Shelf life of ferric oxalate

Jarvman · Jan 21, 2009

Just wondering what the shelf life of this stuff is. I've got some from B&S with my platinum/palladium kit a few weeks back but won't be making my first prints until middle to late Feb after a gracious demo off Paul Cafell. I've popped it in the fridge cause I read this apparently makes a difference. Any thoughts and experiences would be great. I've heared between 3 and 6 months.

Robert Hall · Jan 21, 2009

I would say 6 to be safe but have made great prints from year old solution.

Dan Williams · Jan 21, 2009

I have never tried this but, in her book "Alternative Processes Condensed", Christina Anderson says you can test FO by mixing a "pinch" of potassium Ferricyanide in 25ml of distilled water then add a drop of your FO. If the solution turns blue, it is bad. If it turns brown, it is ok.

Dan

Vaughn · Jan 21, 2009

Feb won't be a problem. I usually buy a couple 25ml bottles at a time and toss one in the fridge until I get around to needing it. Vaughn

Jarvman · Jan 22, 2009

Cheers all. I've just looked on the site and it's really cheap so if needs be I can just buy another bottle of it further down the line. Don't want to rush through 30 odd prints just to use the stuff up!

Vaughn · Jan 23, 2009

Jarvman said:
Cheers all. I've just looked on the site and it's really cheap so if needs be I can just buy another bottle of it further down the line. Don't want to rush through 30 odd prints just to use the stuff up!

Exactly -- and there is no reason to chance the expensive stuff (pt/pd) by saving a few bucks using old cheap stuff.

Vaughn

Trevor Crone · Jan 23, 2009

I usually ditch mine after a few months and make up fresh from formula.

gwatson · Jan 23, 2009

FO is cheap. Silverprint is finally selling the stuff in the UK now (God bless 'em). My advice is to buy it in powder and, as Trevor suggests, make up a few months supply and replace it every 4-5 months. You could get away with longer, but in my experience, it's not worth the bother. Getting it into solution is no where near as painful as it's reputation predicts; in fact I have more problems getting the pd salts into solution (always end up filtering out metalic particles - still don't know why ??). A dash of EDTA helps, but that's a matter of personal choice.

Cheers

Geoff

Shelf life of ferric oxalate

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency