Some old chemicals

[Mike Té]

Hello, all.

I was working up on Manitoulin Island two weeks ago; at the same time visiting with old friends. She's a talented photographer of growing reputation. Some 2 years ago she was given the entire darkroom of the local weekly newspaper. She'd just switched to digital about that time, but she's kept the whole lab in her basement, unable to get rid of it out of respect for her film roots (and a little guilt, I suspect).

I asked her to show me this stuff. I must have "oohed" audibly b/c she said. "take it all; it'll make me very happy to clean out the basement!". So, in fact, we did indeed clean. We filled 2 recycling boxes with old paper and old chemical bottles and we filled 2 big garbage cans.

I have now washed (there was literally an inch of dust on some parts) and painted the old Omega D-2 and will set it up soon. I salvaged a big box full of equipment for a friend who's slowly getting back into darkroom.

I currently use an excellent little B-22, but this D-2 will get me started on 4x5.

 

[Mike Té]

SO, I wanted to ask about a couple of chemicals, of indeterminate age, that came with the load:

-About 7 packages of powdered Kodak D76, still good?
-about a dozen packages of powdered Kodak fixer. I've always used Ilford Rapid.
-A bottle of liquid Kodak Versatol; doesn't look like it's ever been opened. Worth trying? What are it's qualities, shortcomings?
-a can of powdered Kodak DK-50. Qualities, shortcomings, worth trying?

Thanks

 

[glbeas]

The cans and the bottled developer are probably good. The D76 probably is but I would give it a clip test to check it's strength before commiting any real images to it. The fixer should be okay too. Best way to tell is if when mixed you see a lot of free sulfur floating in the solution toss it.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

SO, I wanted to ask about a couple of chemicals, of indeterminate age, that came with the load:

-About 7 packages of powdered Kodak D76, still good?
-about a dozen packages of powdered Kodak fixer. I've always used Ilford Rapid.
-A bottle of liquid Kodak Versatol; doesn't look like it's ever been opened. Worth trying? What are it's qualities, shortcomings?
-a can of powdered Kodak DK-50. Qualities, shortcomings, worth trying?

Thanks

Kodak Dk-50 is a fillm developer and it should be fine. See The APUg Chemical Recipes section: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The Kodak powderered fixer should also be ok (it is almost certainly a Sodium Thiosulfate based fixer) - thus not a rapid fixer. The D76 should also be ok.

 

[fschifano]

The D-76, fixer, and DK-50 should still be good. If it's the really old stuff that came in cans, I'd be even more optimistic. The Versatol is a liquid developer? Probably bad.

 

[Mike Té]

Thanks for the replies.

Cheers from snowy Ottawa