How well does Neutol last?

[Matt5791]

I have a what appears to be an unopened bottle of Agfa Neutol that came with a job lot of stuff on ebay. I don't know how old it is but I guess 5 years+.

I tried it last night and I can't seem to get decent blacks - I am assuming this is because it is past its use by date.

Before I chuck it, I just wanted to confirm that this is the likely cause of the poor blacks.

Any thoughts would be very helpful.

(PS - it is dark in colour - much darker than the new bottle of Neutol I was using recently)

 

[Petzi]

How long do you develop? Which paper do you use?

Even a slightly aged developer should have enough activity in it when you use newly prepared working solution.

What was your dilution?

 

[Ole]

I once had a bottle of Neutol that was so old that some of the stuff had come out of solution - it rattled whan shook. Instead of throuwing it away right away, I made up a working solution. I had to cut the bottle open to get the solid stuff out, and stir a lot to get it all to dissolve.

What can I say? It didn't work.

 

[Leon]

I have a bottle of very brown and old neutol that I still use - it's about 7 years old I think. It has some scum in the bottom and rattles as Ole says, but it works fine. I tend to use it half and half with new neutol - say 1:1:28ish. It seems to give a warmer more velvety feel to the print tones.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Which type of Neutol do you have? One version contains ascorbate - one does not. The shelf life expectancy of the ascorbate version is reported to be short.