Some passing thoughts on chemical cleanliness

[Ulophot]

(I meant "Some." Is there no way to edit headers?) [Fixed! --Oren]

By early photographic training, as well as idiosyncrasy, I have always been meticulous in the darkroom, keeping anything wet off the dry side (or area, when one counter and no sink was all I had) and scrupulously handling and cleaning up chemistry. As follows logically, I was never one for printing without tongs, though we had to at college. I rinsed a lot and kept a fresh towel. (I remember cringing repeatedly years ago, watching Fred Picker's excellent printing video. He kept going from hand-developing his prints and then returning to the dry side, as if directly from the fixer, with not even a mention of getting the fixer off his hands. Yes, it was a video, which cut from scene to scene, in between which he unquestionably washed and dried his hands carefully, but as a training video...)
Anyway, as in the kitchen, where baking soda is a super, non-abrasive cleaner (great on stainless steel and enamel; chemically, it turns grease into a soap, I've read), I keep a box handy at my darkroom sink -- top off and lying on its side for easy access. I long ago picked up the habit of sniffing my fingers for, chemicals when processing. Since a baking soda solution can be used as a fixer-remover bath, I trust that, beside its deodorizing properties, it also helps keep me from transferring fixer residue (fixer clings to fingers as well as paper fibers, it seems) to my towel and wet side equipment. If my fingers fail the sniff test, a quick dip, rub, and rinse are all it takes.
If one of our chemistry experts happens to read this and has a correction to make, feel free. Otherwise, I offer it as a tip to beginners and others who may be interested.

[Tin Can]

Prints I tong all down the line into the wash. I add the tong to the wash.

Then I use bare hands to remove print after washing to place on screens.

I assume my print wash is clean and then dry my hands.



Next

[Doremus Scudder]

I use tongs too, but do often handle prints in the fix. I have a separate faucet for hand washing and lots of towels. I cycle the towels to the wash after several uses; towels can be a source of contamination too. The key for me is to wash hands thoroughly and dry well before returning to the dry side. Even clean, wet hands can damage the next print.

Best,

Doremus

[scheinfluger_77]

Something I started doing is wearing those thin blue Nitrile gloves when in the darkroom. They seem to be a lot easier to rinse, dry off quickly with a towel hanging from my pocket, & go back to working. I actually have better tactile control through the gloves than with bare hands.

[docw]

I am a notoriously sloppy person so I have to make extra effort in the darkroom. I do wash my hands frequently and I always have a supply of clean tea towels on hand. The ones for the darkroom always have some form of black pattern on them so my wife can distinguish them. I have improved a lot in terms of cleanliness and organization over the years, but not to the point where I trust myself mixing up any truly dangerous chemistry. I mix my own developers and some toners, but avoid the ones that contain really nasty stuff.

[Bruce Barlow]

[/I] (I remember cringing repeatedly years ago, watching Fred Picker's excellent printing video. He kept going from hand-developing his prints and then returning to the dry side, as if directly from the fixer, with not even a mention of getting the fixer off his hands. Yes, it was a video, which cut from scene to scene, in between which he unquestionably washed and dried his hands carefully, but as a training video...

Fred kept a big towel on a ring at the end of his 9' sink. He always dunked his hands into the last holding tray of water and dried them off before going back to the dry side. And if "he unquestionably washed and dried his hands carefully," why even mention it?

Careful viewers of the video will note that Fred's darkroom was spotless, and uncluttered by junk. In the video he even puts away the box of paper that he's not going to use. The grain focuser is stashed way out of the way. No distractions. We should all be so obsessive/compulsive.

Careful viewers will note that he did not use gloves in the darkroom, but did wear a cotton glove to handle negatives. Dektol, acetic acid, HC-110, and F6 fixer neither killed him nor suppressed his taste for good wine. I do believe he wore gloves when selenium toning.

A younger me is in it. Careful viewers will observe how much taller I am than Fred. I spent many hours with Fred in his darkroom on other occasions than making the video.

It was a video about printing pictures. Not personal hygiene. Neither did we discuss wardrobe choices. It was tough enough to keep it to the playing time without added stuff. No fluff allowed.

[jp]

If you use something like TF5 for fixer, it is pretty PH neutral (not slimy) and rinses pretty easily.
I mostly use tongs to reduce contamination too.
(Sometimes the rare extra big wet prints need a little more care moving than tongs will provide.)
Sometimes the tongs fall into the chemicals or get wet and I rinse and dry that hand anyways... If I keep one hand for handling dry paper and the other for handling wet tongs, that is also workable for smaller paper (8x10 or less)

[Joe O'Hara]

Another vote for nitrile gloves. Unlike skin they are not porous, rinse off cleanly, and are not allergenic or smelly like latex.
They're about a penny apiece in the big box from the chain pharmacy. I use a fresh pair when removing prints from the
washer. (Those, I admit, I hang up to dry and use again at the next session. Thrifty!)

[sepiareverb]

...I long ago picked up the habit of sniffing my fingers for, chemicals when processing...

If you can smell chemistry on your fingers you are inhaling it. The inhaled chemistry won't hurt your prints, but to a stickler the "sniff test" would be considered very poor form, nearly as bad as the "lick test".

