8X10 Photo Paper Safe

Can someone recommend a good safe, easy to access, storage method for photographic paper, 8x10 usually, instead of dealing with the box and plastic bag for each print? I see various safes available on the bid site but most seem quite old and I'm concerned with light leaks with them.

Thanks!

For many years I didn't have one, though didn't have so much trouble with boxes and bags.

I usually have a few empty black bags, from empty packs of paper.

I would use one for a few sheets, usually cut to the size needed at the time.

Then a few years ago, I got a wooden paper safe, which is pretty much a wooden box

with a wooden removable top, with the sides designed to make a light trap, and I

believe the ability to hold the top open.

Then not so much later, someone gave me some 11x14 plastic paper safe boxes.

It is hard to explain the shape. They came filled with Seagull paper. It seems,

though, that at the corners on the bottom, there are small cracks, which now

exposed the corners of each sheet. Just the corners, so I can cut some nice sizes

out of them.

I believe that there are ones designed to eject one sheet at a time, but never

had one like that.

I believe this is similar to the one with cracks in the corners:

Firstcall Premier 16 x 20in Paper Safe

The bottom is one piece of plastic, which comes up, down, then the flat bottom.

The corners of the flat bottom seem to be a high stress point, and get hairline

cracks, maybe from picking them up while full.

I also have a Soligor double paper safe like this one:

Soligor paper safe 8x10 double decker vintage darkroom mint shape! | eBay

which mostly is two sliding drawers. There is a plastic lock

device that hopefully stops it from opening while you carry

it around, or otherwise accidentally.

I think this one works fine, but doesn't dispense one sheet

at a time.

I just used to take a few sheets (however many I thought I'd print) out of the bag, then put everything back in the box with the sheets on top of the bag. That way the bulk of the paper was protected from light and chemical splashes, while those few sheets were easily accessible, but still protected from the lights accidentally being turned on.

Or, I'd do the same, but transfer the sheets to an empty paper box, sans bag.

Never had a problem, but should note that my boxes were stored in a dark cupboard, under the bench, in a dedicated darkroom, so they were fairly safe.

I believe this is similar to the one with cracks in the corners:

 

Firstcall Premier 16 x 20in Paper Safe

 

The bottom is one piece of plastic, which comes up, down, then the flat bottom.

The corners of the flat bottom seem to be a high stress point, and get hairline

cracks, maybe from picking them up while full.

Thanks glen - Yes, that Premier is what's available on the bid site at 30 bucks. I guess one could do a simple repair on any corner cracks, having been alerted by brown paper corners, but I'd loose trust quickly.

Maybe best bet is just to grab the day's paper and fold it carefully in a saved black bag.

Thanks for the help!

Thanks glen - Yes, that Premier is what's available on the bid site at 30 bucks. I guess one could do a simple repair on any corner cracks, having been alerted by brown paper corners, but I'd loose trust quickly.

 

Maybe best bet is just to grab the day's paper and fold it carefully in a saved black bag.

 

Thanks for the help!

Yes, I suspect that the leaks are easy to fix, but that doesn't help the paper that is already in them.

Someone gave them to me with paper already in.

Also. 11x14 is heavier, so probably more stress, than 8x10, but less than 16x20.

The main problem with black paper (or plastic) envelopes is forgetting what is in them.

Yes, I suspect that the leaks are easy to fix, but that doesn't help the paper that is already in them.

 

Someone gave them to me with paper already in.

 

Also. 11x14 is heavier, so probably more stress, than 8x10, but less than 16x20.

 

The main problem with black paper (or plastic) envelopes is forgetting what is in them.

Yes I can see that happening down the road a bit, but for now in the service of learning and predictability I've been using only Ilford MG4 RC. One post I read somewhere, a guy said he puts a black bag saved from a box over his head to check for light leaks. Best done alone I'm guessing.

In my time at a newspaper, we stored paper in drawers under the enlarger counter. A sliding cover was let into the sides, forming a labyrinth light trap. The cover could be slid open to retrieve the paper, and automatically closed when the drawer was pushed back in, fitting into a groove in the front as well.

Thanks Ed, that's a fine description of what once existed, well made, thoughtful, and often in daily service for decades.

Have experience with one of these - useful since it is set up for multiple grades / types of paper. Link Brumberger Darkroom Film Paper Safe 8x10 with roll top door Steel - very useful | eBay

Note: this one isn't pretty, but they were strong and well designed.

Drawers are very easy to make. Most modern cabinets attach the decorative front to an open-top box. The guides screw to the bottom. It would be a 30 minute job with a table saw. Re-attach the front, and it looks factory-made.

I've used the roll-top steel boxes too. They get nasty pretty quickly around photo chemicals and humidity.

Drawers are very easy to make. Most modern cabinets attach the decorative front to an open-top box. The guides screw to the bottom. It would be a 30 minute job with a table saw. Re-attach the front, and it looks factory-made.

 

I've used the roll-top steel boxes too. They get nasty pretty quickly around photo chemicals and humidity.

All a question of darkroom hygiene - never had an issue. Just a mater of keeping things clean.

Is it really so hard to lift the black plastic bag and place it at an angle on the edge of its box, or pull it partway out of the cardboard envelope at the start of a printing session? Then with the black bag flap tucked underneath and held in place by gravity, you simply lift the bag, open the flap and pull a sheet of paper out. Then refold the flap under the bag and drop it back down.

The whole operation took me far longer to type than it would have done to pull a sheet from the black bag and refold the flap.

At the end of safelight time and before white-light time, you ensure the bag is properly folded and pushed back in its box or envelope. That doesn't seem terribly complicated or time consuming to me.

Paper safe? That's where important domestic documents are stored isn't it?

Is it really so hard to lift the black plastic bag and place it at an angle on the edge of its box, or pull it partway out of the cardboard envelope at the start of a printing session? Then with the black bag flap tucked underneath and held in place by gravity, you simply lift the bag, open the flap and pull a sheet of paper out. Then refold the flap under the bag and drop it back down.

 

The whole operation took me far longer to type than it would have done to pull a sheet from the black bag and refold the flap.

 

At the end of safelight time and before white-light time, you ensure the bag is properly folded and pushed back in its box or envelope. That doesn't seem terribly complicated or time consuming to me.

 

Paper safe? That's where important domestic documents are stored isn't it?

That's how I've always done things.

To me it just makes sense because, among other things, I don't have to try and guess at or remember where I put a particular paper finish in the dark. I occasionally print on graded papers also(mostly vintage Kodak stuff like Azo-I don't buy it new) and having graded paper in its original packaging just makes my life easier all around.