Restrainer for paper fog? Several questions

PHOTOTONE

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I have a bunch of old, but high quality fibre papers. Some have a bit of aerial fog due to age. I have used Edwal's Liquid Orthazite in the developer to control this.

Can I make a suitable restrainer from component chemicals similar in action to Edwal's Liquid Orthazite? I have some Benzotriazole power.

Does the action of the restrainer function in the same way in all types of paper developers, including those that use Amidol or Glycin?

I am leaning more and more towards mixing up from scratch the chemistry I need, as in any case, ALL chemistry for photography is now mail order for me in my location.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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They have age fog due to age. Aerial fog is due to excessive exposure to air during the developing stage (possible with some papers if you flip them too often or process them in a print drum).

Edwal Liquid Orthazite is supposed to be a 3% solution of benzotriazole with sodium sulfite added, and it is probably dissolved in something other than water, because it's hard to get more than a 1% solution of benzotriazole to dissolve in water.

Michael Smith's amidol formula for enlarging papers uses both benzotriazole and KBr as restrainers, so yes, it works with amidol, and I suspect it works with glycin as well.
 
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PHOTOTONE

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Thank you for correcting my terminology. It is, indeed, "age" fog I was referring to.

So, are there any "home made" formulas for a generic "anti-fog" that can be added to paper developers to work the same way as Liquid Orthazite?
 

David A. Goldfarb

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Yeah, just mix up a 1% solution of benzotriazole and add about three times as much as you would Liquid Orthazite to your developer--on the order of 20-100 ml/l. You'll want to experiment to determine the right amount for any particular batch of fogged paper.
 
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