[Ulophot]

Fred kept a big towel on a ring at the end of his 9' sink. He always dunked his hands into the last holding tray of water and dried them off before going back to the dry side. And if "he unquestionably washed and dried his hands carefully," why even mention it?

Careful viewers of the video will note that Fred's darkroom was spotless, and uncluttered by junk. In the video he even puts away the box of paper that he's not going to use. The grain focuser is stashed way out of the way. No distractions. We should all be so obsessive/compulsive.

Careful viewers will note that he did not use gloves in the darkroom, but did wear a cotton glove to handle negatives. Dektol, acetic acid, HC-110, and F6 fixer neither killed him nor suppressed his taste for good wine. I do believe he wore gloves when selenium toning.

A younger me is in it. Careful viewers will observe how much taller I am than Fred. I spent many hours with Fred in his darkroom on other occasions than making the video.

It was a video about printing pictures. Not personal hygiene. Neither did we discuss wardrobe choices. It was tough enough to keep it to the playing time without added stuff. No fluff allowed.

Bruce, thank you for you reply. I apparently expressed myself poorly. I gained invaluable knowledge from Fred's videos as well as his newsletters, to which I subscribed for several years and the entire lot of all which I recently read through after someone here posted a link. Not to mention the Zone VI equipment that still serves me well. I appreciate the need to cut in video, and was only surprised that someone as meticulous as Fred would have left out that particular caution for new printers, that's all.

[Tin Can]

Perhaps some did not get enough science in High School.

The 2 facts I remember well are: Water is the Universal Solvent. https://water.usgs.gov/edu/solvent.html

And Dilution is everything. The Universe dilutes, poisons dilute.

When doing anything with water, air, dirt, I constantly think about dilution. We will dilute, no matter how big the Pyramid.

But there is always an atom here and there, even in your 'clean' room prints.

[Old_Dick]

Bruce, so that was you, well done.

I have the video on my google cloud. I do have permission to let others download it for free, for the asking. You need better then DSL, like I have, to download it. I use VLC to view it.

[Drew Wiley]

Gosh. Not only is there the issue of personal health, but who needs remnants of fixer or developer on doorknobs, then inevitably onto film and print paper?
And why on earth would anyone want things like lenses or paper or mounting board even in the same room as a sink generating lots of humidity and acidity?
It's pretty obvious when someone has done that because there's lots of rust and mold on their enlarger or drymount press, even creeping into lenses. Nitrile
gloves are so darn cheap I don't know why anyone would neglect them these days. They're disposable. But thicker rubber gloves can be used repeatedly for
certain things because they rinse off far more effectively than skin. ... Randy, in my high school chem class we never had to worry about the hazards of diluted chemicals - that's because the idiots would mix reagents straight, randomly pouring them down the sink to see what happened ... KA-BOOM !! - no more plumbing left in the basement!

[Bruce Barlow]

Bruce, so that was you, well done.

I have the video on my google cloud. I do have permission to let others download it for free, for the asking. You need better then DSL, like I have, to download it. I use VLC to view it.

Thanks. I figgered out how to get it onto a DVD, but out of respect for copyright, I don't distribute it. I've used Fred's methods to make dozens of beginners into capable printers in half a day.

Oh, and regarding your "profession": "Laugha while you can, Monkey Boy!"

[jim10219]

I have a bunch of tongs and never use them anymore. I find them too cumbersome, inconvenient, and just another thing to keep clean. I too use the blue nitrile gloves. They're only about eight cents a piece, and I'll often wear them for an entire printing session. I even wash them off between trays, like I would if I were using my bare hands, only I probably don't wash them as thoroughly. For me, they're the way to go. But if you're already used to the tongs and they do it for you, I wouldn't switch.

I fell in love with the nitrile glove the first time I tried gum bichromate printing. I figured I could just wash my hands really well and use tongs and everything would be fine. But the next day the skin all over both of my hands was falling off and left me with some nasty chemical burns that I didn't notice the day before. Ever since then, I've been a big fan of those nitrile gloves in the darkroom. They're good for a lot of other stuff too.

[Fred L]

Nitrile gloves for me as well, with the same gloves for all steps. I do however keep a tray of fresh water (with very frequent changes) between the developer and stop and ALWAYS rinse my gloved hand in that before proceeding to process another print. I also dry them off before returning to the enlarging bench.

When the hands get a bit sweaty in the gloves, I'll change them up for a fresh pair. Being mindful of waste, I usually rinse them off thoroughly and let them dry for another day's use. They rarely tear so they have good mileage on them. I have a heavier, looser pair for film processing since I don't need the tactile feel that I need for printing fiber.

Tongs are used very rarely and usually only for rc if I'm helping people who are new to printing.

[radu_c]

I tried tongs when I first started printing but never got the dexterity to handle the prints as I would've bare handed. Since, I'm using nitrile gloves. They have a good grip on the large prints (16x20) and the chemicals don't get to my hands. Although if you don't dip you hands in the baths every single day, I have doubts they do any real harm anyway; though I might be wrong, I'm not a chemist.

To make sure I don't contaminate the dry side of the darkroom, I dip my gloved hands in stop and then under a little running tap water. Pat try and ready to go again.

So far never had problems but then again I don't rush when I'm printing...