Prices for Raw Chemicals at ScienceLab

I spent some time last year looking for dry ammonium thio and had to give up - I could not find anything in the reasonable price range and ended up buying 5L of Ilford rapid fixer from a local store. However, I still would like to have the capability of mixing my own, so if anyone has a reliable source in US, I too would love to hear.

http://www.chemistrystore.com/cart.cgi?group=100513&child=100609

This is where mine comes from, 50# pail last time and I repackage. 5# for $2 is not bad.

Ronald Moravec said:

http://www.chemistrystore.com/cart.cgi?group=100513&child=100609

This is where mine comes from, 50# pail last time and I repackage. 5# for $2 is not bad.

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Ralph is looking for ammonium thiosulfate.

Roger

anikin said:

I spent some time last year looking for dry ammonium thio and had to give up - I could not find anything in the reasonable price range and ended up buying 5L of Ilford rapid fixer from a local store. However, I still would like to have the capability of mixing my own, so if anyone has a reliable source in US, I too would love to hear.

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I don't understand why this is such an issue in the US and not in Europe.

RalphLambrecht said:

I don't understand why this is such an issue in the US and not in Europe.

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Well, it could be just a personal issue , not US in general. All I'm saying is that I failed to find a reliable source at a good price. And I'm still looking...

I found a local chemistry store that can sell lab-grade by a bucketful at rather inflated price. Of course, there is always e-bay, but for fixer I would rather have a more reliable source.

Being a parent of three school-kids, my current conspiracy theory is that US population is generally under-educated in science and is rather wary of chemistry in general. I mean, how many random people can tell the difference between ammonium nitrate and ammonium thiosulphate? I bet you'll get much higher ratio of people in Europe with that knowledge vs US. So wogster's theory might be rather close to the truth. But I'm digressing here...

Ronald Moravec said:

http://www.chemistrystore.com/cart.cgi?group=100513&child=100609

This is where mine comes from, 50# pail last time and I repackage. 5# for $2 is not bad.

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That's sodium thiosulphate, not ammonium thiosulphate though

I think the unavailability of chemistry has a lot to do with public's perception....

chemistry > must be something dangerous
chemistry > must be something illegal going on
chemistry > must be making weapon of some kind
chemistry > must be drug related
sounds dangerous > let's protest!
sounds dangerous > oh, no, safety of our children is at risk!
selling to public > legal liability if something goes wrong

In recent climate of inflated emotion driven reactions to just about everything, people, media, an politicians included, I am not sure if I'd blame seller for not wanting to deal with any of this....

tkamiya said:

I think the unavailability of chemistry has a lot to do with public's perception....

chemistry > must be something dangerous
chemistry > must be something illegal going on
chemistry > must be making weapon of some kind
chemistry > must be drug related
sounds dangerous > let's protest!
sounds dangerous > oh, no, safety of our children is at risk!
selling to public > legal liability if something goes wrong

In recent climate of inflated emotion driven reactions to just about everything, people, media, an politicians included, I am not sure if I'd blame seller for not wanting to deal with any of this....

Click to expand...

A lot of it has to do with shipping, especially across international borders, making chemicals in North America is fraught with regulations there are environmental regulations and workplace regulations up the wazoo. This makes stuff expensive to make, in a country like China or India where they don't give a crap about the environment, it's cheap. Now here is the difference, in Canada, importing is fairly easy, you fill out a commercial invoice and if required a dangerous goods form (1 page) and your done. In the United States, importing often means reams and reams of paperwork, and it costs money to employ people who keep up to date on rules where every government department that can set a rule, even when it doesn't seem to make sense, does so, and requires it's own multi-page form. If you import by the container load, then it makes sense, and that's why the local chemical supply house can be helpful, they buy from a distributor who does buy by the container load. Now sometimes you need to buy more then you need, because the importer doesn't bring in small amounts. Some chemical supply houses will divide up a pail, some will not, it depends on whether they get enough call for the chemical in smaller amounts.

Ralph, if you want to try a pharmacy look for a "compounding pharmacy" instead of a retail chain. These are the guys licensed to manufacture drugs on site for unusual prescriptions.

They heve far better access to chemical supplies, and the man or woman with the license has a far better understanding of the chemicals.

As a child in the '60s almost all pharmacies in my area were able to do this, and the guy who ran our local drug store is the one who taught me to use vinegar as stop bath.

I hear compounding pharmacy is a dying breed and not too many around anymore. I know there is one in Winter Park, Florida area. (about an hour from The Villege) Ralph, if you are interested in pursuing this and in Florida, I'll find more information about this business. Let me know.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm in Florida now and will start investigating.