Is there a chemist in the house?

[Calamity Jane]

(Hummm, we don't really have a category for this so we'll try "techniques"....)

I posted this on another (smaller) board but I know we have a wealth of scientific knowledge here so I thought I might reach more knowledgable folks by posting here.

I am planning to get into wet plate collodion (See, it IS LF related!) and I was reading about ethel ether and its propensity to form peroxides once the container has been opened and the contents exposed to air. The peroxides of ether are listed as a primary explosive. 8-O

Are there any chemists in the house who can speak scientifically on the storage of ether and the prevention of peroxides?

Thanks!

[Ron Marshall]

Here is a link: http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:jmVMEEALksEJ:ehs.ucsc.edu/Lab_Research_Safety/Pubs/Facts/Peroxides.pdf+ethyl+ether+peroxide+&hl=en

Also be very carefull to avoid flame or sparks with ethers.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

www.cwreenactors.com/collodion/collodionforum/DCForumID1/1221.html

I think the best solution is a small refrigerator to store your collodion and ether.

[Scott Davis]

Also contact Rob Gibson about techniques - he is a big-time wet-plate collodion guy, and has been working with it for a very long time. He was one of the keynote presenters at the Large Format Photography Conference in Springfield, Mass this year. He's based out of Gettysburg, PA. He's very willing to share technique and information. I dropped in his studio one weekend and he was very willing to walk me through the whole process and let me watch him work. Everything from coating a plate to final fix and wash. Jason is correct about storing your chems in a fridge. Keep in mind you will need to warm them to room temperature when you are going to use them. Also make sure to work in a well-ventilated area. The ether fumes can get to you very quickly.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

...two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.....also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls...but the only thing that worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge...
----Hunter Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

[Dan Jolicoeur]

Remember the answers you gave in this thread?

http://largeformatphotography.info/lfforum/topic/502353.html#555933

[Eric Rose]

Ya gotta love Hunter S. My his tortured soul rest in peace.

[Calamity Jane]

Dan Jolicoeur: What's your point?

If you are referring to the comments about "hoarding information" I assume you mean that because I refused to fully disclose detailed information about a specific process I was developing that I am not entitled to ask any questions on this board?

If that is the case, I have a couple of words for you but they're not very nice.

[Mark Sawyer]

You sound as though you're aware of this, CJ, but a quick reminder for everyone; just as daguerreotypists used to go mad from the mercury vapors, wet plate photographers and tin-typists used to go "poof!" from the collodian and ether. (Then there was magnesium flash powder and cellulose nitrate negatives... )

[ronald moravec]

If you want to do some real damage, try mercury vapor intensification. Ether will just put you on the floor, maybe toss your cookies.