Emulsion flaking from edge of Forte paper

[michael_sherck]

I don't normally print the edges of my prints black but tonight I had

occasion to do so. I noticed flakes of black in the stop bath and

upon examination discovered that the emulsion was flaking from the

edge of the paper on all six prints I made. Tiny flakes, extending

perhaps 1/16" onto the paper, were just flaking off like bits of

black paint. By the time the prints came out of the wash the edges

looked like hell: flakes came off in the stop bath, fixer, rinse,

first wash aid, toning bath, second wash aid and final wash. The

more I handled the prints in the various solutions, the more emulsion

flaked off. Is this normal behavior which I just haven't noticed

before because prints usually have a white (unexposed) border around

them or is my brand-new box of Forte variable contrast glossy 8x10

fiber paper defective? I've made many 35mm contact sheets, mostly on

RC paper and never saw this before, but tonight I was contact

printing 5x7 negatives and wanted to see what they looked like with a

black border instead of white.

 

Mike

[domenico_foschi]

Michael ,

you just got a bad batch .

I have used Forte , and i never encountered such a problem .

I would return it.

[garry_teeple1]

Mike,

 

I have the same problem with the Forte. It seems that as the paper ages it gets much worse. The last package I purchased over two years ago is getting so bad that it is almost usless, makes me wonder about the long term use. When this package was new I never noticed any flaking.

[michael_sherck]

I made a comparison print on one of the last few sheets of old (a year, at least) Forte VC FB paper in my paper safe, and it was fine. I've sent an e-mail to Calumet (from whom I bought the paper) and we'll see what their response is. I'm interested to learn whether other users of Forte paper have encountered the problem since I'd like to know whether to expect this from this paper or not. When I get home from work tonight I want to see what happens when the paper is dry; I'll trim and mount a print and let you all know what happens.

 

Damn, I hope it's just a bad batch. I *really* like this paper... :(

 

Mike

[michael_sherck]

I trimmed and mounted a few prints last night and the emulsion seems firmly attached to the paper when dry. Apparently the flaking happens when the paper is being handled while wet. I'm skeptical about its long-term potential, though. I think I'm going to try to have Calumet replace it.

 

Mike

[pemongillo]

Hi Michael,

 

I occassionally have a little flaking with Forte when I am cutting the prints on my dual railed Rototrim paper cutter, but not usually noticable. I did have a serious problem with a couple of prints this morning. The image was made with a Tri-x negative that I exposed several years ago. I never printed it because I knew it had some dust spotting that I didn't want to deal with. My skills in removing them with an exacto blade has improved dramatically since then and I very seldom have a problem gently scraping them away any longer. I started working on the print this morning and before I gave up I had ruined two 16 X 20 prints because the emulsion kept flaking away where I was scraping. This has never happened before. I made the prints from a box of paper that had been laying around for awhile. I used the older paper, because I wanted to use it up and didn't think I would get the print right with the few sheets left. I thought the final prints would end up being printed from a fresh box of paper. Well I got two beautiful prints from the old box. Anyway to make a long story short, the emulsion flaked badly when trying to remove the dust spots. I did a little back calculating and figured that that paper may have been opened over a year ago. Anyway, I am going to reprint the image tomorrow morning on the fresh paper. I'll report back on whether it too flakes while scraping away dust spots.

[pemongillo]

Well I reprinted the print I mentioned in my above post on fresh paper and had no problems with the emulsion flaking away as I etched the dust spots. Can only assume the emulsion maybe gets a little brittle as it gets older. The only other thing that was done differently besides the age of the paper was use of a different brand of hypo clearing agent on the older paper. I normally use kodak hypo clear. I believe it was an Ilford brand that I used on the older paper. I ran out of the kodak product as did the local camera store so I used the other brand.

 

Paul