Re: Modifying bleaches and handling muriatic

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004, MARTINM wrote:

> Actually, there are a great many oxidizers that can do the job - from copper
> sulfate to ceric sulfate (not to mention nasties like bromine and the like).

Those varigam formulas didn't (at least in my use) give the variation that
was imputed to them. But the mirror silver toners (as in P-F #3, specular
silver toner of "My Secret Formula" p. 28), require copper sulfate. It
also gave different tones according to the acid used. Plus it's available
(or used to be) for about $7 a pound at nursery supply places (plant
nursery, not baby nursery). As I recall, it's called blue vitriol.

And another note about acid -- "muriatic" acid was mentioned in a way that
seemed to imply it's relatively safe. It is in fact more or less the same
concentration as the hycrochloric you buy from chemical suppliers (memory
says maybe 34% vs. 37%); the difference is in purity, as well of course as
price.

The muriatic, intended for construction purposes, costing $7/gallon at
Janovic, isn't as pure as the chemical supplier's. Tho in my tests it
performed better than the HCL, improved presumably by the impurities...
(I used it enough years ago so the details have fuzzed in memory -- tho I
daresay Ryuki will supply those and then some.)

However, a very important caveat -- I used about a quart & stored the
rest, in 3 quart jars -- but FOOLISHLY with metal caps. While I wasn't
watching, within a few months those metal caps had crumbled and proceeded
to relase fumes that devoured/corroded the stainless sink over them, the
metal light chain overhead, and all sorts of objects near and relatively
far... then one got knocked over, etc. When I discovered that (not quite
immediately) I transfered the remainder to heavy plastic containers which
I left outdoors. Less than a year later, they were empty... Meaning it's
hard for the lay person to store such quantities safely.

(We had some workmen about 25 years ago who knocked over a 15
gallon drum of the stuff which happened to have a hole in it & left it
overnight -- by morning the hall over my darkroom was 3 inches deep
in muriatic -- another story I may even have told in these pages a while
back. Which is to say, if a gallon is the least you can buy, dispose of
most of it promptly -- and advisedly.)

Judy
Received on Mon Nov 29 23:07:15 2004