Cloudy silver bath, is it usable?

[Ethan]

OK, that's great! I'm glad you are using the right tools to make correct adjustments. Well done.
You don't need to filter anymore. If the bath reads 1.074, then you are good to start making plates. That is, as long as the bath you were given had already been used: a virgin silver bath should be "excited" by the addition of iodides/bromides before it will make good plates.

Do you have a book to refer to? The B&S kit instructions are not sufficient for anything more than getting you started.

I haven't gotten any books on the subject, but my friend who does wet plate gave me a photocopy of her "cookbook" she has compiled all the information she uses into. Are there any books you would recommend?

[Two23]

I use Walmart distilled water all the time. It works.


Kent in SD

[Mark Sawyer]

What are you filtering it through? (Many people user cotton balls, which can have contaminants of their own.)

[Two23]

I haven't gotten any books on the subject, but my friend who does wet plate gave me a photocopy of her "cookbook" she has compiled all the information she uses into. Are there any books you would recommend?

There are several books out there: Jacob Quinn, Mark Osterman, and John Coffer all have one. I have the Coffer "Doer's guide." Book and DVDs. It's quite good.

https://www.johncoffer.com/

Kent in SD

[Ari]

I've only read Quinn Jacobson's "Chemical Pictures", which has a chapter devoted to the silver bath and how to maintain it.

[paulbarden]

I've only read Quinn Jacobson's "Chemical Pictures", which has a chapter devoted to the silver bath and how to maintain it.

And Quinn's 2019 edition of 'Chemical Pictures' covers the subject most thoroughly. John Coffer's book - though extremely valuable in many respects - doesn't cover the topic as thoroughly. In fact, Coffer's information on silver bath maintenance is one paragraph and a few tips here and there. 'Chemical Pictures' (get the NEW edition, not the older ones) is much more thorough on this and other subjects.

[goamules]

When you add distilled water to a silver bath, it will often cloud up. Reverse osmosis is not the type of distilled you want, you want distillation type. I mentioned that a few weeks ago about "have you noticed when you add distilled your bath clouds up...?" If you haven't....you will. Keep sunning and filtering, it will be fine by the next day.

[Two23]

When you add distilled water to a silver bath, it will often cloud up. Reverse osmosis is not the type of distilled you want, you want distillation type. I mentioned that a few weeks ago about "have you noticed when you add distilled your bath clouds up...?" If you haven't....you will. Keep sunning and filtering, it will be fine by the next day.

Garrett--

When I've mixed up additional silver bath I've done it in a 1000ml beaker, adding the silver crystals to the Walmart distilled water. The water stays clear while I stir it up, and when I've filtered it a couple of weeks later the filter looks clean. Isn't the fact the water doesn't immediately turn blue (as it does in tap water) mean the water is pure enough?


Kent in SD

[ghostcount]

.. Isn't the fact the water doesn't immediately turn blue (as it does in tap water) mean the water is pure enough?

I hope you meant "cloudy" because "blue" means something else in the process, occasionally smelling like almonds to some genetically disposed practitioners.

[goamules]

If the silver bath stays clear, and plates seem good, the distilled is good enough.