Old-school B&W darkroom question. Need help!

[SunWuKung]

I have a b&w darkroom set up in my basement that I'm using constantly because I'm now a photo major in NYC. I've been doing my research and want to eventually start toning and messing with alternative processes (ie. stuff other than Dektol - Stop Bath - Fix - Rinse - Dry). I know that this first requires me to start using fiber paper instead of my beloved RC (I like the speed factor and the finishes).

I understand the difference between a hardening fixer and a non-hardening fixer and what both do. What fixers still made are actually non-hardening fixers? I can find the chemicals, but they rarely tell you what exactly they are and I can't find anything online that's useful. I've been using Kodak Rapid Fix for film and regular Kodak Fixer for prints. Developers are XTol for film and Dektol for Paper. Indicator Stop Bath for paper, water for film.

Oh, that was another thing I wanted to ask. I read a really interesting article about stop, fix, and wash. It talked about the differences between alkaline and acid stop baths and fixers. Stuff like not using an acid stop bath with film because while faster, it produces heat on a molecular level (becaue of the acid/alkaline reaction) and can affect granularity. I realize that unless you're super picky, most of us don't see the difference. My question is "How the heck do you know or find out if your developer/stop bath/fixer is alkaline based or acid based?" This sort of information doesn't seem very easy to find. I haven't been able to.

I'm not all that picky right now, but I find this stuff really interesting and I'd like to have more options. Anyone that knows this stuff or that can direct me to this info, I'd GREATLY appreciate it. Thanks guys!

[Chunk]

I don't know the answers to your particular questions but always found the manufacturors data sheets to be good sources of info. Here's where you can find Ilford's
http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html
For Kodak stuff you can go to kodak.com and search for "xtol data" or something similar.
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/profe...109/j109.jhtml

If you don't get any good answers here, there used to be some very knowledgeable folks hanging out at the rec.photo.darkroom newsgroup, but I haven't been there lately.

[Asylum Steve]

Well, it's been quite a while, but back in my darkroom days, hardening fix was created by adding the hardening agent to regular fix. IOW, all standard fixes were non-hardening unless you chose to make them hardening.

As for alkaline stop baths, that's a new one on me. I'm not familiar with them. I can tell you that normally for film, a simple water stop is fine, and should avoid the heat reaction you describe...

Oh, and Kodak's standard stop bath is acetic acid...