Dave
You are quite right. I do advocate using contone film, such as Ilford Ortho
for platinum,( the big Agfa and Kodak films are not made any more). But if
one is stuck it is quite feasible to produce a good neg from lith or line
film. Not as good as contone but still good. But if you are going to
exploit platinum to the full I recommend the contone film.
Gum is a lot more flexible than platinum. What upsets me is when people say
that a grotty contrasty neg is OK for gum as if gum is only capable of
contrasty prints. Gum is capable of prints of such subtlety that I find it
difficult to suppress the thought, when I see a contrasty gum print, that
the photographer/printer does not know how to do it properly.
Mine will be up on a web site soon so that people can see for themselves.
Best of luck
Terry