Question for Pat Gainer

I want to try using one of your original Vitamin C formulas that I found on Ed Buffalo's site. Specifically the one listed as "Borax B", with a couple of minor modifications.

The formula as given for the version using Metol is as follows;

Water ........................................................... 750.0 ml
(There was no quantity listed so I assumed 750ml)

Sodium Hydroxide ........................................... 17.0 ml

Borax .............................................................. 6.1 ml

Ascorbic Acid ................................................... 2.0 gm

Metol............................................................... 0.2 gm

Water to make ................................................. 1.0 qt

Since I do not trust my balance to measure such small quantities of metol accurately on a consistent basis, I was thinking of using D23 as a kind of "stock solution" for the metol. I discovered that 27.0 ml of D23 contains 0.2025 grams of metol. However, this would also introduce 2.7 grams of sodium sulfite into the developer. My first question is, will the presence of the sulfite cause any problems that I should be aware of, or will its effects be negligible?

My second question concerns the activator. Since Red Devil Lye is now difficult to find, I was thinking of adding 20.0 ml of PMK solution "B" to the working solution of the developer, this would add 6.0 grams of sodium metaborate to the developer. I thought this was a good way to go since I have plenty of it on hand. Does this seem workable to you?

Thanks,

Mike Sullivan

 

Thanks Pat,

I'm not against using spoon measurements, I was just thinking of using a convenient method of mixing and preserving the metol in a way that would allow an easy way of measuring out very small amounts of metol.

It occurred to me that D23 had a relatively large amount of metol in proportion to the sulfite, with no other ingredients being present except water. I also use D23 regularly, so I thought I'd just take advantage of something I already had in the darkroom.

I went back to your article on unblinkingeye.com and checked out the the formula mixed as a stock solution. This is another option I was considering as well. If I mixed the stock solution without the activator, What kind of shelf life could I reasonably expect from the stock being stored in amber glass bottles?

Thanks again,

Mike

 

Thanks for the help Pat,

I decided to go with the stock solution for now, using the formula from unblinkingeye.com, leaving out the activator until diluted for use. I eventually want to try a phenidone or p-aminophenol version in glycol, but for now I'll go with what I have on hand. I have mixed it up for paper in the past, and I liked it, but I never got around to trying it for film. I'll give it a go this weekend and see what happens.

Mike