"Peter" wrote in message
...
On Mar 2, 1:11 pm, Darkroom User Darkroom.User.
wrote:
I found this site which says that developers like D76 and
D72 can be
made by spoon measures instead of weighing each of the dry
chemicals.
How accurate is this?

http://www.farahmahbub.com/VirtualMa...cktoBasics.htm

--
Darkroom User

Interesting.
Text could use a little editing. Some obvous places:
"face musk is an appropriate addition" (mask?)
"Add a pinch of Sodium to the water before adding the Metol
to prevent
the initial oxidation" (avoid pinching the sodium; putting
it in the
water may have surprising results; you mean Sodium Sulfite -
I think)
"Four Possessing Trays { large enough to hold the selected
print
size }" (Processing)

He means sodium sulfite but its based on a mistaken
idea that the sulfite will absorb any free oxygen in the
water. Actually the metol is pretty effective at doing that
and its more effective to boil the water for a few minutes
before using it to mix the developer. Boiling will drive off
dissolved gasses, remove some hardness, and coagulate any
organic matter which will precipitate as the water cools.
Metol will not dissolve in a strong solution of sulfite
which is why its always the firt ingredient (after water) in
any formula including it.
In general, I don't like inexact measurment even for
relatively non-critical applications as B&W photographic
processing solutions. The range of error is suggested by the
variation in the different versions of similar developers.
The same thing applies to cooking, what exactly is a
teaspoon,a scant teaspoon, a rounded teaspoon, a heaping
teaspoon? A pinch of something?
This is OK as an emergency measure but decent used
balances are available cheaply. Actually, a digital postage
scale will work for smaller quantities.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL