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Kodak Polytoner and alternative sepia/sulfide toners

As you probably know, you can make it pretty easily. You can find the recipe on line if you search. BTW, I have a large bottle of Kodak Brown if you are interested.
 
Kodak published the formula for Polytoner, mix of Kodak Brown toner and Kodak rapid selenium toner. Polytoner was (is) great stuff, I have good ventilation but I don't use a lot of sulfide toners.
 
I have been using them for a while trying to preserve the last Kodak drops.
Best are MT4 Siena and MT5 Sepia for my taste of course. MT4 the closest to Poly but still different.
Got some Viradon (old), great stuff but same...still different.
So MT4 is my main toner now.
 

It's actually not that easy to make poly toner yourself, but one could try the concentration of black salt available in most Asian food stores.
 
Philippe-Georges said:
Could you please explain the black salt procédé?
Click to expand...

Black, Himalayan salt aka Kala Namak has a high sulfur content and is water soluble. Start with the 2% solution by weight but you can work it up to 10% by wait for different results.
 
At the request of the OP, I've moved this thread out of the Classifieds.
 
Making a Sodium Polysulfide toner is pretty easy, although it takes time.

1 Teaspoon Sulfur (15 ml) ~5 grams
1 Tablespoon Sodium Sulfide (45 ml) ~ 15 grams
1 Liter Water

Mix the ingredients in a bottle and agitate. At room temperature it takes approximately 3 weeks for the Sodium Sulfide and the Sulfur to fully react. Daily agitation speeds the reaction time.

Below is a photo of the toner. The bottle on the left was mixed three day prior to the photo. There is still unreacted sulfur. Bottle on the right was mixed this spring.

This is a working strength formula.

In my darkroom a newly mixed batch produces little color change with Ilford Multigrade RC paper. Older solutions will produce more color change. You can change the working properties by reducing the pH using borax or citric acid. I will defer to Tim Rudman's book 'The Photographer's Toning Book' for details on polysulfide toning .

I learned a lot about Polysulfide toners at the Image Permanence Institute website regarding the Silverlock toner that they use to make. You would need to check if info is still available online.
 
{Moderator edit: this thread originally appeared in the Classifieds as a search for polytoner. OP has found their toner, but since the discussion has also involved some alternative solutions (no pun intended), we decided to move & merge the thread to its present location so that this information can help others and be expanded upon.}

Looking for some Polytoner.
Thanks. G
 
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Me too. Down to my last bottle. But there are recipes on-line to make it yourself. But I think you need Kodak Brown toner, also difficult to find.
 
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I'll take a good look around and see if anyone I know has any
 
Pretty sure a good substitute for Kodak Brown toner is Kodak Polysulfide toner T-8.
7.5 grams Liver of sulfur
2.5 grams sodium carbonate monohydrate
Water to make 1 liter.

Stinks to high heaven!

Takes 10-15 minutes at room temperature, yields a pleasing dark brown tone.
 
I'm famous for stinking my whole building...!
My friends did this to make fun of me


Matt, I know of this substitute but I dont want to play with selenium powder.
 
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