Response to Rodinal, Rodinal, where for art thou, Rodinal?

I would strongly not recommend making classic Rodinal oneself. Fooling around with the hydroxide is pretty dangerous. Also the whole process is very tricky due to the few crystals that have to be kept out of solution (or have to be "put back" if one went too far). Otherwise the developer will only keep a very short time and the price of the kit is high enough that one does not want to get anything wrong. I do not have access to my reference books here, but there are also receipes out there for "new" Rodinal, which is much easier to make. "Classic" Rodinal R09/F09 is so cheap that (also when ordered from the US) that there is absolutely no justification to brew it oneself and take the health risks and in addition one gets the "real" thing. I can guarantee that home brewing will not save money and one can be asured that the bought developer keeps for a very long time. The price for 250ml Classic F09 is under $4, the flat shipping rate to the US by one European dealer who specializes in shipping to the US is $8 (please check, I am not absolutely sure), which is about the amount of the hazard surcharge most mail order companies in the US will charge in addition to postage and handling. Classic Rodinal has a higher concentration than Agfa Rodinal, which makes it even cheaper.

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