Using old chemicals and paper

If paper will be bad in normal developer - you can still use it in Lith print process.

Gerald C Koch said:

Kodak chemicals have a better chance at being good than chemicals from other manufacturers.

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Ricardo Miranda said:

So, you are saying that Ilford, Adox, Foma, Fuji, Rollei and all the other small manufacturers are not good?
Have you ever used chemicals from any of these for a long time so you could have made that comparison?

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In Ontario, Canada (where the OP is) it probably is true that these Kodak chemicals have a better chance at being usable, but not because they are inherently better.

It is because they would originally have been shipped from almost next door - Rochester New York - rather than from some place much farther afield. And they were probably purchased from the shelves of a neighbourhood photo store, rather than some place also much farther afield.

In the OP's case, storage and handling of the chemicals are likely to matter more than anything else.

Hi Matt,
Are you a diplomat?
If I were you, I would look at a career in Diplomacy.
You certainly have a good grasp of it.
BTW, are you sure that Kodak chemicals are still made in the USA? Or is it in some factory in Asia and so a lot further afield than say Mobberley?

Ricardo Miranda said:

Hi Matt,
Are you a diplomat?
If I were you, I would look at a career in Diplomacy.
You certainly have a good grasp of it.
BTW, are you sure that Kodak chemicals are still made in the USA? Or is it in some factory in Asia and so a lot further afield than say Mobberley?

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No, but I am a husband .

The OP's chemicals are fairly old. I can tell that from the package he showed us, including the price tag on it. Because of that, and because of what I know about the Canadian market back then, I know for a certainty that they were made in Rochester. And most likely, they were distributed by Kodak Canada, and delivered by a Kodak Canada delivery truck to a Kodak dealer store, where they were sold to the customer.

All of these "hints" are useful in answering the OP's questions.

I am sure that this is the sort of thing Gerald was talking about

Oh yes, if we are talking about chemicals made in the last century.

Try it. I've used film and paper and chemicals from the 1950's. Most worked at least somewhat.

MattKing said:

I've never seen one before that doesn't have either Ilford Imaging or Harman on the back.

Start a Conversation with the Harman/Ilford reps on APUG - Harman Tech Service - attach the two photos and ask them how old it might be.

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Ok so I sent a pm to harman tech service and they told me that it could be from 1997 or 2005.