Salvaging Old Negatives

I hope this is the right newgroup for this question. I have hundreds of
negatives from 1940 and older that I purchased at a local auction. Some of
the loose ones are of great local historical interest. Trouble is many of
the negatives are stuck together, almost like they are melted. I suspect
that over the years they got wet. Is there any possible way to seperate
them? Even if only the center of each negative is saved that would be more
than I have now.

Rosy

Cold water is your friend. Soak the stacks of negatives in it (perhaps
agitating them occasionally) until they separate very easily (put some Foto
Flo in the water).

Carefully hang them to dry.

Norm Lehfeldt

"Jim Rosengarten" wrotf:

I hope this is the right newgroup for this question. I have hundreds of
negatives from 1940 and older that I purchased at a local auction. Some of
the loose ones are of great local historical interest. Trouble is many of
the negatives are stuck together, almost like they are melted. I suspect
that over the years they got wet. Is there any possible way to seperate
them? Even if only the center of each negative is saved that would be more
than I have now.

Rosy

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 20:30:00 -0500, "Jim Rosengarten"
wrote:

I hope this is the right newgroup for this question. I have hundreds of
negatives from 1940 and older that I purchased at a local auction. Some of
the loose ones are of great local historical interest. Trouble is many of
the negatives are stuck together, almost like they are melted. I suspect
that over the years they got wet. Is there any possible way to seperate
them? Even if only the center of each negative is saved that would be more
than I have now.

Rosy

Simple..

Take distilled water and photo-flo and soak the negs for a few minutes
till they loosen.

After you separate all of the negs rinse them in cold running water
for 10-15 minutes and hang in a dust free room to dry.

Colyn Goodson

http://home.swbell.net/colyng

Camera manuals and mercury battery fix
http://www.colyngoodson.com

the negatives are stuck together, almost like they are melted.

You have already gotten the standard advice about soaking the negatives in
water with a little FotoFlo in it. BUT, the negatives might be on nitrate film
(commonly used 1890-1950) in which case be aware that the negatives are
EXTREMELY flammable, so keep them separate from your other negatives. Nitrate
film may be stable for long period of time; in other cases the negatives get
sticky and emit flammable fumes.

When I encounter nitrate film in photo collections, I put them in a metal
coffee can and keep them separated from the rest of the collection.

Best regards, and good luck--

"DaveHodge" wrote in message
...
the negatives are stuck together, almost like they are melted.

You have already gotten the standard advice about soaking the negatives in
water with a little FotoFlo in it. BUT, the negatives might be on nitrate
film
(commonly used 1890-1950) in which case be aware that the negatives are
EXTREMELY flammable, so keep them separate from your other negatives.
Nitrate
film may be stable for long period of time; in other cases the negatives
get
sticky and emit flammable fumes.

When I encounter nitrate film in photo collections, I put them in a metal
coffee can and keep them separated from the rest of the collection.

Best regards, and good luck--

Has anyone here ever separated glass plate negatives that have been stuck
together?? I've been told that soaking in water may cause the gelatin to
swell and separate.

Derek

"Derek Gee" wrote in message
...
"DaveHodge" wrote in message
...
the negatives are stuck together, almost like they are melted.

You have already gotten the standard advice about soaking the negatives
in
water with a little FotoFlo in it. BUT, the negatives might be on
nitrate
film
(commonly used 1890-1950) in which case be aware that the negatives are
EXTREMELY flammable, so keep them separate from your other negatives.
Nitrate
film may be stable for long period of time; in other cases the negatives
get
sticky and emit flammable fumes.

When I encounter nitrate film in photo collections, I put them in a
metal
coffee can and keep them separated from the rest of the collection.

Best regards, and good luck--

Has anyone here ever separated glass plate negatives that have been stuck
together?? I've been told that soaking in water may cause the gelatin to
swell and separate.

OK, I can hear the crickets chirping... I guess nobody's in
rec.photo.film+labs have ever separated glass negatives out. Not a good
sign...

Derek

I have never had the need to seperate glass plate negatives, but I did
try washing in distilled water and photoflow to clean. Mistake, the
emulsion began to peel off the glass plate. The solution was to use
negative cleaner and a cotton wool swab.

Mike


On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 03:03:43 GMT, "Derek Gee"
wrote:

"Derek Gee" wrote in message
. ..
"DaveHodge" wrote in message
...
the negatives are stuck together, almost like they are melted.

You have already gotten the standard advice about soaking the negatives
in
water with a little FotoFlo in it. BUT, the negatives might be on
nitrate
film
(commonly used 1890-1950) in which case be aware that the negatives are
EXTREMELY flammable, so keep them separate from your other negatives.
Nitrate
film may be stable for long period of time; in other cases the negatives
get
sticky and emit flammable fumes.

When I encounter nitrate film in photo collections, I put them in a
metal
coffee can and keep them separated from the rest of the collection.

Best regards, and good luck--

Has anyone here ever separated glass plate negatives that have been stuck
together?? I've been told that soaking in water may cause the gelatin to
swell and separate.

OK, I can hear the crickets chirping... I guess nobody's in
rec.photo.film+labs have ever separated glass negatives out. Not a good
sign...

Derek

"Mike" wrote in message
...
I have never had the need to seperate glass plate negatives, but I did
try washing in distilled water and photoflow to clean. Mistake, the
emulsion began to peel off the glass plate. The solution was to use
negative cleaner and a cotton wool swab.

Any particular brand of negative cleaner? I wonder if immersing the plates
in negative cleaner would cause it to absorb into the emulsion and peel off
like water did?

Derek

I have a bottle of Kodak Negative cleaner, probably quite old but
works.

My concern would be having the cleaner get between the emulsion and
the glass and lift away.

I wonder if increasing the humidity would work? I used steam from a
kettle to remove stamps from an envelope?

- Mike

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 03:03:03 GMT, "Derek Gee"
wrote:

"Mike" wrote in message
.. .
I have never had the need to seperate glass plate negatives, but I did
try washing in distilled water and photoflow to clean. Mistake, the
emulsion began to peel off the glass plate. The solution was to use
negative cleaner and a cotton wool swab.

Any particular brand of negative cleaner? I wonder if immersing the plates
in negative cleaner would cause it to absorb into the emulsion and peel off
like water did?

Derek

"Mike" wrote in message
...
I have a bottle of Kodak Negative cleaner, probably quite old but
works.

My concern would be having the cleaner get between the emulsion and
the glass and lift away.

I wonder if increasing the humidity would work? I used steam from a
kettle to remove stamps from an envelope?

Plan A is to build a humidity box, to gradually bring up the humidity enough
to separate the plates. My concern is that the emulsion will go with one of
the plates.

Plan B is to try immersing in something - water, negative cleaner,
whatever...

I'm told by at least one professional conservationist that they have never
heard of anyone who has sucessfully separated glass negatives that have
bonded to each other with nothing between them. I was hoping with all the
vast knowledge in rec.photo.film+labs, that maybe someone out there had
already faced this problem and solved it.

Derek