Ilford FB as hot as it gets

[Paulus]

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Today I tried flushed my Ilford Multigrade Warmtone FB a little hotter than normal. Say 40/50 degrees Celcius instead of 20 C.

 

I noticed that the dried paper had a very nice shine. I dry my paper by hanging it in the air at room temperature.

 

I used to use a hot linnen press some fifteen years ago to dry the paper. The paper had the same shine in that time.

 

Do any of you have experience with very hot replenishing/flushing and what is your advice?

[tobey bilek]

The hotter you dry it, the more gloss there is because the gelatin surface melts.

 

Air dry is a soft gloss.

 

For plastic like gloss, use ferrotype plates PROPERLY if this is a true glossy paper, and I don`t remember if it is .

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[erl]

Yes, ferrotyping is the best, ever! Years ago (too many) I had a competition with the Ilford rep who tried to convert from using FB paper tp RC paper. I promised that I would switch over when he could demonstrate the blacks and whites on RC paper was as good or better than FB paper. To cut a long story short my argument won because I used a rotary glazer (ferrotype) to dry my glossy prints. That was more than 50 years ago. I don't believe it has changed.

Later, I did switch to RC paper, but purely for speed and commercial reasons. I still maintain the FB paper to give superior results, on ferrotyped gloss paper.

As it happens, I have just reinvigorated my old darkroom ( after a 10 year break) and just got it fully functional again, including starting up my old rotary glazer. Yet to pump some FB paper through it, but it won't be long.

See my glazer below that I bought  more than 50 years ago.

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[Pintpot]

Back in the day a Kodak rotary glazer was a must for any commercial studio, and from experience I can say that FB prints run through a glazer are superior to RC prints. Now I'm not decrying RC paper at all, used plenty of it and value the ease of use, esp. when my flatbed glazer gave up the ghost. And then there was mounting! anyone remember using sheets of photo mount, I had to use an iron.

[erl]

7 hours ago, Pintpot said:

Back in the day a Kodak rotary glazer was a must for any commercial studio, and from experience I can say that FB prints run through a glazer are superior to RC prints. Now I'm not decrying RC paper at all, used plenty of it and value the ease of use, esp. when my flatbed glazer gave up the ghost. And then there was mounting! anyone remember using sheets of photo mount, I had to use an iron.

Thanks for the memory. I've tried hard to forget some of those 'hardships'. Probably the worst was spotting prints using fine camel hair brushes and variously toned dyes.

[Pintpot]

16 minutes ago, erl said:

Thanks for the memory. I've tried hard to forget some of those 'hardships'. Probably the worst was spotting prints using fine camel hair brushes and variously toned dyes.

Tell me about it!

We used to sell Hypo by the 1lb. then. Happy days 😁

[erl]

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2 minutes ago, Pintpot said:

Tell me about it!

We used to sell Hypo by the 1lb. then. Happy days 😁

I still have some of those solid chemicals sitting in jars on my DR shelves. Also Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner, Liquid Light and other stuff. 🤓

[david strachan]

I used to have a very little gold chloride, used for cool toning and archiving prints.

Very little indeed...a gram or two.    It was very effective though with the subtlest blue shade...but indestructible print which never changed tone.

...

sometimes i really miss my darkroom; I loved the chemistry, and hours of isolated concentration.

Edited May 4, 2022 by david strachan

[Chuck Albertson]

I use a dry mounting press (set at around 275F) to flatten my prints, and it puts a nice semi-gloss on them. Both Ilford FB and the Adox MCC papers I have left.

One thing I noticed with the "new" MGFB paper from Ilford - when I squeegeed the prints after they came out of the wash, there are blue speckles all over the back of the print. A bit alarming, but when I retrieved the dried prints the next day, the speckles had disappeared.

[M.Hilo]

12 hours ago, Chuck Albertson said:

I use a dry mounting press (set at around 275F) to flatten my prints, and it puts a nice semi-gloss on them. Both Ilford FB and the Adox MCC papers I have left.

One thing I noticed with the "new" MGFB paper from Ilford - when I squeegeed the prints after they came out of the wash, there are blue speckles all over the back of the print. A bit alarming, but when I retrieved the dried prints the next day, the speckles had disappeared.

I have always pressed at 90 Celsius (almost 200 Fahrenheit) and get what you call "a nice semi-gloss". But I think the type of gloss is more a result of how warm you dry your prints. I assume your prints are already dry before you press them.

After washing I wipe the water off both sides and just hang the prints from two lines using larger plastic clothes pecks. I make sure the room is not too warm, because I try to get the same gloss over the years.

For 50x60cm (20x24in.) I use an old Büscher drymounting press that has 3 heat settings. There is no thermostat so I alternate between the higher two settings, keeping the temperatue around the 90 degrees Celcius. (I keep an eye on the built-in thermometer). There have been a couple of times that I let the temperature run up too high (phonecalls grrr) and yes, this increased the gloss. (some I washed again and repeated the sequence at the right temperature). I use the Seal 210 press for smaller prints and since this press has the automatic switching off and on to keep the right temperature, everything is easier.

Finally, what can also influence the gloss of a print is the tension of the press.

I haven't seen any blue speckles, I only use Ilford warmtone paper.

Edited October 26, 2022 by M.Hilo