About a month ago there were several questions raised on the List=20
concerning degrees Baum=E9 in relation to Gum Arabic. Off List I wrote to=
=20
Judy Seigel that my own tests had shown that the thinner the Gum Arabic t=
he=20
higher the degrees Baum=E9. Judy mentioned it to the List and we were soo=
n=20
able to read why the opposite was true. There seemed to be various ways t=
o=20
measure Baum=E9 so I thought I must have used the wrong kind of Hydromete=
r.
I made those tests years ago. When I wrote to Judy I did not have my note=
s=20
before me. They have been buried in my darkroom which in turn I have not=20
been able to work in for almost a year so my comments misled Judy. I=20
had remembered that the Winsor Newton was a higher degree Baum=E9 then=20
the Gum Arabic I later worked with but had mistakenly thought that the=20
Winsor Newton was thinner. Today I dug up my notes and even tested water =
to=20
make sure it read 0 degrees Baum=E9.
Here were my results:
Water is indeed 0 degrees Baum=E9
Kristall Gummi 21.5 degrees (strange smelling stuff that never worked)
Schmincke 20 degrees (very thick)
Winsor Newton 16 degrees (very good but expensive)
RBP Chemical Corp. 14 degrees (from Milwaukee, the best I ever used)
Formulry 13 degrees (bit on the thin side but usable)
Rembrant Graphic Arts 12.5 degrees (from New Jersey, too thin for me)
I have used one other so called Gum Arabic from a Graphic Arts company he=
re=20
in Sweden but it was synthetic and useless to work with. I have even trie=
d=20
Terry's famed Gloy, which also didn't work for me. I could not test the=20
Baum=E9 of the Gloy since I bought too little to test.
I hope this information is of some interest and I am sorry if before I le=
ad=20
anyone down the proverbial garden path, especially Judy who does such a=20
fine job on this List helping us all so often.
--=20
Jeff Stanford PhotoGum
Petrejusv=E4gen 32, 121 38 Stockholm Sweden
Tel: +46 8 659 8609
http://www.algonet.se/~photogum