From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 09/10/02-10:14:54 PM Z
On Tue, 10 Sep 2002, Ken Sinclair wrote:
>
> >From what I gather, they "may" be as old a 20 years but have been stored in
> the original brown glass jars (still with the original seal indicating they
> have not been opened). Apparently, they have been stored in a relatively
> cool darkroom, on a shelf under the benchtop.
>
> Ken
I seem, either by temperament or coincidence, to have and/or have come
into a lot of old chemicals -- from 20 to 30 or more years old. I've never
yet found one that had gone bad, even when opened, except for ferric
ammonium citrate which can have gone bad in a year or two, even come bad
from the factory.
Glycin, after 10 or so years, had turned quite brown, but was still very
usable, maybe even better than otherwise by simply increasing the amount
in the formula. It was for a soft working developer, so I daresay
softening the chemical made it even better.
Sometimes a sediment forms in the bottom of a solution made from old
chemical, or itself old (as it did with old am di)... but doesn't seem to
affect working, and can be ignored.
So I'd say, at least give your chemicals a try -- just don't mix them at
the outset with $50 worth of gold or palladium. I'm wondering meanwhile
if the bottles are old and quaint -- they become collectors' items & fetch
good prices at flea markets if they're "period" enough..
J.
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