Re: Dag Questions

Hello Brad,

List member Rob McElroy made thickness tests on plates from various
sources a
while back; the results may be of some help in answering your question.

Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/lxt83

Final thickness of the silver, of course, will depend on your polishing
methods.
A simple cyanide bath works best. Use a formula that does not include
brighteners.

I have heard of success with non-cyanide plating baths, however, I haven't
seen a formula printed that would give good results with Daguerreotype.

If you are confident that you can handle mercury and bromine safely, I
suggest working with both Becquerel and mercury development and decide
which method suits your temperament.

good luck,

Phillip

Bradley Lewis wrote:
> I have a couple questions for the Daguerreotypists out there. I
> really want to get into making my own Dags, but don't think I'll be
> able to attend any workshops on the subject. Fortunately, I am a
> chemist, so a lot of the procedures involved are not too foreign to
> me, hopefully.
>
> First, I was wondering about the thickness of the silver plating on
> the copper. I would like to plate the copper myself. I have read
> somewhere a figure of 0.35 mil or about 10 micrometers. Any idea if
> this is correct, or what range of thicknesses work? Does anyone have
> a feeling for how the thickness of the silver layer affects the image?
>
> Second, I was wondering about the development methods. How do mercury
> developed images differ from Becquerel developed images? I can obtain
> and handle mercury fairly easily, but if there's no real advantage, I
> think I would prefer using the Becquerel method.
>
> I hope I'm not inundating you with questions. Any advise offered
> would be deeply appreciated!
>
> Thanks for your time and assistance in this.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Brad
>
Received on 08/10/06-05:24:08 AM Z