For any interested:

I fell in love with Ilford Warmtone Fiber in the semi-matte surface when it first came out, for me the ideal subtlety of texture with a surface that can be brought to life with Paul Strand's varnish (see posts, last year or earlier this year) to restore the tonal range. Since Multigrade fiber does not come in this surface, only in a flat matte, I left it out of my thinking during my recent re-start in the darkroom. However, I finally ordered a small box of the matte and ran some tests this weekend. I am happy to report that the flat matte comes similarly to life with the varnish, and even reveals a hint of the texture I like so well with in the semi-matte of WTF -- not quite as much but not the plane-flatness of the paper when dry.

The different colors of the two papers and their variations with selenium toning offers a wide palette for a range of subjects and moods. 1:19 works well with Classic and WTF, though 1:9 with WTF can give a rich brown. I plan to experiment with 1:29 or 39 with Classic for a little more control, and 1:15 with WTF, conversely, to shorten toning time. times now range from 7 to 14 minutes at temps between 71 and 75 F.