In the course of looking for something else I found cans of two B&W negative strips. These were processed by a local photo store in Germany in December 1960. It was common for German processors to return the entire 36-exposure roll uncut - one long strip rolled up and slipped inside a plastic can similar in size to a film cassette.

I went thru this with other such negative strips several months ago. I have to cut the strips to fit into Epson scanner holders but, as you can imagine, after being rolled up for 47 years, they ain't very flat! Very springy and very, very difficult to get into the film holders. I tried stacking books on top of the strips - up to six months now and they are still pretty springy.

Here's my Q - for those of you that did your own processing years ago as I did. I'm thinking of soaking these rolled negatives in warm water - maybe up to a full day. Then rehang them, just as if I had pulled them from a developer tank.

I can't think of any damage this might do to the negatives as long as I exercise the same degree of care I would if processing fresh film.

Any comments or other ideas?

Rusty

Rusty, what a find. I don't know the answer to your question but I wish you luck. It would be fun to see what's on the negatives.

Maybe even pressing strips between glass while in warm water? I would suggest no matter what you decide to do, try it first on a section that could be sacrificed before you do them all.

Hi Rusty,
In days of yore, the last step in processing negatives was to hang them. I had a mini-clothesline in my darkroom with special "clothes pins". They had prongs that would pierce the film and guarantee that it wouldn't slip and fall to the floor. I always put another clothespin on the bottom of the roll to make it hang straight.

It's definitely worth trying a water bath and a hang-dry. I'd definitely weight the bottom and definitely be patient. I don't know how well it would work, but I can't see how it could do any harm.

I just Googled "flatten curled negatives" and found the following, which sounds interesting:

Film curl is due to humidity contraction of the film when stored in a
wound configuration at a relative humidity of less than 40%. This is
most often a temporary or reversible change, and can be correct by
rehumidification of the film. Allow the film emulsion to reabsorb
moisture while in an atmosphere of higher relative humidity. Use of a
humidifier in a closed room will accomplish this, but be sure that the
mist does not get directed onto the film itself. The film will unroll
to an extent with rehumidification. Once this has occurred*, you may
then place the film into an archival storage envelop or sleeve, place
beneath a weight, and then bring the atmosphere closer to 40-50%
relative humidity to retain its dimensional flatness.

*be sure that the film is not moist to the touch.

Good luck,
Steve

Well, thanks, you are confirming what I thought: no harm should be done by a 'soak and hang ". Steve, you describe exactly what I remember. I'm a bit fuzzy after so long, but I think my holders somehow engaged the sprocket holes. And, yes, absolutely, one on the bottom to add weight and make it hang straight.

Steve's Googled bit is very interesting. My first thought was, "what's wrong with direct moisture?" Then I realized they were talking about a tightly rolled coil, not a hung strip. Yeah, sure, I agree.

OK, I'm off to try this - will report results. I no longer own any special hangers so I'll probably destroy the frames at each end of the strips.

Charlotte - I don't remember what the images look like, but I know what every single one is: where, what, date. In my OCD manner, I wrote out a 36-line key, in tiny crabbed print, on a very small piece of paper, folded it up real tiny and stuck it into the "hole" at the center of the rolled negatives. 'Course, some are pretty cryptic: "Outside Vohenstraß - Dec 60" Hey, I sure wouldn't know that now

We'll see.

Rusty

Rusty,
We used to hang the negative strips up after a good washing in cool water and running the strips through a container filled with dilute Foto-Flo solution. You staand the chance of ruining the negatives in warm water because it may make the emulsion come loose.
Chas

I have absolutely no experience in this - so should probably keep my thoughts to myself.... ....naaaah!

Since there are no chemicals to wash off, why would it be important to use water, at all? Wouldn't some method of applying gentle heat, dry, while the roll is hung/weighted suffice without getting it wet?

Apologies in advance if I'm "all wet"...

Byron

I'm always amazed by what Google can accomplish.

I followed Steve's prompt and hit tons of references. Most said the same thing: soak - lengthy soak is not necessary, 10 to 15 minutes is OK - and then hang to dry. The water should be around 70 degrees.

That's exactly what I did. They are hanging in the basement now; seem flat and dry. I'm going to let them hang overnight to make sure they are perfectly dry.

I'll post a 47 year-old picture when I have one. In a few days ... I'm "with a plumber" tomorrow

Rusty

See!! I told you I knew nothing about it!!!

Glad to know it appears to be the right direction, Rusty.

Byron

I finally had the time to do something with the negatives.

Truth be told, most aren't very good -- nothing to do with my flattening abilities, strictly the skill of the guy behind the camera In other words: soak, hang and dry worked just fine.

Some samples...

This tower was constructed in 1811

Grenzland-Turm.jpg (123.59 KiB) Viewed 960 times

As soon as I saw it, I actually remembered taking a picture of this little girl riding her bike in the snow. Lesslohe is a very small village in NE Bavaria on the Czech border. The exposure is lousy so I applied a canvas texture.

Lesslohe,Bavaria.jpg (112.59 KiB) Viewed 959 times

And, I found a few of some real skinny kid.

American-Hero.jpg (123.01 KiB) Viewed 961 times

I've got 72 more to go -- most will be deleted. But, it's fun going down memory lane.

Rusty