Want to Buy Looking for 1-2 lb English Amidol

[hirudin]

Looking for a source for 1-2lb English Amidol. Let me know if you have some and your price!

 

[Ian Grant]

Amidol has not been readily available here in the UK for decades, the last manufacturer was Johnsons of Hendon, they ceased all chemical synthesis in 1963.
My chemical supplier's 1985 list shows Amidol at £19 35 for 100g, Hydroquinone was £5.10 for 500g, & Metol £13.20 for 500g.

You will have to import if from the US with the now high shipping costs, then Duty & VAT compounded on top of both, or maybe from China.

Ian

 

[hirudin]

Good to know about UK suppliers, thanks for the info. I'm just trying to avoid the pink-staining, hard-to-dissolve product that seems to come from China and modern sources. I have a pound left of good amidol I bought back in 2017; it dissolves easily and doesn't stain. If you know sources of this kind of quality amidol, I'd love to bend your ear on it.

-Jesse-

 

[Gaston 012]

Excuse me for crashing in but I have an amateurish question: I recently acquired some used Amidol but it is old, it looks completely black.
Is it usable? will increasing the amount to compensate for the age help?
Thanks

 

[DREW WILEY]

All the amidol I ever used was black right from the start. What I currently have is amidol from Artcraft in NYC. It's good stuff, and hasn't shifted in performance a bit. I forget where I put my jar of that horrible orange-staining Chinese stuff.

 

[eli griggs]

I just looked at Artcraft and they only list Chinese Amidol.

 

[DREW WILEY]

That's sad. I don't remember when I bought the good stuff from Artcraft - perhaps a decade ago. Glad I still have some left. Perhaps some chemist could identify what the contaminant in the Chinese version actually is, and surmise if it's removable. The rumor was, it is nickel.

 

[hirudin]

In my experience, the good stuff is a light and fluffy, mid-grey powder. It dissolves easily and quickly, and creates a warm coloured grey solution that performs beautifully. Clean working, no issues. I tried buying a formulary amidol developer kit a couple of years back; the powder was black and crunchy and took a long time to dissolve... and then it stained my prints pink. The stain washed out, but it took an extended wash for an RC sheet of paper. Never again.

 

[eli griggs]

I have the Photgrapher's Formulary Amidol kit, never used, but your description is spot on.

Would additional grinding of the Amidol result in a significant increase in dissolving time?

Anybody?