ve used it and I think I still have some in the cabinet. It works as advertised. Use an open negative carrier and clean up with film cleaner after printing.

An alternative might be the spray used for wet mounting negs and transparencies in a drum scanner, but I haven’t tried it. Seems like a potentially better alternative with a glass neg carrier if it doesn’t create bubbles.

mnemosyne · Jan 24, 2021

a tiny amount of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) spread out to form a thin, almost invisible layer will work ... I just found out

Edwal scratch remover?

eli griggs

tomkatf

Rick A

eli griggs

Paul Howell

Patrick Robert James

Bill Burk

AgX

removed account4

markbau

MattKing

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David A. Goldfarb

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mnemosyne

Edwal scratch remover?

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