Mixing polysulfide toner as a concentrate

LarsAC · Mar 15, 2017

Hello,

does anyone mix polysulfide (brown / sepia) toner as a concentrate ? An often cited recipe uses 7.5g of potassium polysulfide and 2.5g of sodium carbonate for one liter of working solution.

My idea would be to make a concentrate with e.g. ten times the above amounts and dilute 1+9 for final use. This would allow to mix working solutions of various dilutions easily and save handling of solids for each new batch of toner.

Ideas / experiences / feedback welcome - thank you !

Regards,
Lars

Gerald C Koch · Mar 15, 2017

At one time Kodak sold a brown polysulfide toner as a concentrate. It was rather syrupy. So it is certainly possible. My only caution would be that the liquid would be quite corrosive to skin. So avoid any contact.

Michael Wesik · Mar 15, 2017

Gerald C Koch said:
At one time Kodak sold a brown polysulfide toner as a concentrate. It was rather syrupy. So it is certainly possible. My only caution would be that the liquid would be quite corrosive to skin. So avoid any contact.

+1

...............

Lars, if you're referring to the T-8 toner, I've tried to make it into a concentrate and it didn't work (go into solution), though I don't recall the specifics. I would try with a small volume to start.

LarsAC · Mar 16, 2017

Yes, I was looking into T-8. Solubility should be high enough to mix a tenfold concentration.

Will start with a small batch. Thanks for the safety reminder.

Lars

LarsAC · Mar 18, 2017

Mixed 500ml of a tenfold concentration this morning. Will check a working solution with 1+9 dilution In the next couple of days.

Lars

adelorenzo · Mar 18, 2017

Moersch polysulfide toner comes in a very concentrated 100 ml bottle that gets diluted between 1:20 and 1:100.

LarsAC · Mar 19, 2017

Yes, saw that and the it started me thinking if I could get rid of handling solids for each batch of working solution.

Lars

LarsAC · Mar 19, 2017

Toned two prints after making working solutions from the concentrate tonight. Smells as expected. Works ok. The print on cool tone paper (MGCT) turned into a cool brown, somewhat unobtrusive. The print on MGWT turned into a fairly warm and strong brown. Without having seen them dry next to untoned prints, my favorite would be the MGCT. For MGWT I might still prefer Moersch's carbon toner after bleaching.

Lars

LarsAC · Mar 20, 2017

Just to sum up: here is a snapshot from two untoned vs toned prints (trees are on MGWT, the goggles are on MGCT). Both directly toned as described above, roughly 10mins.

Lars

Mixing polysulfide toner as a concentrate

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