TF-4 Fixer Longevity?

[Drew Wiley]

I didn't say you HAVE to you it one shot. What my custom is, is to merely mix a
stated amount for the matching amount of paper in a given work session,
which I discard at the end of each session. With film, it's the volume of working solution needed for the tray or tank. But the whole point of TF4, or presumably now TF5, is that it's an "archival" fixer which washes out relatively quickly without a wash aid. So if someone is going to cut corners, why use a deluxe fixer at all?

[Ron Marshall]

So if someone is going to cut corners, why use a deluxe fixer at all?

It's not cutting corners if you flush it with 90% of it's capacity remaining.

FF lists the capacity, square inches. I use two thirds of that then dump. I always do clearing tests and the time doesn't vary much over the life of a working strength batch.

[Thebes]

Many people use TF-4 to maintain an alkaline pH during their process, this might be important with, say, PMK film developer. So there are several reasons to use it, not just archival print processing.

I don't see how using near something's stated capacity is cutting corners, Is there a proposed method by which older fixer washes out more slowly?

[Henry Ambrose]

I've tested TF4 and it works past the stated capacity. I don't do it but it was good to know. It is a super long lasting fixer. I do use separate bottles of working solution for film and paper.

[PViapiano]

I didn't say you HAVE to you it one shot. What my custom is, is to merely mix a
stated amount for the matching amount of paper in a given work session,
which I discard at the end of each session. With film, it's the volume of working solution needed for the tray or tank. But the whole point of TF4, or presumably now TF5, is that it's an "archival" fixer which washes out relatively quickly without a wash aid. So if someone is going to cut corners, why use a deluxe fixer at all?

Drew...

Tell me how you do this? I'm curious...

If you're going to do 15 prints instead of the 30 fiber prints as capacity states for a liter, do you mix it 1:7 instead of the normal 1:3?

[Gary L. Quay]

Last year, I was given sample bottles of TF4 by the folks at Blue Moon Camera & Machine, who were clearing out their attic. They were old stock, possibly from the early 1990s, and they worked just fine.

--Gary

[Rick Moore]

Last year, I was given sample bottles of TF4 by the folks at Blue Moon Camera & Machine, who were clearing out their attic. They were old stock, possibly from the early 1990s, and they worked just fine.

--Gary

I'm very glad to hear this. I just discovered two gallons of TF-4 concentrate, sealed in the original box, never opened, from 2001. No one in my family will confess to accepting the package and putting it into a cabinet under a workbench in the storeroom.


--
Rick