Ferrotyping?

[athanasius80]

This is an just academic exercise, but if I wanted to go totally retro and ferrotype my fiber prints, how could I do it without searching for vintage ferrotype plates and polish? What did ferrotype plate polish consist of? And who bothers with this now?
Thanks,
Chris

 

[gordrob]

Bon Ami was used to polish the plates. I don't know of anyone that uses the ferrotype plates now but there are probably lots sitting in basements collecting dust.
Gord

 

[Charles Webb]

I used Edwal ferrotype polish, it was a bit like a wax and allowed the dried prints to pop off without sticking to the tin. The tin was chrome or nickel plated and polished to a mirror like surface, and scratch or ding in the surface was transferred directly to the glossy surface of your print. The use of BonAmi would transfer billions of minute scratches the the tin and thus make it nearly useless. I used two Ferrotype "tins" on a flip electric
dryer and would squeege the wet print emulsion to the the mirror surface
then pull the canvas cover tight over the prints, "tin" and dryer. Delivered a beautuful glossy print. Also used a Pako Drum dryer with the mirror surface also polished with the Edwal juice. I also worked wonderful for thousands of dryed prints. Not particularly a system I would like to go back to. Double polished plate glass will also work in place of a "tin". A type of wax is necessary to keep the emulsion from sticking to the glass. Too much wax makes the print surface awful, so experiment with a tiny bit spread over the whole surface. A small amout if liquid floor wax goes a long way!

 

[Ole]

I have one of the old driers, which I use instead of a dry mounting press for flattening fiber prints. But I have no desire to try ferrotying again - those plates were a pain to keep clean, smooth and unscratched.

 

[Marco Gilardetti]

Ah, damn... "to ferrotype" in the sense of having them glossy... I thought you were talking of the "ferrotype" process.

Ornano in Italy regularly produces the "Spiano" liquid. I think it's basically a wetting agent, but I'm probably wrong. Plates can be purchased by fotomatica.it, and they're incredibly expensive.

I do personally still care about the thing, but eventually missed to obtain a decent result so far. I guess probably something went wrong in my plate/roller combination with age, I should invest some money in new units. It's a difficult task, in my opinion. It must be said, however, that glossy pictures that my father made in the past are incredibly much glossier and brighter than any RC paper, except perhaps Cibachrome. That's why I still stubbornly give it a try, from time to time.

 

[athanasius80]

Oh dear, I should have clarified myself. I'm interested in doing "non-heating" ferrotyping. My darkroom gets hot enough already...
Chris

 

[dancqu]

I'm interested in doing "non-heating" ferrotyping.

I've metal glossed but not glass. Enter a key word
or two at Google. Two or three years ago I found a
good article detailing the cold glass method. Dan

 

[Helen B]

I used to use glass in the days before I had a drum dryer. The glass has to be clean and free of surface defects, otherwise the paper emulsion moulds into the defect and might not let go - I never used releasing wax. I just used wetting agent in the final rinse, squeegeed the print down with an old windscreen (windshield) wiper blade, then left them to dry naturally. Slow drying is better than fast drying, and some kind of covering blanket helps, especially if weighted down. Expect badly curled prints that crack a little when straightened if you dry too quickly on glass without a cover. Heated drum dryers are much easier to use.

UK English for ferrotyping is 'glazing'.

Best,
Helen

 

[john_s]

There used to be a Kodak info sheet or booklet that specified a certain fine Aloxite abrasive powder for polishing glazing sheets (metal ones). I forget the grade, but they stressed that it was very fine and that "no other grade would do."

 

[dancqu]

... just academic exercise, ... how could I do it ...
ferrotype plates and polish? ... who bothers with this now?

You can read quite a bit about ferrotyping at,
www.w7wwg.com . There is a mix of other interesting
photo related articles at that site.

Although many years ago, I do recall overall excellent
results and that without ever hearing of 'polish'. I've
used platen as well as rotary dryers.

One Big reason to bother is to achieve Maximum Black.
IMO, the black is noticeably more so a Black than when
a glossy surface is mat dried. Also prints so dryed as I've
mentioned are essentially flat.

How about that? You don't suppose a platen print
dryer would do well as a mounting press? Dan

 

[lee]

Pako used to sell a solution called Pakasol that was used as the last solution before the print was squeegeed on to the ferrotype tin

lee\c

 

[jjstafford]

Pako used to sell a solution called Pakasol that was used as the last solution before the print was squeegeed on to the ferrotype tin

lee\c

Geeeze, bring back the old days will ya? I feel so old. We used to dip the wet, barely washed 4x5's from the old guys of them-days in it before they slopped them wet into the enlargers.

 

[Gerald Koch]

I remember that Kodak at one time published a formula containing paraffin wax and carbon tetrachloride to apply to the plates. You would apply a small amount and then polish the plate. This prevented the prints from sticking.

 

[garryl]

Pako used to sell a solution called Pakasol that was used as the last solution before the print was squeegeed on to the ferrotype tin

lee\c

They still make it--

http://www.bkaphoto.com/detail.asp?section=Darkroom&cat=Print%20Conditioners&product=PK128