RE: Kodalak/amyl acetate


Sil Horwitz (silh@iag.net)
Sun, 11 Apr 1999 02:24:03 -0400


At 99/04/10 10:27 PM -0700, Hal wrote:

>In Book 3 (my copy is dated 1968) Ansel stated (p118)
>
> "PRINT VARNISH
> Proprietary varnishes are entirely adequate. The prime requisites are
>purity of ingredients and good color -- rather, lack of color when applied
>to the prints. Paul Strand has kindly given me his formula for surfacing
>prints (in his own words): 'First one buys a small can of lithographer's
>varnish No. 1.... This should last for years. Next one buys a bottle of
>Carbona (carbon tetrachloride), the solvent for the varnish...

That's the problem with those old books! The use of carbon tetrachloride is
illegal as it is very toxic in enclosed areas, besides being a carcinogen. I
don't worry about most of the chemicals we use, but carbon tet is a real
killer! When you use any formula, you should know the characteristics of the
chemicals you will be using, and this is especially true when attempting to use
old formulas. If you are going to APIS in July, I will be explaining this in
detail in my talk "The Chemicals We Use."

Sil Horwitz, FPSA
Technical Editor, PSA Journal
silh@iag.net
Visit http://www.psa-photo.org/
Personal page: http://www.iag.net/~silh/



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