> If it's not any better why bother ?
...
> I did not know that there was an issue...
etc.
Terry, the "bother" and the "issue" are that someone, someone else -- not
you and not me -- asked. Is that OK?
Obviously, I have done (and verified) the tests I speak of. Now you want
me to do *your* homework. For what -- a Twickenham bagel? Yes I am a
generous person, but not that generous.
However, here's a footnote, which perhaps some (others) will find
interesting:
It was common for Pictorialists of yore (as recorded in their articles and
manuals) to put a pound of potassium bichromate into a container, fill it
to the top with water, and draw off saturated solution as needed. When the
liquid got low, they would simply add more water. As long as precipitate
was visible, the solution remained saturated. Weighing and measuring were
thus obviated and the sensitizer was always more or less the same
age.(Whereas a completely new mix will be measurably faster if the prior
one was a bit aged, say 8 to 12 months.)
I tried this, BTW, and saw no ill effects, but thought that, the
temperature of my studio varying through nearly 20 degrees F, the %
solution would also vary. Thus the practice was adding yet another
variable, an avoidable one. (Plus I never did get used to the sight of
all that chemical on the bottom of the jar.)
And speaking of bichromate (or dichromate) solubility -- Cassells (1911,
as I recall) says one part ammonium bichromate dissolves in 4 parts water
(which if I'm figuring correctly would indeed make the 33% solution spoken
of), but a 1908 BJP Annual table says one part in 5, which would make a 25
% solution. (I mix 26% & see no precipitate, even in cold studio.) Both
sources agree, BTW, that sodium bichromate makes a 100% solution -- one
part bichromate, one part water.
Judy