Hardening XRay Films

Been futzing with some Fuji HRU cut down to 4x5, but have had a heck of a time with scratches on my negatives during/after development.

Would it be worth the hassle to get some chrome alum to make a hardening bath, or should I just accept gouges in the emulsion as part of working with this film?

There's a lot of old hardener recipes out there. Some were used in warm conditions (tropical processing) even before development. I have zero experience with X-ray film. Not sure it scratches any easier than ordinary sheet film. Prices of sheet film are frightening

I've been shooting Fuji HRT in 8x10 which I assume is similar. I think the emulsion is pretty tough, but one problem is the film has emulsion on both sides. I acquired some Cesco trays with smooth bottoms -- not polished, but no ribs sticking up. I usually develop one sheet at a time and cycle them down a cascade of trays for washing. I won't say I've had no problems, but they have been minimal and I don't use hardener. I believe @Andrew O'Neill shoots some X-ray film, perhaps he'll have some comments.

I've read of folks using polyethylene bags, one sheet per bag, or in a standard tray laying a sheet of glass cut to fit pretty closely against the sides to eliminate rubbing the film on the ribs. Of course little of this applies if you're using tanks. But the double-sided emulsion needs to be considered in any handling.

Flares said:

Would it be worth the hassle to get some chrome alum to make a hardening bath

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The problem really isn't the hardening per se. It's the lack of a protective supercoat. Hardening the gelatin further (it's already hardened on x-ray film) won't make all that much of a difference.

Your best bet is to learn/harnass a process that involves minimal to no scratching. It can be done, but it's fussy, especially if you're using double-sided film. I had decent luck using single-sided Ektascan B/RA back when that was still made. By the time I 'mastered' it, I realized I had been investing loads of time in a material that inherently delivered poor tonality under most conditions. Moving to regular film like Fomapan felt like a huge relief - it just works!

Btw, when using double-sided film, you could just accept the scratches on the bottom side of the film and then strip the bottom emulsion when you're done. You can do this by taping the film to a surface, image-side down, so you can strip the backside. It's a little messy, you're left with an un-stripped edge and you need to be careful you don't get any of the liquids involved on the image side. It can work.

To each their own; I just didn't find it worth the hassle, especially on 4x5. Low-end regular sheet film isn't that expensive in 4x5".

Xray film can scratch when you slide one sheet off the top of the stack. It can scratch rubbing against the cut edges of the other sheets. If you slide it over any surface, it scratches. It's mostly annoying to use. Development works best using hangers. It oddly doesn't really scratch easily once developed and dry - so I can't see any value adding hardener.

I am using this film in 14x17, and get zero scratches, using flat-bottomed trays. How are you processing it?

I use flat bottom trays and PMK Pyro developer which harden the emulsion, no scratches. The only time I've had issues is when I tried rotary development.