Archival Washing Tests (Part 3: Selenium Toning)

This is the third of a four-part series relating the results of my archival print washing tests. The first part of the series explaining details of print washing and the methods I used for these tests is Part 1: The Background. The second post, Part 2: Ilford Rapid Fixer, showed the method and results of print washing after fixing with Ilford Rapid Fixer.

Background

In this post, I’ll cover the results of my washing tests after selenium toning fiber-based paper fixed with Ilford Rapid Fixer.

Since I typically selenium tone all my prints, and since selenium toner contains some similar components to fixer (ammonium thiosulfate in Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner for example), making certain the print is thoroughly washed after toning is necessary for archival permanence. Since I’ve experienced unwanted staining during toning with some papers after using Ilford Rapid Fixer, my workflow currently comprises a complete wash both before, and after toning. This test reflects that workflow and quantifies the required wash times after toning.

Many people use a wash aid to make up the toner working solution, but I’ve seen others that recommend using the wash aid after the toner and making up the toner working solution with water. I do the latter: the print goes into one tray of the working strength toner (typically 1:9) followed by a tray of Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent.

Discussion

For this test, I used the adequately cleared test strips from the previous test. As before, I used Photographer’s Formulary Residual Hypo Test to test for residual fixer. For reference, here’s the table with the identification to determine the level of residual hypo:

Process and Results

Test 1 – Hypo clear for five minutes

For the first of two tests, I followed this process:

• 3:00 – Tone with Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner at 1:9
• 5:00 – Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent
• Variable – Archival wash in my DIY archival washer
• Remove the test strip and squeegee the test strip between my fingers to remove most of the surface water
• 2:00 – Test with Photographer’s Formulary Residual Hypo Test
• Blot the test solution and immediately examine and photograph the results

Note: All times are in minutes and seconds (m:ss)

The photos below show the spots after use of the test solution. The pen in some of the photos is pointing to the area tested on the test strips where the resulting spot was difficult or nearly impossible to identify after the solution was removed.

The time spent in the archival washer is shown below each test strip, and also written on the strip.

The stain is very faint at the 50 minute time and would indicate that as an adequate wash time.

Test 2 – Hypo clear for ten minutes

To determine if a longer time spent in the wash aid could lower the archival wash time, I performed another test with 10 minutes of hypo clear time. The process for that test is here (difference from the first test is in boldface):

• 3:00 – Tone with Kodak Rapid Selenium Toner at 1:9
• 10:00 – Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent
• Variable – Archival wash in my DIY archival washer
• Remove the test strip and squeegee the test strip between my fingers to remove most of the surface water
• 2:00 – Test with Photographer’s Formulary Residual Hypo Test
• Blot the test solution and immediately examine and photograph the results

Note: All times are in minutes and seconds (m:ss)

You can see the results of this test in the photos below.

The stain at 40 minutes is barely noticeable, but requiring an additional five minutes of hands-on time for agitation in the hypo clear to only save ten minutes of final wash time isn’t advantageous.

Conclusion

The results demonstrate successful washing after selenium toning of 50 minutes with 5 minutes of hypo clear, or 40 minutes with 10 minutes of hypo clear. Since the archival print washer can do its work without my intervention, I’ll opt for the shorter hypo clear time, followed by a longer archival wash. I’ll use a slightly longer wash time for an added measure of certainty, so I’ll probably wash for 60 minutes after toning, with a 5 minute hypo clear step in between.

In my first test documented in the previous post, I’ve verified after fixing with Ilford Rapid Fixer I need 60 minutes of archival wash (following 2 minutes of tray washing, and using no wash aid prior to the wash) for adequate removal of residual fixer. After selenium toning with a 1:9 dilution, I need 5 minutes of hypo clear, followed by a 50 minute archival wash to remove all the residual hypo. If I have a print I know I’ll be toning anyway, I’ll cut some time off the post-fix wash, as I only need to remove enough residual fixer to prevent staining in the toner.

For the final part of this series, and just to keep things from being too simple, I’ll conduct washing tests after using a different fixer. Ilford Rapid Fixer is an acidic fixer, and should be washed from the print before selenium toning. Selenium toner is an alkali solution. To provide the option to tone immediately after fixing, I’ll test washing after fixing with Photographer’s Formulary TF-4 Archival Fix, which is an alkali fixer.