Kodak HT-2 and ST-1 recipe

After a bunch of internet scraping i finally found recipes for kodak HT-2 and ST-1.

The recipes stated here are as follows:

To make 1/2 liter of Kodak HT-2
water ------ 375 ml
acetic acid (28%) ---62.5 ml
silver nitrate ---- 3.75 g
water to make 500 ml

Kodak ST-1 Stock Solution
Water 100.0 ml
Sodium sulfide, anhydrous 2.0 grams
To use dilute the stock solution 1 part stock to 9 parts water.

Does anyone know if these are correct?
And if so, would these tests be a good way to know i'm fixing and washing well for archival prints?
The link states selenium could be used as an alternative to ST-1, is this true? (i can only get sodium sulfide at 60%)

Edit:
Isn't part B of sepia toner just sepia sulphide, can i use this as an alternative to st-1?

My Kodak B&W Darkroom Dataguide has a 1L version of HT-2 with 2x your amounts, so that is correct for what you posted.

LFGuy said:

My Kodak B&W Darkroom Dataguide has a 1L version of HT-2 with 2x your amounts, so that is correct for what you posted.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, the link i posted also refered to this 1 liter version so that checks out.

Ed Buffloe's Unblinking Eye has lots of great info including a discussion of the two tests in question and the formulae here: https://unblinkingeye.com/Articles/Archival/archival.html

They also have an image of the "Hypo Estimator" color strip that you can download.

Best,

Doremus

Thanks!
I remember reading about the FT-1 but it must have slipped my mind. It may be a better solution for me because getting sodium sulfide might be a bit tricky. Would the FT-1 test on my second fixing bath be a good way to test for archival fixing?

I see now you posted earlier saying ST-1 would be a better test for fiber paper, maybe using KRST as an alternative might be the best solution for me.

I use the selenium-toner test for residual silver instead of ST-1. I always have the toner around and it has a good shelf life, in contrast to the ST-1 solution. The testing procedure is the same.

Kodak recommends a 1+9 dilution of KRST, but a thread here, or over at the LF forum experimented with stronger dilutions and even straight concentrate, all with the same results. I have a small eyedropper bottle of 1+9 KRST on the shelf just for this purpose.

After thorough washing, place a drop of the test solution on an unexposed portion of the print or film.l Wait three minutes. Any staining other than a very faint yellowish stain indicates inadequate fixing. Mix new fixer and refix any prints that might have not had adequate fixing.

FWIW, on another thread here, the question of how to test an entire print processed and washed in a rotary processor for residual silver came up. Since it would be the back of the print that likely wouldn't receive adequate water flow, testing the back of the print would seem to be necessary. The same procedure for the back of the print should work.

Testing the entire print by mixing up a tray of KRST at the 1+9 dilution should work as well. In that case, an unexposed, but completely processed and washed print would be the control.

And, the FT-1 test won't work well for testing fixer intended for fiber-base prints that are processed for optimum (archival) permanence. It simply isn't sensitive enough. It works adequately as a down-and-dirty test for fixer for film and RC papers, for which the dissolved silver content of the fixer can be much higher. For fiber-base paper, the best method I know of is using throughput capacity with a large safety factor and then two-bath fixation. FWIW, I use a throughput of maximum 36 8x10-inch prints per liter of fix 1. These then go through a fresh fix 2 and fix one is discarded. Fix 2 can then be promoted to fix 1 for a few cycles (I like no more than three) before both baths need to be mixed fresh.

That and testing the last print through fix 2 before it gets promoted to fix 1 for residual silver ensures that I have adequately fixed all my prints. And, I often use the fixer to a lesser extent than that; what I've outlined is my maximum.

Best,

Doremus

Thanks a lot for the help

Do you know when using this KRST test would be best?

I'll be doing
dev/stop/fix1/holding
and at the end of the day fix2/holding/selenium/wash/HCA/wash/adostab

Test before the Adostab stabilizer step (which may be unnecessary...).

That said, since you're selenium toning beforehand, underfixed prints would likely exhibit some staining in that step unless your toner is quite weak.

Doremus

Makes sense. I will be toning in 1+19 most of the time. I'm also not too sure about the adostab yet, it seems promising but there doesn't seem to be a lot of experiences or research on it.