Smelly paper

JeffNunn · May 30, 2025

Might I ask...: I bought an old unopened pack of Kodak Bromide paper, I'd guess dating back to the 60's (?) and just started printing with it the other day.

It stinks - really musty! I had hoped running it through some chemistry and then washing it for 45 minutes would remove the smell but no such luck...

I pulled it all out of the pack on a nice sunny and breezy day to try and air it out but still smelly.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

@slackercrurster did an amazing job scanning the Popular Photography Annual 1972 and speaks of using a microwave oven to kill a mildew smell, but I don't own one, and while the simple answer would be 'buy some new paper' I just wondered.

MattKing · May 30, 2025

The smell might be largely related to the box and the envelope.

boring old man · May 30, 2025

Are you saying that a completed print is still musty? Just letting it air in a protected place for a few weeks might reduce the smell, but it might take several days for the smell to dissipate from the fiber; or if you have an ionizer, you might try using it in a small space, but the ozone might likely damage the image. How fogged is the image?

AnselMortensen · May 30, 2025

Try putting a print in a closed box with some plain (clean!) cat litter for a few days.

Guillaume Zuili · May 30, 2025

Smell doesn't do anything as far a printing. As Matt said it's the box and envelope.
Doing Lith and using a lot of old papers I get that often with old boxes.
Results are perfect.
In rare case of mildew showing on the paper in the developer you have to rinse the paper after exposure for a few minutes and then paper goes in the developer.

F4U · May 30, 2025

I remember back in e 60's as a kid, every time I opened a new roll of 126 film, there was a smell a little bit like somebody barfed. All through my life in photography, that same smell in varying degrees of severity has popped up on occasion. I suppose a 65 year old unopened package of print paper can really smell like that, so bad it about makes you barf. I'm more surprised you can use the paper and it isn't age-fogged to where it develops pure black. If not, use it and ignore the smell. Use Kodak Fixer instead of these modern "environmental" fixers.THAT ought to kill it. Besides, it'll go away in time anyway.

Don_ih · May 30, 2025

The individual sheets will lose the musty smell if left out in open air for a few days. A bunch of sheets stacked up won't, though.

Harry Callahan · May 30, 2025

It could be the gelatin. In another forum someone said about a certain film stock that it always smelled like "dead cow" - even years after development iirc... so depending on what quality the gelatin had they used in the 60s for this paper... it could be "normal".

F4U · May 31, 2025

Harry Callahan said:
It could be the gelatin. In another forum someone said about a certain film stock that it always smelled like "dead cow" - even years after development iirc... so depending on what quality the gelatin had they used in the 60s for this paper... it could be "normal".

That is the conclusion I reached while pondering this thread offline. And I know the smell, which I would not describe as "musty". i would describe it as a "sick" smell. Gelatin is, after all, a living thing, or was at one time. And given to develop a putrid odor, if contained and concentrated for 70 years in a sealed package. Even if the smell doesn't go away, if the print itself is good, then it is a part of what it is. How often do you find a 70 year old box of Kodak paper that is still printable? But after development in Dektol, Indicator stop bath and 10 minutes in Kodak ardening fixer, followed up by a good laundering in hypo clearing agent and a good washing, it's a work of art.

JeffNunn · May 31, 2025

Thanks to all for the answers - the paper seems fine to print with.

@MattKing I agree actually, the envelope inside was a waxy paper package, and I already swapped that out for a plastic envelope from a finished pack.

@Don_ih i agree the stacked paper isn’t helping and as this stuff curled up so much I’m still stacking the prints I’ve finished - surprisingly they have flattened out quite a lot but still smell so probably laying them out somewhere will ease it.

@Harry Callahan and @F4U the gelatin smell sounds awful! Luckily this is definitely musty, I’d have said mildewy but I don’t see any signs of mildew to be honest - but I am using eco fixer and yes, none of the chemicals I used seem particularly brutal. That would be an option for my next batch of chemistry.

@Guillaume Zuili thanks for the tips and experience! I didn’t even look at the original envelope inside to see if it was cause of the mustiness but as I said, think it could be. The paper is sort of curled even before I expose it, the outer edges have curled upwards, so the easel kind of sets them flat. Perhaps it got a bit damp.

@boring old man and @AnselMortensen - two good options there, thanks!

I have to admit I don’t have any hypo clear, I’m ordering some as 45 mins washing was a slow experience, so I wonder if that will lift some of the smell as well

Here’s a rough print, the negative has a scratch and it ain’t the finest image but it was as far as I got with the paper. Whites and blacks and a few bits in between at least.

grain elevator · May 31, 2025

If you're worried something might be living in the paper, perhaps a bath in dilute formalin? Or alcohol? Or just replace teh smell by rotten egg smell from sulfide toner?

JeffNunn · May 31, 2025

@grain elevator perhaps the musty smell is the least of my concerns… I bought the old fb paper really to see what effects sulfide toners have - based on earlier questions I asked of people on Photrio. So rotten eggs + musty paper here I come!

Guillaume Zuili · May 31, 2025

Nothing is living in the paper after sulfide toner that's for sure !

Sirius Glass · Jun 1, 2025

Open a box of baking soda to absorb odors.

JeffNunn · Jun 1, 2025

@Sirius Glass Thanks - another good simple solution. I suppose this question could have been asked in the Lounge - it’s a smell problem not a particularly photographic one!
But as always - thanks for the advice everyone, i’ve got a way forward with it.

Don_ih · Jun 1, 2025

The baking soda will only work with one sheet at a time. I've had some musty Leica magazines in a plastic tub with a box of baking soda poured into a dev tray for 6 months. It's done pretty much nothing.

boring old man · Jun 1, 2025

It is very unlikely any living mildew, but the aroma molecules they produce may be very well adsorbed into the fiber, and just take time to dissipate.

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