{"id":8893,"date":"2012-08-26T19:30:08","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T01:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jbhphoto.com\/blog\/?p=8893"},"modified":"2018-08-22T10:19:40","modified_gmt":"2018-08-22T16:19:40","slug":"rolling-your-own-fixer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jbhphoto.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/26\/rolling-your-own-fixer\/","title":{"rendered":"ROLLING YOUR OWN FIXER"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Zone<\/a>They say the more things change, the more they stay the same.\u00a0 Whatever that means.\u00a0 It seems like only yesterday I standardized my chemicals for printing and started using Zone VI Fixer.\u00a0 That was over twenty years ago.\u00a0 But you know, things do change, and they are not the same.\u00a0 We are down to our last box of the old standard Fred Picker Fixer and it is time to start rolling our own from bulk chemicals. <\/p>\n

Actually, I started researching this over a year ago and we have obtained several hundred pounds of Sodium Thiosulfate in anticipation of this day.\u00a0 This is the principle chemical used in fixer and though not difficult to acquire, it is expensive to ship.\u00a0 Sodium Thiosulfate Pentahydrate is used in water treatment to remove chlorine.\u00a0 It is available from many pool supply sources.\u00a0 Also, check the Internet and eBay, there are sellers there that will ship to your door.\u00a0 You will need about two pounds per gallon of fixer.\u00a0 We go through anywhere from half a gallon to a gallon of fixer during a typical printing session, so we need a lot of the raw material.\u00a0 But, this is the price you pay when you work in the wet darkroom and we believe it is more than worth the effort.<\/p>\n

The next question is what formula should I use.\u00a0 Since we are only talking about paper fixer, then there is no reason to even consider a formula suitable for film.\u00a0 We just need a good, dependable fixer for processing fiber base papers.\u00a0 Now we get into the discussion about acid vs. alkaline fixer.\u00a0 Boy, does that ever stir the pot.\u00a0 Almost like asking film or digital.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Well, I want to change as little as possible and using a running water stop bath instead of acetic acid is just not what I want to mess with.\u00a0 I did not want to change anything, or at least, I wanted to change as little as possible.\u00a0 So, it was immediately determined that an acid fixer was best for us.\u00a0 There are many formulas out there, and everyone has their favorite.\u00a0 I have tested several and settled on what we intend to use. <\/p>\n

Also, we needed a formula for plain hypo for second fixing bath and pre-selenium toning.\u00a0 I found what I needed there also, thanks Ansel. <\/p>\n

So, if you are interested in what we use, I have added our fixer choice to the Formulas Area<\/a><\/span> of this BLOG.\u00a0 Drop by and take a look.\u00a0 The formulas we have chosen work fine, are simple, easy to mix, and does the job as needed. Obviously, I am not a chemist, and I am not into discussing chemical formulas.\u00a0 For me, working in the darkroom and mixing chemicals is only a matter of finding a recipe that reliably works, sticking with it, and getting on with making photographs.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care much about the innards of chemistry. . . I\u2019ll leave that to the chemists.<\/p>\n

Things do change, and they are not the same, but who cares, as long as the results are the same.\u00a0 Fred Picker said, \u201cdifferent is not the same.\u201d\u00a0 I miss ol\u2019 Fred!\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h4>\n

JB<\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They say the more things change, the more they stay the same.\u00a0 Whatever that means.\u00a0 It seems like only yesterday I standardized my chemicals for printing and started using Zone VI Fixer.\u00a0 That was over twenty years ago.\u00a0 But you know, things do change, and they are not the same.\u00a0 We are down to ourContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,12,9],"tags":[33,16,17,18],"class_list":["post-8893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-darkroom","category-how-to","category-photography","tag-darkroom-formulas","tag-film-photography","tag-fine-art-photography","tag-jb-susan-harlin","no-thumb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nROLLING YOUR OWN FIXER<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mixing your own paper fixer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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