Shelf life of ferric oxalate

[Jarvman]

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]

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

 

[Dan Williams]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[gwatson]

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