Stuck together

While searching for old photos (thank facebook for making me hunt), I ran across more than a few negatives that had stuck together. I (rather stupidly) tried pulling two apart, only to see the negatives delaminate and end up with two useless negatives.

Off to the web to find a solution. Turns out that a soak in cold water should do the trick, with a touch of Photoflo (where is my nearest photo supply store?), followed by drying in a clean place.

Let's see if that actually works.

The search for those Kodak moments turned up some small prints b&w from circa 1940. Roughly a square inch, the prints scan nicely and hold up to enlargement. Much better than the results I got out of a bunch of color prints from the 70's that had very little sharpness to them. There's something to be said about old technology.

Update 1: It's been over eight hours of soaking, and the negs are still stuck together.

Update 2: Success! 24hrs later and I can peel the negatives apart, and they don't look the worse for wear. Unfortunately, they now have water spots. Off to Calumet or Keeble & Schuchat this weekend to look for some archival sleeves and other fun stuff.