They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. Whatever that means. It seems like only yesterday I standardized my chemicals for printing and started using Zone VI Fixer. That was over twenty years ago. But you know, things do change, and they are not the same. We are down to our last box of the old standard Fred Picker Fixer and it is time to start rolling our own from bulk chemicals.
Actually, I started researching this over a year ago and we have obtained several hundred pounds of Sodium Thiosulfate in anticipation of this day. This is the principle chemical used in fixer and though not difficult to acquire, it is expensive to ship. Sodium Thiosulfate Pentahydrate is used in water treatment to remove chlorine. It is available from many pool supply sources. Also, check the Internet and eBay, there are sellers there that will ship to your door. You will need about two pounds per gallon of fixer. We go through anywhere from half a gallon to a gallon of fixer during a typical printing session, so we need a lot of the raw material. But, this is the price you pay when you work in the wet darkroom and we believe it is more than worth the effort.
The next question is what formula should I use. Since we are only talking about paper fixer, then there is no reason to even consider a formula suitable for film. We just need a good, dependable fixer for processing fiber base papers. Now we get into the discussion about acid vs. alkaline fixer. Boy, does that ever stir the pot. Almost like asking film or digital.
Well, I want to change as little as possible and using a running water stop bath instead of acetic acid is just not what I want to mess with. I did not want to change anything, or at least, I wanted to change as little as possible. So, it was immediately determined that an acid fixer was best for us. There are many formulas out there, and everyone has their favorite. I have tested several and settled on what we intend to use.
Also, we needed a formula for plain hypo for second fixing bath and pre-selenium toning. I found what I needed there also, thanks Ansel.
So, if you are interested in what we use, I have added our fixer choice to the Formulas Area of this BLOG. Drop by and take a look. The formulas we have chosen work fine, are simple, easy to mix, and does the job as needed. Obviously, I am not a chemist, and I am not into discussing chemical formulas. For me, working in the darkroom and mixing chemicals is only a matter of finding a recipe that reliably works, sticking with it, and getting on with making photographs. I don’t care much about the innards of chemistry. . . I’ll leave that to the chemists.
Things do change, and they are not the same, but who cares, as long as the results are the same. Fred Picker said, “different is not the same.” I miss ol’ Fred!