"Larry" wrote in message
...
hello all,

am feeling a bit silly asking this question. When I mix
Kodalk, can I
place it in order in the formula with which I'm using it
or should I
make a stock solution of it to add to my formula? If I
am making a
stock solution, how much water using the one gram formula
mentioned
previously????

thanks again,
Larry Kriese

Look at the formula calling for Kodalk or for sodium
metaborate. For each gram of Kodalk called for add 0.692
grams of borax and 0.145 grams of sodium hydroxide. If its
more convenient you can mix the two in a small quantity of
water and add the result to the formula. Since most
photographic formulas call for less than the final quantity
of water the "extra" water is accounted for when making up
the final amount. Just make sure that the amount of water
used for the Kodalk mixture is enough so that you will not
wind up oversaturating it. Add the pre-dissolved Kodalk
solution in the right order as called for in the formula.
BTW, the order of solution is important: some chemicals
will not dissolve in others, for instance Metol will not
dissolve in concentrated solutions of sulfite, and some
chemicals require the solution to be alkaline or acid to
dissolve.
Sodium hydroxide used to be easily available as Red
Devil Lye in any grocery store but I have not seen it for
some time. 20-Mule Team Borax is sufficiently pure for
photographic uses. This also used to be available in any
grocery store but, again, I have not seen it in local stores
recently. Probably a web search would turn up sources.


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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA