Re: Sodium Carbonate (was Seeking Information on 2 problems with Gumprocess)
On Wed, 30 Apr 2008, pulpfic@telus.net wrote: At 09:00 AM 4/30/08 -0500, Keith Gerling wrote:Instead of looking in the laundry aisle, wander over to the pool supply store (or hardware store) and pick up some pH UP - 100% sodium carbonate, no fragrances or other additives.I use a dilute mix of ammonia (my preference is to use sodium carbonate - washing soda - but darned if I can even find it anymore....) I bought some pool sodium carbonate once, found it serviceble but strikingly expensive -- at least at the time -- being as it was, plain old sodium carbonate. Maybe they figured folks who had a swimming pool could afford to get soaked, so to speak ? Meanwhile, though I haven't tried it for the purpose, I have several boxes of Arm & Hammer "pure baking soda" in the house, for "baking, cleaning & deodorizing." This is sodium BI-carbonate. I have no idea if it will do what the sodium carbonate does in a cyano, but it deodorizes the fridge (allegedly, I haven't done a comparison test) and eases the digestive tract of persons afflicted (not my particular problem), and some folks with VERY white teeth use it for dentifrice, but above all it's useful in baking, such as sourmilk pancakes, et al. (Excellent if you have some spoiled milk, maple syrup & 20 minutes to spare..) Has anyone used it on cyano? A propos of which I'll note that during a year in which I tested every toner in print for cyano, practically back to the cave, and (with my students) fine-tuned the tannic acid + bleach, etc., cyano toner, I REPEATEDLY came across claims of a "lavender" tone via some alkali or other (first memory check says ammonia was the usual). About once in 3 years something happened -- nobody could suss out what, almost always something accidental -- wherein the color remained, or anyway a streak of it did. But otherwise nobody I heard of ever found out how to make the color permanent. As I recall, however, most books failed to mention that fact. Which is to say, if you can make your purple/lavender cyano stay more than -- oh, let's set the bar high -- a month -- you should get it named after you, at the very least. Judy
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