Old Brown Dektol

   

Yes , this old expired Dektol still worked and developed well. Most likely due to the way it was stored

That's right. September 2006.

How long does Dektol Last? very, very long (many years in powder form)... when i began looking around for darkroom equipment, some people would throw in old chemicals they never used or opened. Of course some not everyone does that, one guy tried to sell me paper (as is, bottles with who knows what in them, and other miscellaneous things) and half or 3/4 full Ilford chemical bottles for 3/4 their original price... ha... no thanks...  

     Now, if you get a batch of chemicals with some old photo equipment, like fixer or developer (FOR PAPER processing, i wouldn't risk my film)... then i would definitely see if it still works... Hence why we've come to this post. I'd received a bag of developer which was from September 2006... We are in January of 2013... That's really really old developer. How did the photos come out?... The same as always... I had gone to the Nelson's down a couple blocks in Little Italy, to get some film developing and chemicals (B&W) and went home, but hadn't checked for Paper fixer and Developer. Well, i said "wotthehell Archy, toujours gai".. and mixed it up... as you can see. the developer had so much sediment sitting on the bottom, but after some stirring, all was okay... except for that extreme brown color. even in the tray you can tell how strong of a color it had. All i can say for the Dektol still being active is that proper storage probably saved this bag.

     In conclusion... Old dektol (stored correctly) probably still works, even if it has a strange color.  Here's a link to some other interesting information concerning Fresh Dektol with a brown color...

http://photo.net/black-and-white-photo-printing-finishing-forum/00AFar

Looks like dirt, initial mixing.

After mixing with correct amount of water.

   

Dektol ages well, if properly stored!