Alkaline fixers and selenium toning

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perfesserkev
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Alkaline fixers and selenium toning

Post by perfesserkev »

A couple years ago I switched entirely over to alkaline fixers. Now I skip an HCA bath between fixer and first wash. But when I make a fine fiber print and tone it with Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner I still use an HCA bath after the selenium and before the second wash because of the thiosulfate content in the KRST. But is that unnecessary?



I have a new batch of HT-2 on the way for a test.
"You compose, you decompose." -- Ernst Haas
darkroommike
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Alkaline fixers and selenium toning

Post by darkroommike »

Years ago I also started skipping the clear, and wash and started putting prints right from the 2nd. fix into the KRST (KRST has 'hypo' in it) this works very well, the only time one has issues is when there is only a little fixer in a print, unevenly distributed, if a print is pristine or soaking in fixer either way works. But in either case you then need to treat the toned print with HCA and a proper wash.
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perfesserkev
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Alkaline fixers and selenium toning

Post by perfesserkev »

I see that KRST has a pH of 9 -- slightly alkaline. I would think that the hypo content would wash out more effectively as it is said to do with an alkaline or neutral fixer, not requiring HCA. Haven't had a chance to do some HT-2 testing. Curious if anyone has. Bill Troop?
"You compose, you decompose." -- Ernst Haas
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perfesserkev
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Re: Alkaline fixers and selenium toning

Post by perfesserkev »

Just a post of HT-2 test results. When using alkaline fixer, washing for 20 minutes, toning in KRST then go straight to wash I get clean HT-2 results in about 20 minutes. A clearing agent cuts that time in half on both ends to about 10 minutes, though I still wash on each side of the KRST for 20 minutes for good measure.
"You compose, you decompose." -- Ernst Haas
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