Selenium toner "accident"

[Marco B]

Hi all,

Well, although I generally am very careful and try to avoid contact with photochemicals as much as possible, after working with this stuff for 5 years, the unavoidable happened today, I threw over a bottle of - working solution - selenium toner today, spilling about 1.5 litre onto the floor of my darkroom and a large spill over my hand... Of course, as always with these things, not the harmless stopbath or something, but the rather more nasty stuff.

After doing the rather obvious of first cleaning my hands thoroughly with soap and water, I than witnessed in dismay the mess on the ground... Luckily, my "darkroom" is my bathroom, so it has a stone floor, keeping the solution from soaking into something. It also luckily didn't run under the washing machine, which would have been a further nuisance for cleaning up.

Just to be certain, I had quick look at the Material Safety Data Sheet for selenium toner, that, besides the obvious conclusion "don't swallow it", did fortunately not make me run for first aid regarding short skin contact... although this "accident" is not something I want to repeat soon.

I than got a pair of gloves and a mop, collecting it all and bottling up for proper disposal, throwing away the gloves and mop afterwards.

When was the last time you had an "accident" and what did you need to do to clean up the mess (personal and material)?

Marco

 

[keithwms]

Hmm, well, I cannot tell you what interesting chemistry accidents I have had over the years without bringing the feds down on me, but suffice it to say that I thought I had finally managed to make myself seriously ill while doing some sepia toning and got too much of a whiff. I had a rather severe cough for days that kept getting worse and worse. Lesson learned! But I was much more concerned when I fried one of my eyeballs at the enlarger, using a grain focuser. That one took weeks to get over and I bet there is still some damage.

 

[pentaxuser]

But I was much more concerned when I fried one of my eyeballs at the enlarger, using a grain focuser. That one took weeks to get over and I bet there is still some damage.

Pray tell us more. As we all use a grain focuser at the enlarger without doing what youy did then presumably what you did to fry your eyeball was a little different. What do we need to avoid doing?

pentaxuser

 

[keithwms]

Well, I looked into a grain focuser with the enlarger lens wide open with my dark-adjusted eye.... on a portion of the enlarged neg that was thin.... and it was a rather slight enlargement....

My advice is stop the lens all the way down and open it up stop by stop just until the grain is visible. I'm sure it says as much on the instructions for the grain focuser but since I habitually don't read instructions....

 

[trexx]

Clay type cat litter is kept aroung my darkroom fur such spills. I had a 5 gallon container of fixer stock with a spigot on a low shelf. On day I found the shelf colapsed and the spigot broke with most of 5 gallons on the floor. With the litter spread over it made the clean up a bit easier.

 

[Marco B]

Clay type cat litter is kept aroung my darkroom fur such spills..... With the litter spread over it made the clean up a bit easier.

That doesn't sound as a bad idea, unfortunately, I don't have a cat

 

[keithwms]

That doesn't sound as a bad idea, unfortunately, I don't have a cat

A Dutchman without a cat? How do you keep the canal rats out of your boat?

 

[Marco B]

A Dutchman without a cat? How do you keep the canal rats out of your boat?

My "boat" is safely anchored in tons of sand... it doesn't go anywhere, nor do the rats get in, unless they have evolved themselves in stone eating moles

Marco

 

[pentaxuser]

Well, I looked into a grain focuser with the enlarger lens wide open with my dark-adjusted eye.... on a portion of the enlarged neg that was thin.... and it was a rather slight enlargement....

I thought that it was recommended that printers do exactly as above. I always have and with enlargements as small as 6x4 on 35mm. However it is a diffuser enlarger and the bulb is only 75W. Maybe that is why I have never experienced a problem. Thin portions of negs plus large bulbs at max aperture might well be different. I have read several books on printing and have never seen any advice to be careful with grain focusers combined with large apertures and bulbs over a certain wattage.

pentaxuser

 

[Martin Aislabie]

That doesn't sound as a bad idea, unfortunately, I don't have a cat

Marco, I don't think anyone is suggesting that you should use "used" cat litter

Clean fresh car litter can now be bought in EU without a license

Martin

 

[bsdunek]

I don't think I'd want cat litter in the darkroom. Most of what we use (for the cat) tends to be dusty. Dust spots anyone? I keep a stack of old bath towels, ones that are too worn for the bathroom anymore. After use they go into the laundry for cleaning.