Topic: Very old chemicals

[Kayos]

So my £50 bundle keeps on giving, among the half open manky bottles were 3 sealed ones, that feel like that have no air in, as when I shake them they don't slosh around
However........

Patterson Universal Developer use before 1999
Patterson Fixer use before use before 1997
Ilford IN-1 stop bath, no date

My initial thoughts were to stick them on eBay, sell to a hipster looking for an extreme vintage look while developing his/her Lomo expired film, but will they actually work or just ruin someone's film/day?

[imagesfrugales]

The question can only be answered by trial and error.

The fixer might be usable, I once got a half filled plastic bottle of Tetenal Superfix - opened more than 20 years ago - and despite a lot of rock-hard sulfur precipitate it worked like new. Only 2 years old Adofix became a smeary ugly stinking sludge.

Checking if the the developer has any activity at all is easy with a snippet of film or paper. If usable, fill in a glass bottle and always spray lighter gas on top and it will keep another while.

The stop bath will probably work, but is it really important?

[Late Developer]

Trial and error sounds about right.  I just wouldn't trial the chemicals on anything that I wouldn't be prepared to lose....

[Francois]

I'd go for trial and error too.

[Indofunk]

Stop bath is just vinegar (acetic acid) with the sole purpose of decreasing the pH of the reaction, so unless some sodium hydroxide got in there, it's fine.

[Kayos]

I think I will list it on ebay, let some one else trial and error it

[imagesfrugales]

Please let us know if someone bought it and for how much. Frankly spoken, I wouldn't give a dime. Good luck.

[Kayos]

I will

I wince at the price some expired film goes for, so maybe the people buying that will want vintage chemicals too?
If not I will just dispose of it, but if I don't try I will always wonder