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My old 777 batch

MMfoto

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Joined
Sep 11, 2004
Messages
523
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Another thread has got me interested in using Bluegrass's 777 again. I made a batch about 18-24 months ago and used it with replenishment, but haven't used it about a year. I'm torn between mixing up a new batch or trying to restart the old one with a shot of new. I don't mind mixing a fresh batch, but it took a long time for the first one to settle down and I'm not interested enough to go through all that just now. Advice?
 
Why not give the old stuff a try with a sheet (or short roll)? That's the only way to know if it'll still work.
 
I guess your right. You know I rarely shoot test rolls. I usually do most of this kind of stuff off the cuff. I suppose I could run a sunny 16 snip and that would be that. Then the question would be what to do if it comes out thin(likely). It's funny, I can spend 12 hours printing through the night and not notice the passsage of time, but I get so lazy when it comes to testing.
 
MMfoto said:
...I'm not interested enough to go through all that just now. Advice?
Click to expand...


Are you an occasional darkroom fan? If so, then PMK might be great for you. The stock solution lasts for years.
 
How big is a batch? If it's one gallon, I'd mix up a new gallon and replace half of your old batch with half of the new gallon. Develop some film. If you don't get sufficient density, you'll have to throw it all out and season a new gallon from scratch. If your newly recharged batch is ok, use the second half of the new gallon as replenisher. I do this every six months as I begin to notice loss of density after that time even though I replenish every 600 sq. inches or so. After a year of inactivity, I'd sure want to test it carefully before developing any film I cared about.

In any case, you'll definitely need to do more than replenish with just a "shot of new" if your batch is older than six months.
 
jim appleyard said:
Are you an occasional darkroom fan? If so, then PMK might be great for you. The stock solution lasts for years.
Click to expand...

Hi Jim, I'm in the darkroom a fair bit but I stopped using 777 for a long while because it didn't fit the bill for the work I was doing at the time. Now I'm interested again. I really like it with 35mm Tri-x, it's really quite beautiful. The softness, for lack of a better word, doesn't always work for me though.
 


The batch is only a gallon. I think I'll run a snip as is just to see and plan on dumping around two thirds to be replaced with fresh.

Boy, I tell ya, the first few rolls of HP5 I put through that first batch were the hottest negs I've ever developed, not to mention wicked fine grained.
 
Is Bluegrass still in business? If so, can some give me their contact info?
 
I use a homebrew 777 - i know - it is not the same.

I have found the best way to make a new batch stable, is to include 1/3 of the old mungy batch to pre-season it.
 
I don't have it at hand here at work, but it came from the unblinking eye site a few years ago I recall. It uses metol (anywher), glycin (Photog formulary) , and parapheylenediamine (base) (was jd photochem -they are now out of business)

So track down how available the developing ingredients are before working about making it. The PPD is rather nasty stuff, and not terribly available.

It is used replenished, and so not only do you want to keep the ppd off your skin, but also the silver stains.

I can pdf my notes if you are still interested. PM me.
 
One formula that has been suggested for 777 is:

Distilled water (125° F)..............700 ml
Metol......................................7 g
Sodium sulfite..........................70 g
Paraphenylene Diamine (base).....7 g
Glycin.....................................7 g
Cold distilled water to................1 liter

Use undiluted
Replenish from same stock
Run 5 or 6 rolls run through to ripened it.
Try 9 to 15 minutes at 75F.
Long working life.
 
Yes, that does seem to be the one I used. I replenished after no more than 2 rolls in a common tank, 60mL per roll, I seem to recall.

It does need to be 'fed' regularly. Also don't be stingy with liquid in the tank. I would fill Paterson Super 4 tanks to the top of the funnel, and then snap the lid on. It is really happier an larger tank in my experience.

I really liked how it made my negs soup up, but I am not presently shootining enough to feed it regularly to have any stock active presently.

I do have 250mL of seasoned 777 overflow 'munge' hanging around in a full labelled bottle on the back of a shelf over the sink ready to pre-season the next batch I make up.
Then I can get going without the need to perform film sacrifice on soaking 2 flashed rolls to start it from fresh.
 

This is the formula for Germain's, which is not the same as Harvey's. As I've noted here or elsewhere, the closest thing I've found to 777 in a published formula is FX-2.
 
bluegrass is still in business, and still making 777
if you contact them they can give you an idea
of when the next batches of 777 will be made ...
 
c6h6o3 said:
This is the formula for Germain's, which is not the same as Harvey's. As I've noted here or elsewhere, the closest thing I've found to 777 in a published formula is FX-2.
Click to expand...
Which is why I noted that is has been "suggested". I have found a couple of references to the above as being 777, but no proof of such. It has been suggested to be the Germain's formula too. Like many things on the net, I take all with a grain of salt.

Regardless of provenance, the formula is interesting and offered in that spirit.
 
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