pour-off collodion

I have quite a bit of collodion now stored in a bottle i have been using to catch the excess off my plates when i pour them. Just wondering what i need to do to this to re-use it? Do i need to add the ether and alcohol back in? any suggestions?

thanks

-andrew

Hi Andrew,

I do the same as James.  You can get an idea of the 'thickness' of the mix from the freshly made stuff.  If it seems too thick I add equal amounts of ether and alcohol which I keep premixed in a bottle.

Regards,
Neil.

Andrew - I'm no chemist, so I'm not qualified to answer.

All I know is that once opened, ether should be used quite quickly, perhaps within six months. 

I have read somewhere that one way of stabilising the ether is to add it to collodion, so I keep a stock collodion/ether/alcohol solution and a separate salting solution to be combined as necessary.  It's only what I have read, though, I can't vouch for the veracity of the information, but people have kept collodion for decades without mishap, so it could be true.

The peroxides are formed once ether is exposed to air.  I have read about people pouring it into smaller containers, but I don't know whether this would help either - I don't know if the problem is the initial exposure to air or the presence of an airspace above the ether in its container.

Keeping ether in the dark helps, I have been told, hence the tin cans it is sometimes supplied in, or the amber bottles.   Keeping it cool is a good idea too, but a regular refrigerator is probably a bad idea: if the ether vapours escape and saturate the fridge, you have your very own home-made bomb ready to go off when you next open the door and the interior light comes on!  Fridges in labs are, apparently, blast-proofed!

I expect knowledgable 'old hands' like Ray M will know the answer, or John Hurlock, but I don't hink I have seen JH post in this forum.

Regards,
Neil