Old stock ilfospeed paper.

[Argonaut]

I am new to film developing and printing, I recently bought an enlarger (besler 67c) and it came with a number of items of which was three nearly full boxes (100 count) of ilforspeed paper, 2.1m 3.1. and 4.1m. I really would like to use this as it represents alot of money and money is tight after spending 3500.00 on my dogs knee the other day. any special thing i should do with it or just experiment? I took alot of slides while stationed in germany in the 80's but have never done the chemical side of it. I have developed one photo (of my Dog) with it and it does work , though i didn't leave it in the developer long enough and i think the exposure was a little on the short side also. it was really cool to see the magic of the picture appear !

 

[koraks]

Given the product types 2.1m etc, this paper must be quite old and likely it has severe fog. There's a big chance the paper won't be very usable. Test an unexposed strip by developing it for the time indicated in your developer specs and see how it comes out. If it comes out grey, there's not a whole lot you can do to get decent prints from it.

 

[Molli]

To follow up on what Koraks said, if you run a strip of paper through the developer, stop and fixing process, also put a strip ONLY through the fix - then you have something to compare the processed paper to, otherwise your developed strip may look perfectly fine.
You're probably aware you have graded paper, but I thought I'd mention it since I, too, started with a lot of old papers, some of which were graded, some were fibre based and I had NO idea because the previous owners had all removed the data sheets. Speaking of, I do have copies of some for older papers and can scan and post them here if they'd be of assistance. Anyway, regarding the graded paper, no filters required, so that can be a good thing when you're just starting out - one less variable to worry about.

I've actually had good luck with old Ilford papers as far as fog goes, however, a lot of them have suffered contrast loss - some far more severely than others.
Both fog and contrast can be dealt with to a certain degree chemically, although I've never tried the latter 'cure'. For fog, get your hands on some benzotriazole to pop in your developer. I've contributed to a thread here on Photrio with test strip photos and the dilutions I use (read the whole thing because I made a typo in the formula!). I'll find the link for that in a minute. You can also over expose and under develop a bit to bring up the blacks before the whites start fogging.

To up the contrast, I've no idea why I've never made my way around to it, but supposedly one can add a solution of Sodium Carbonate to make one's developer more active.

David Lyga here on Photrio has also detailed his 'Aged Fogged Film and Paper Rescue Remedy' - don't Google that, I'm pretty sure that's not how he entitled his thread. Anyway, search for his posts and he gives a very thorough description of how he deals with foggy paper.

I'll be back to add those links I mentioned....

 

[Molli]

A couple of links on fogged paper and benzotriazole:

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/effects-of-using-benzatriazole-on-fogged-paper.141446/

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/testing-outdated-paper.107766/

David Lyga's dissertation: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...ts-of-age-fog-in-b-w-films-and-papers.161268/


Good luck and I do hope you've got some usable paper on your hands there.

Oh, and I've just remembered - I've also printed a little more darkly than usual on age fogged paper and then given the print a wee bath in a rehalogenating bleach (potassium bromide + potassium ferricyanide).

 

[John51]

I use HC-110 as a print developer. As is, it doesn't give a full black and needs Sodium Carbonate aka washing soda added. The recipe I follow is 30ml HC-110 + 15g Sodium Carbonate in 1 litre of water. No problem with a full black, the paper is fully developed real quick.