Flying with developer

No I haven't been sniffing or drinking it! I'm going to New York in the morning and will be making a visit to B+H. The most exciting part of the trip for me! I saw that they have Pyro PMK there which is something I want to try and its a lot cheaper than here. Is there any problems bringing the stuff back into the country in the hold luggage? :confused:

I've flown many times with developers, both liquid & powdered, in my hold luggage from the US to the UK and UK to Turkey with no problems.

Ian

Ah ok, cheers. I'll need another suitcase then.

Just don't go overboard, like I did. The last itme I was at b&h I brougt back a gallon of glacial acetic acid.

Fortunately I was driving my own car, so there were no big accusations at crossing back into Canada about what terrorist act I might have been planning what that in that jug. I figured that I was not likely to be around again with space in the trunk, and it was only 5x what I pay locally for indicator stop bath, when I use it.

The other plus is I will never need to run out to buy vinegar when making pickles in the fall for many years either.

If you want real paperwork fun, try buying bulk sodium hydroxide. Another hobby is soap making, and red devil lye is getting hard to find, and rather pricy in comparison. For the csot of 17 batches of soap using a can of red devil lye I now have a much larger bag (actually it is now in two well sealed plastic pails, that will make 93 batches worth of soap. I bought this locally. I thought if I tried to drive that across the border the DEA would have the RCMP turning my darkroom and the rest of my basement upside down looking for the clandestine drug lab that does not exist.

You are going to love B&H. It is an amazing place.

I don't know if B&H has the powdered version of PMK, but if they do, you could get that instead. It's relatively easy to mix.

Mike Wilde said:

If you want real paperwork fun, try buying bulk sodium hydroxide. Another hobby is soap making, and red devil lye is getting hard to find, and rather pricy in comparison. For the csot of 17 batches of soap using a can of red devil lye I now have a much larger bag (actually it is now in two well sealed plastic pails, that will make 93 batches worth of soap. I bought this locally. I thought if I tried to drive that across the border the DEA would have the RCMP turning my darkroom and the rest of my basement upside down looking for the clandestine drug lab that does not exist.

Click to expand...

The first ambrotype setup I saw was being carried around in the trunk of an old car. When the guy popped the lid and I saw all of those chemicals, some not in their original containers, I laughed to think that a cop would think he'd busted a mobile meth lab if he saw it.

It got back without any problems, just a lovely bandage of airport security 'searched' tape around it. I never brought back enough of the photographers formulary T-4 fixer though. Could anybody suggest an alternative fixer for use with pyro I can buy in the UK?

http://www.jackspcs.com/tf4.htm

Fotospeed sell an Alkali fixer but don't offer much in the way of information sheets etc. Also, it isn't a rapid fix, so 7 minutes fix time for a FB print. Film fixing times aren't so long, 4 or 5 minutes.

Ole Tjugen has posted an Alkali fix and TF-3 has also been published. However, I have seen references indicating standard ILFORD HYPAM can be used.

Tom.

Cheers Tom

Moersch has an excellent alkali fixer
http://www.moersch-photochemie.de/
Look in the shop under Sonstiges where you will find ATS Schnellfixierbad alkalisch.

Tom

Here in the UK Retro Photographic stock the Moersch Alkaline Fixer concentrate in 1 litre bottles.

Dead Link Removed

Tom Kershaw said:

Also, it isn't a rapid fix, so 7 minutes fix
time for a FB print. Tom.

Click to expand...

My usual time using very dilute 'slow' fixer
is within 4 minutes. It is though fresh each
sheet; a one-shot. Dan

Dan,

One of the major issues with the Fotospeed fixer is a lack of adequate exposition on how to make best use of the product. Compare this to the PDF for ILFORD HYPAM which gives a good overview of the product.

Tom.

Ilford Hypam works well with Pyro developers. Compared to TF-4 I haven't seen any problems with the stain being affected. I've used it for the last 3 years, and prior to that TF-4, so I have lots of negatives with both fixers, and I really can't tell them apart, either in scan or print.

- Thomas

Jarvman said:

It got back without any problems, just a lovely bandage of airport security 'searched' tape around it. I never brought back enough of the photographers formulary T-4 fixer though. Could anybody suggest an alternative fixer for use with pyro I can buy in the UK?

http://www.jackspcs.com/tf4.htm

Click to expand...