Make 4x6 prints with 6x7 negatives

[67II]

When I do batches of postcards, I do bordered ones.
I trim 8x10 paper to 7x10, and make two 5x7 bordered prints back to back on the same sheet. I do that by printing one, removing the paper from the easel and rotating it 180 degrees and printing the second on the other half of the sheet.
I print them in batches of 4 - 6 sheets at a time, then develop them together in a large tray, using a longer developing time and shuffling continually.
After everything is processed and, where applicable, toned, and everything is dry, I cut the sheets into two.
When you do your tests you need to incorporate the longer developing time and a bit of waiting time between exposure and development.
And for what it's worth, I usually pick negatives that are relatively straightforward to print!

Great idea! Thank you for the response.

 

[67II]

These are good points. FWIW I've been printing forever with the 80mm's (Rodagon and Componon f4) from 6x9 (!) around 17x24cm print size without issues, in an enlarger designed for 4x5+. And I only recently thought about it. There is a 95mm and 105mm somewhere in our community Darkroom and I should begin to use it more often.
I did notice some illumination irregularities in some frames, which might come from that. I even enlarged to 50cm wide prints using the whole width of the negative, but now that I think of it, these might have a slight softness.

Ilford used to have Postcard Paper. But nowadays I guess ordinary paper works well; just draw the postcard outlines in the back.

Ilford has a Portfolio paper that is heavy stock. Works well for postcards.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

With a print that small you might be able to get away with using your 50mm.