Flattening old 35mm negatives?

[Laurent]

Hi all,

my parents gave me 3 rolls of they honeymoon trip, and the negs have been "wound" arount a plastic thingy, I suppose it was common practice at this time.

The negatives spent close to 50 years that way (gosh, that does not make me feel younger ;-) ), so they are pretty keen on staying that way... I could scan a few frames to check images are good enough for some prints, but obviously flatness will be an issue, even for small prints...

I tries extending one film in the darkroom for a few days, but this does not seem to help.

Any suggestions? I envisaged a hot was (circa 40°C) to soften the base, but am not sure if the emulsion will be too happy with that.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Try loading the film in a reel, with the emulsion side out, and leave them there for days. I've managed to flatten film this way, but it wasn't an extreme case. It will probably be hard to load, but I think it's the simplest and safest way I could think.

 

[darkosaric]

If what Anon recommend does not help - then cut it in 6 frame pieces, put it in one heavy book, put 5--6 heavy book on top, and leave it for a week.

 

[trythis]

I've had success cutting them into five frame strips and putting them into plastic sleeves alternating the direction of the curl.
Then I stack them and put them under any book for a month. This is for negatives that were curled up into metal film canisters from the 1950's


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[Laurent]

Thanks , this looks like valid options. I'll cut them in stripes and put them in the library... should do it!

 

[Jeff Bradford]

I cut them into strips of 6 frames, then press them between two sheets of glass with spring clamps. Sometimes it takes a month.

 

[Jon Shiu]

I have a lot of old rolled-up film. One of these days I'll try some tests with the drymount press.

Jon