Stain removal on an 8x10 negative

[Bruce E. Rathbun]

I have an 8x10 neg that has a small brown stain. The stain was most likely from many years agao when I used Dektol. My darkroom was small and I think that the Dektol spilled on the neg. Is there any way to remove a stain like this? I can see through the stain but the print is white where the spot is. Any ideas?

-Bruce

[Louie Powell]

Bruce -

Is the stain on the back of the negagive or is it on the emulsion side?

You might try soaking the negative in water, refixing it, and then doing a normal wash. If the stain is on the back, it may come out. If it's in the emulsion, it may not.

[Bruce E. Rathbun]

The stain is on the emulsion sied. If all else fails the area can be bleached out as a black area on the print would look rather nice. Hate to go that far but i may need to. There is no way to spot out the damage on a print. I did attempt to wash out the stain. No luck as it is on the emulsion side.

[Bruce Watson]

You might consider scanning the negative, fixing the damage in photoshop, then creating a new negative or having the file printed digitally. This way you don't have to risk the negative in making a "fix" that might make things worse.

Just a thought....