Re: Making Silver Oxide From Red Devil Lye: Argyrotype

Hi,
90% of all photographers in the late 19th century and the begining of the
20th were all killed manipulating their chemicals. Who wants to live
forever? no matter what you do you'll meet Hades.
Jacques

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Koch-Schulte" <mkochsch@shaw.ca>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 7:53 PM
Subject: Re: Making Silver Oxide From Red Devil Lye: Argyrotype

> "Of course why stop at Silver Oxide why not just start compounding my own
> Silver Nitrate," or so I thought....until I read this....don't try this at
> home kids... you'll almost die laughing.
>
> http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm/DEAD.htm
>
> R.I.P.
>
> ~m
>
>
> Etienne Garbaux wrote:
>> Michael wrote:
>>
>>> the lye I have on hand is guaranteed 98.5 per cent pure sodium
>>> hydroxide, marketed as an ingredient for making soap.
>>
>>> I'm thinking that this must be pure
>>> enough for this intended use.
>>
>> Of course, it all depends on what the < 1.5% impurities are and what
>> process you are doing! But yes, grocery-store lye is generally
>> perfectly fine for all photographic uses (as are grocery-store
>> washing soda [sodium carbonate], baking soda [sodium bicarbonate],
>> sour salt [citric acid], and borax).
>>
>> My previous message was directed specifically at Drano brand drain
>> cleaner, which (in the US) is about 90% sodium hydroxide plus about
>> 10% aluminum shavings plus coloring and anti-caking ingredients.
>> It's primarily the aluminum that makes Drano unsuitable for
>> photographic uses. When you put it in water, the NaOH reacts with
>> the aluminum, giving off hydrogen gas and leaving aluminum ions in
>> the solution. The aluminum ions then react with other ions in your
>> coating and/or processing chemistry (particularly those containing
>> other metal ions), leading to undesired results.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> etienne
>
>
>
Received on Mon Sep 5 21:12:55 2005