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Don Wallace
23-Oct-2007, 12:07
I found a ziplock bag with a bunch of unopened packages of Dektol and Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent. They have to be at least 6-7 years old. What are the odds that they are still good? I suppose I could just mix up the Dektol and see what happens, but what about the HCA?

Jan Pedersen
23-Oct-2007, 12:19
Don,
i have some old Dektol and it still works great. Don't use it often but it works. It is usually going bad if it turns brown (In powder form) but as long as it is just a bit yellowish it should be fine.

Vaughn
23-Oct-2007, 12:23
I imagine that the HCA is fine. I will agree about the Dektol...if the powder has a bunch of black cystals it is bad...but might be good to use for solarizations, to possibly lower contrast of graded papers and to have experimenting fun with.

Might be fine for proof sheets, also.

Vaughn

Gene McCluney
28-Oct-2007, 10:19
I found a ziplock bag with a bunch of unopened packages of Dektol and Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent. They have to be at least 6-7 years old. What are the odds that they are still good? I suppose I could just mix up the Dektol and see what happens, but what about the HCA?

Hypo clearing agent is sodium sulfite, or some such benign chemical...should be good indefinately. If it is still white, it should be good.

I have found Dektol to work quite well, even when brown.

SamReeves
28-Oct-2007, 22:59
When I worked in education, we used blocks of Dektol powder that were 3-5 years old. No problems what so ever in mixing it up.