Re: FW: waxing negs


Campos & Davis Photos (photos@campos-davis.co.uk)
Wed, 21 Apr 1999 23:06:50 +0100


Thats all very well, and thanks for it, but I can drink the stuff we paint
paper negs with, (it tastes horrible though) its not too sticky and it
doesn't catch fire when you try to light it. Have I been sold a duff batch
of kerosene or is British paraffin oil something unique to this isle? No
chemical formula exists, and the pharmacist thought I was crazy when I
asked what was in it!!!!

Campos & Davis Photos
6 Cranbourne Road
London N10 2BT
Tel/Fax + 44 181 883 8638
email: photos@campos-davis.co.uk
WEB SITE: http://www.campos-davis.co.uk

----------
> From: Sil Horwitz <silh@iag.net>
> To: alt-photo-process-l@skyway.usask.ca
> Subject: Re: FW: waxing negs
> Date: Tuesday, 20 April, 1999 11:30 PM
>
At 99/04/20 05:04 PM -0400, you wrote:
>I wonder if British "paraffin" is American "mineral oil"?

British "paraffin" is what we Americans call "kerosene." That is not my
opinion, it's what the authority (Merck's Index) states that. That doesn't
mean
that common usage couldn't be anything in the aliphatic series! To be
specific,
you need the chemical formula, which I pointed out in my message. Mineral
oil
is another one of those ambiguous compounds that can be a mixture of a
number
of chemicals. And then there's high viscosity mineral oil and low viscosity
mineral oil. Give the chemical makeup and then it's possible to name
exactly
what the compound is.

(The only way I can relate this to alt-photo is that there is the same
problem
with compound mixtures such as iron oxalates and citrates - there's no
chemical
difference, for example, between the green and brown citrates; it's just
how
the molecules are configured, but as we all know, that different
configuration
can make a big difference.)

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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