I have a large back yard (2 acres). I'm also working on rigging something up so I'll be standing a few feet away using a long match and not holding the neg. It does come in handy being the daughter of an engineer - something genetic in the thought processes, I think. Something for others to consider, though.
(And this is yet another time I miss being at the lab and having a fume hood handy, not to mention the chemicals).
Here's one from the pile of envelopes (with about 7-12 each) in a wrap labeled "1912 Europe" (he was married in 1912). I really like this one for some reason. Most of the others so far aren't as interesting (and maybe my great-grandmother took this one instead - she was a painter as well as a bacteriologist). This is on the larger roll film (mentioned earlier, film about 90mm wide, image 83mm x 140mm).
View attachment 71225
I haven't done any others from this group, yet, I've been doing the baby pictures and shots of my grandmother and her sisters. There's also a trip to England (and maybe more) on smaller film from the 30s.
Admittedly I have a few more unshot rolls of nitrate verichrome, maybe once shot I'll burn them and record it on color film to get more of the burn color
It's lovely.
I went through this with some film that had expired in 1947 and that I just exposed 6 months ago. I was able to get results from the film, but after PE explained to me WHY it's so dangerous to keep them in the house, I scanned and then burned all my nitrate negs.
The reason was that he explained that the reaction happens when the film switches from one environment from another, so it could also cause a reaction going from humid and hot to cool and dry, but that it had the most chances of reacting to hot moist temps.
But the biggest and most important thing to remember is that it makes its own oxygen, so even in the freezer, in a sealed container, it can ignight, burn, and catch the whole fridge/freezer on fire.
It's really dangerous to keep in the house (again according to PE) and think about it, are old negs more important than your current images that might be lost in a fire, or your life or your children's lives?
So scan it, and get rid of it... If you look in my gallery, you'll find a shot if my nitrate burning on a picnic tableI figured I would document the event.
Admittedly I have a few more unshot rolls of nitrate verichrome, maybe once shot I'll burn them and record it on color film to get more of the burn color
~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk
It's no safer for being unexposed. Why would you burn the films with images and keep the equally-dangerous but of no-artistic-value blank ones around?
OK, after doing some burn tests on pieces from edges of many pieces, I have more questions. If a piece of film is nearly 4 inches by 5 1/4 inches and has a hole/tear on one end (as if it had been attached on a spike or pin and then torn off), is that indicative of being pack film? These tend to be in groups of 1 or 2 good ones or 12 of similar timing. And when did that go from being nitrate to acetate (and there are several different types of acetate)? I can only find dates for Kodak and I am fairly sure my great-grandfather used others (at least Agfa-Ansco) at times. Almost no shots have edge codes or writing.
When doing burn tests, I'm taking a piece from the rebate that's about 2 inches long, holding it upright in kelly clamps and touching a match to the top. Some have obviously been nitrate as they burned right down fairly quickly. Some have fizzled out after 1/2 second. Others, curiously, have burned down a little ways then stopped. No real flame, and they look different when burning than the ones I'm sure are nitrate, but the test result is still sorta in between a positive and a negative. Literature I've seen states that only nitrate based film will burn down from the top. Oh to still have access to diphenylamine in sulfuric! I miss the lab (we used that stuff all the time). I'd much prefer to have two test results that agree.
[rant] Why, oh why, did he shoot with several different sizes of cameras and film? There will be an envelope that says "children 1922" and there will be 2 or 3 sizes of frames in that envelope. And no notation of whether they are his daughters or a mix of daughters and cousins. No envelope has a list of who besides the main subject is in any shots. [/rant]
Take a NEW piece of film and test that, learn how it burns, then compare, that way you have an example of guaranteed safety film.
~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk
No worries, Stone - some of mine are actually labeled nitrate and it's a reaction I'm fairly familiar with having burned some unburned gunpowder from contact shots in my day. Remember my job used to be forensic chemist. We used DPA and a match to test particles from clothing to see if they were unburned gunpowder.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?