Re-fixing/washing already-cut negatives?

I recently made the mistake of not checking my negatives closely enough before cutting and putting them in sleeves. The result is that some of the film isn't properly fixed, showing a brownish discoloration. Blame it on beer and the late hour.

So now I need to re-fix and wash them, but I found it rather difficult to roll more than one little cut strip back onto a reel. I wound up just putting one six-frame strip on each reel, which is terribly inefficient, seeing as I have four rolls to re-fix.

In order to dry them, I tied dental floss tied to sprocket holes to hang them. See attached picture. Again, a little inefficient.

There's gotta' be a better way than this, right? I was worried about scratching them if I do them all at once in a tray.

Use paper clip opened/stretched to make big C. Quick and it works!

I've done this using a print tray, Trey (couldn't resist). Lay the film strips in the tray base side down, add solution, and agitate gently. I hang 35mm strips on hooks fashioned from paper clips -- looks like you're doing something similar to weigh the film down.

ETA: Rereading your post, the soft emulsion side is more prone to scratching than the base, so as long as the emulsion side is face up and the film strips have some room to move around in the tray, you shouldn't have to worry about scratching or damaging them. Make sure the tray bottom is smooth just in case.

bvy said:

I've done this using a print tray, Trey (couldn't resist). Lay the film strips in the tray base side down, add solution, and agitate gently. I hang 35mm strips on hooks fashioned from paper clips -- looks like you're doing something similar to weigh the film down.

ETA: Rereading your post, the soft emulsion side is more prone to scratching than the base, so as long as the emulsion side is face up and the film strips have some room to move around in the tray, you shouldn't have to worry about scratching or damaging them. Make sure the tray bottom is smooth just in case.

Click to expand...

That's the way I do it. Right now, I have a roll of Minox film that isn't fully fixed on one end. I'm going to just roll that up, emulsion side in, and put it in a beaker of fixer, and then re-wash. Done that before too. The Minox tank sometimes doesn't finish the very end near the cassette.

Use a container deep enough for the negatives to hang from the paper clip hooks - no worries about scratching either side.

put the strips into a glass bowl big enough to hold them all with a couple inches of fixer in the bottom. Dump in strips, swish around -- the glass should be too smooth to scratch. Rinse same way, hang with little wire hangers to dry.