Received gift of 16x20 expired Kodak, Agfa-Geavert paper

[jay moussy]

I received a bunch of very old 16x20 B&W printing paper, like:
Kodak: Polycontrast, Extalure
Ilford: MG, RC Deluxe, Ilfobrom
Agfa-Gevaert: Brovira 111 BEH, BH, BN, in grades 2 to 5

As I am still a beginner printer, I will cut some in 8x10 or smaller,.
I assume I can do that in subdued safe light, correct?

After some quick reading it seems I need to stretch development times, pay attention to stop baths.
Any other quick rules of thumb?
I will be using this to refine my practice, and maybe, experiment a bit, depending on paper characteristics?

I forgot to mention another pack, Extacolor - any hope of getting anything with B&W chemistry?
OTOH, kind paper owner has a seldom-used colorhead Beseler, I could have, if I ask nicely. Hmm.

 

[Molli]

I can't speak to the colour paper at all, but I'm still getting use out of all of the papers you've listed, bar the Kodak Polycontrast. Storage conditions seem to be more of an issue than age, although the earlier versions of Multigrade/Variable contrast papers have never seemed to hold up all that well (I'm talking Ilford Multigrade I, II and III here).

I do a quick age-fog test with all of my new-old papers. Just a couple of two inch strips or whatever. One goes through the entire Developer, Stop and Fix process. One is Fix only. I tape the results to the box. Then I can see at a glance whether I'm going to want to break out the benzotriazole.

I also usually make a quick print with a known 'technically correct' negative, just to see if there's any contrast loss. II've made one quick attempt at adding Sodium Carbonate to the developer to increase contrast, but I ran my test on very old Argenta Metallic Copper paper - NOT a good choice when one simply wants to know the efficacy of an altered chemical formula. I really couldn't tell if it had helped or not.

At any rate, enjoy your treasures there. The Ektalure and Ilfobrom papers both worked really well for me and I've always had especially good luck with old Agfa-Gevaert. My Grade 5 Agfa Brovira is beautiful!

 

[Kino]

You never know what will print decently and what won't with old photo paper until you test it.

Like Molli, I do a age-fog test, but I take a full sheet, cut off a strip length-wise and set it to one side. I then do a 2 seconds per strip exposure wedge across the entire face of the cut sheet, being sure it has some margins covered in the easel.

I then process both sheets fully and dry them. The small cut section shows what the base paper should look like and the wedge just gives me a general idea of how the paper reacts across the exposure spectrum.

Either way, test it and see. I have obtained a large amount of paper from decomissioned darkrooms that, if nothing else, is suitable for making contact sheets.

 

[Melvin J Bramley]

I can't speak to the colour paper at all, but I'm still getting use out of all of the papers you've listed, bar the Kodak Polycontrast. Storage conditions seem to be more of an issue than age, although the earlier versions of Multigrade/Variable contrast papers have never seemed to hold up all that well (I'm talking Ilford Multigrade I, II and III here).

I do a quick age-fog test with all of my new-old papers. Just a couple of two inch strips or whatever. One goes through the entire Developer, Stop and Fix process. One is Fix only. I tape the results to the box. Then I can see at a glance whether I'm going to want to break out the benzotriazole.

I also usually make a quick print with a known 'technically correct' negative, just to see if there's any contrast loss. II've made one quick attempt at adding Sodium Carbonate to the developer to increase contrast, but I ran my test on very old Argenta Metallic Copper paper - NOT a good choice when one simply wants to know the efficacy of an altered chemical formula. I really couldn't tell if it had helped or not.

At any rate, enjoy your treasures there. The Ektalure and Ilfobrom papers both worked really well for me and I've always had especially good luck with old Agfa-Gevaert. My Grade 5 Agfa Brovira is beautiful!

I'm going to want to break out the benzotriazole.
Where can benzotriazole be purchased at a reasonable price?
Does it bring back all the characteristics of the paper?

 

[Molli]

Possibly @MattKing would know who sells photographic chemicals in Canada, I'm in Australia so no help here. The place nearest to you that I've found is B&H in New York. There are larger quantities available, but here's a link to 10gm:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/123748-REG/Photographers_Formulary_10_0250_10G_Benzotriazole_Anti_Fog_1.html

With regard to its efficacy, Benzotriazole is a restrainer generally used in a 1% solution and only a couple of mil. per litre of developer required to keep the paper from fogging before it's had a chance to develop. Sometimes a slight over exposure under the enlarger helps so that you're reaching maximum black with the minimum amount of time possible in the developer.
I've absolutely had success in keeping the paper fog free - where it doesn't help is with contrast loss. However, I've only experienced that with the earlier renditions of Multigrade/Multicontrast/Polygrade papers. Hopefully it won't be an issue for you.

 

[Molli]

A link to a quick illustrative example (turns out I used quite a bit of restrainer on my chosen example, but anyway, hope it helps!):

Effects of using Benzatriazole on fogged paper.

I am trying to rescue some paper by adding Benzotriazole to the developer. Can you tell me what the "side effects" will be? Influence on contrast, printing time and developing time. Upto which volume of a 1% solution in 1 liter of developer will be worth trying? I am using Ilford PQ universal...

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