freebie older paper?-what to do

Well,it was bound to happen. I didn't turn down cameras,lenses,an enlarger setup,etc. So well meaning friends:rolleyes: are passing along older photographic paper that they have had stored away for a few(!) years. It isn't much for now,I can only imagine what it will be in the future.
At present I have aquired some packages of Kodabromide F-2 & F-3,Kodak Polycontrast N and a package of Agfa-Gevaert Brovira. I am going to assume that most of what will turn up will be paper manufactured in the 1960's to the present. Of course I would like to experiment in the future with what I find as I grow into this new hobby of mine. I have been surfin' the internet enough to know that somebody,somewhere still works with some of this stuff.
So my question - is there a reference site in regards to the older paper and techniques used to work with it? Or is this going to be a case by case, as needed basis as I go along. Thanks for the help

I am in the same situation. I had a large chunk of a fridge full of OLD paper given to me; some expired in 1949. I assumed it might make for some interesting lith prints. Most of it prints fine in the low end and middle, but has lost two to three stops of highlights due to fog. A lot of it has yellowed. Acquire some benzotriazole and bromide to experiment with fog reduction, but don't plan on getting the same results you will get on fresh paper.

Kodabromide can last

I just sent out my postcard exchange this round on 1974 expired E surface kodabromide, and its contrast range was still on spec when I openned the package this spring. I bought it on a lark for $2 for 25 8x10 package. the store had aquired it as an estate sell back.

In addition to benzotriazole and potassium bromide as anti-foggants, get hold of some potassium iodide. Pot iodide concentrations ranging from 0.25 g/l to 1 g/l are suggested for restraining fog on old papers, reported in this article on the Unblinking Eye website.

Beware that anti-fogging chemicals, basically restrainers, will lengthen your development times by leaps and bounds; your Kodak papers, in my opinion, are not interesting enough to warrant the investment of time. I don't know about the Agfa.

Take a strip from each pack, cut each strip in two. Under safelights, one half goes in fixer, the other in developer. Refix both, and compare. Any fogging at all is a bad sign, as it usually gets worse when the paper is activated. Strangely, I have found horribly fogged papers that still lithed very well. Go figure.

Agfa Brovira is brilliant in lith. Expose the hell out of it and wait for some funky results. I have a box of 8x10 from a long time ago, and if I print it with regular chemistry it instantly gets black, that's how fogged it is. But a minute at f/5.6 on a normal neg and then lith printing - very interesting and funky results.
If anybody has paper they don't like printing on because it's too old and fogged, lith printing is usually the ticket. If you still don't want it - send it to me!

Good luck,

- Thomas

Thomas, I cannot tell you how much old paper I have thrown away before I found that out. I don't even like to think about it.

Here are a couple of examples.
The tree is on Agfa Portriga Rapid Grade 3, expired probably in the 1980s. The other one is on Agfa Brovira Grade 2, expired Lord knows when.
Both of these have received extremely strong exposure, and are developed in relatively strong lith solutions.
There is also a way of using a heavily fog supressing developer formula called Defender 58D. RLibersky has posted a recipe for it. The problem is you need chlorohydroquinone for it, and that is something that it seems as though you need to sell your soul to get hold of. But it works. I've seen prints of his that were on paper expired in the 1940s. And they look great! There is almost always hope, unless the paper inherently doesn't lith, or if it's moldy or something.

- Thomas

Folks,

I use old photo paper as a base for my carbon transfer work and I am always on the look-out for interesting papers that are no longer made and which are too old to have any use in silver printing.

I have a lot of glossy type papers on hand but am very interested in getting more of some of the older matte and texture type surfaces. If you have anything like this and want to donate it to a good cause I will be happy to pay postage, and if the paper works for me, send you a small carbon print in exchange.

Please contact me by PM if you have any questions.

Sandy King