ID11 forever?

[shadesofgrey]

Morning all. Bought a box of ID11 (5ltr) from a boot sale last Sunday, paid the outrageous price of £1.50 The box looks rough and has been opened but the packets look good and are still sealed. Ilford say that ID11 last indefinitely if unopened; would you guys agree? The box is pre Harman Tech by the way.

All the best.
B.

 

[jim appleyard]

There's only one way to find out, try it on a test roll. Nothing lasts forever and the word indefinitely is just a way of saying that they don't know either.

 

[Mike Wilde]

Part of it should survive

Ilford put the developing agents - hydroquinone and metol (or phenidone- I cann't recall which apart from HQ is in the formula) in a separate packet, so they would not scavennge oxygen from the other developer components.

So if one packet on openning has gone brown, (the A one I seem to recall - the smaller sized packet, anyway) then the developing agent has faded away. The other chemicals should be ok - the preservative (sulfite) the alkali (carbonate) and restrainer (if any - bromide iodide, etc.).

If you don't bulk mix, and have a replacement developing agent on hand to replace any 'off' ones in the packet, you could do some experimenting by mixing it up with some measured number of crushed and coffee filtered vitamin C tablets - google patrick gainer vitamin C to see what he has formulated.

If you want to find the needed bits - to make the ID-11, then I also recall it is mostly equivalent to Kodak's D-76 original formula ublished in the darkroom cookbook, and a number of online sources.

 

[DieHipsterDie]

Boot sale?

 

[z3guy]

Boot sale?

Boot sale on this side of the pond is known as a flea market, boot being a different word for car trunk.

Paul

 

[scratchee]

Boot sale on this side of the pond is known as a flea market, boot being a different word for car trunk.

So is stuff actually sold out of a boot? Like here in the U.S. we have "yard sales," and they actually take place in a yard.

 

[shadesofgrey]

Hi All. Thanks for the replies. Boot sales (Trunk sale in US) were similar to yard sale only you sold your junk out of a boot/trunk, only now you'd never get half the stuff they sell in a boot and or trunk! Lots of dealers now. Hi Mike, thanks for the real interesting info, going to google Gainer while I make a pot of coffee Yep, they say that D-76 is identical and now that ID11 is made in the US I wonder which one I'm using, could it be.....:confused: No, they wouldn't dare, would they
All the best.
B.

 

[kiku]

So is stuff actually sold out of a boot? Like here in the U.S. we have "yard sales," and they actually take place in a yard.

Hi:
Believe that "boot" is the British term for what we in the U.S.A. call an automobile's trunk.
Howard Tanger

 

[DieHipsterDie]

The only things sold out of a trunk here will get you five to ten for doing so.

 

[zenrhino]

The only things sold out of a trunk here will get you five to ten for doing so.

What? You don't need any knock-off Fendi/Gucci/Prada bags or bad rap CD's?

 

[DieHipsterDie]

Nope but I'll sell ya some knock-off Rodinal that also makes a great martini.

 

[Ian Grant]

Ilford say that ID11 last indefinitely if unopened; would you guys agree? The box is pre Harman Tech by the way.

Ilford used a letter followed by a number code which told you the date of manufacture.

One thing for sure is that ID-11 will not last forever unless packaged extremely well. I aquired a number of packs of Microphen, ID-11 and Hyfin about 6 years ago they date to 1968, all have deteriorated completely. They were in polythene packaging and this breathes, albeit extremely slowly but after 30+ years the developing agents had totally oxidised. More modern packaging may prove slightly better.

Ian

 

[gainer]

You don't have to Google to get me.

It's a good bet that whatever is in the B package is still good. Probably is sodium sulfite and a little borax. If the A part won't go, you can buy some phenidone and some sodium ascorbate or ascorbic acid and sodium bicarbonate. Unless you are making a huge batch at once, the phenidone is best handled as a solution in alcohol, or Propylene glycol or glycerine. The alcohol solution doesn't last as long as the others, and glycerine is pretty viscous, but not bad if you keep it in a warm place. A 1% solution is good.

The B part of ID-11 is not acidic enough to handle ascorbic acid. If you can't find the sodium ascorbate, mix 1 teaspoon of ascorbic acid with 1/2 tsp of bicarb in a little water and let it finish fizzing before adding it to a quart of the B solution. Add 10 ml of the 1% phenidone solution. Stir it all up and you should have a good substitute for ID-11. I forgot whether your packages were to make quarts or gallons. What I just told you goes for a quart.

The B solution will last quite a long time after it is mixed. In spite of what some worry-warts have said, I have found the use of volumetric measurements of most powders to be consistent from batch to batch, so a good plan would be to mix the B solution (I mean of course to use the powders in the B package for a certain volume) to make that volume and add the other ingredients as needed when needed. The phenidone will be already dissolved and the ascorbic acid and bicarb dissolve readilly.

 

[Kirk Keyes]

Boot sales (Trunk sale in US) were similar to yard sale only you sold your junk out of a boot/trunk, only now you'd never get half the stuff they sell in a boot and or trunk! Lots of dealers now.

You guys need to get some big assed SUVs like everyone here in the US has instead of all those dinky little Renaults, Peugeots, Opels, and Vauxhalls you have there...

 

[MattKing]

You guys need to get some big assed SUVs like everyone here in the US has instead of all those dinky little Renaults, Peugeots, Opels, and Vauxhalls you have there...

I guess Kirk hasn't seen a Range Rover

 

[gainer]

By the way, www.unblinkingeye.com still has the article "Non-chromogenic Antiscorbutic Developers for B&W"

 

[Kirk Keyes]

I guess Kirk hasn't seen a Range Rover

I have - the Disco 90 is no bigger than my Jeep Grand Cherokee. The A110 is big. But I was really meaning something like the Nissan Armada or the Cadillac Escalade.

 

[shadesofgrey]

Thanks to one and all.

Hi Gadget, thanks for the cookery lesson, saved the day, or should that be, the film, and I'm reading "Non-chromogenic Antiscorbutic Developers for B&W" now; thanks to Mike. Hi Kirk, my beautiful matalic blue Grand Cherokee LTD was a dream, fully loaded and more buttons than Uhura's com panel. When the lease came up I was given a new......DISCO.... What a pile of........I complained so much they gave me a new Shogun; nice, smooth, very quiet, but not much fun. There's a guy down the road with the new LTD, can't wait for the lease to run out on the shogun. BTW: What's an, Opel; a sweet, right?

All the best.
Scott.