Would we agree about Xtol... ?

[Juan Valdenebro]

1+1 or 1+3 for somewhat higher acutance (ie real edge sharpness excluding edge effects) than stock. Realistically you can't get much better acutance than XTOL or D-76 diluted 1+3.

Strange, I didn't get real grain edge sharpness with diluted Xtol, but I don't remember the two films I tried for that...
And I have never seen a print scan showing sharp grain...
Maybe we'll see that here soon.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Part A normally takes somewhat longer to dissolve because it contains the Dimezone-S. Phenidones are harder to dissolve than say metol (for example). They are easier to dissolve in alkaline solutions though. This is why part A includes the borate/metaborate along with the Dimezone-S. Then dissolving part B brings the pH down to target.

I'm not clear on what type of floaters people are referring to. Generally there will always be some undissolved particles and junk, which is of no consequence. Regarding XTOL specifically, many people (including me) have long noticed that after some storage time post mixing the unused stock solution seems to develop some floating whispy sort of clouds (also of no consequence) but this isn't a recent phenomenon. I've observed these whispy floaters in XTOL since who knows when. Using distilled water seems to help to some degree but they aren't worth worrying about.

Follow the instructions and you will not have particles as long as you have it heated to warm enough temperature and mix Solution A long enough.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Has someone got really sharp grain with Xtol?
Not scanned and sharpened digitally, but on darkroom prints...

Yes, all the time with stock XTOL and replenished XTOL, not with diluted XTOL.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Yes, all the time with stock XTOL and replenished XTOL, not with diluted XTOL.

That seems impossible.
The little graph you like to post says the contrary...

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Follow the instructions and you will not have particles as long as you have it heated to warm enough temperature and mix Solution A long enough.

I think you are mixing two different cases...
Common floaties or wrong mixing/temperature procedures are a common thing, but the particles from bad Xtol are different: they're bigger, and they don't get dissolved... They go to the bottom and stay: my bad Xtol is yet inside my glass bottles, some months ago, and those bigger, denser particles went to the bottom, where they are today, and they were not dissolved no matter the temperature or time.
The problem may have been manufacturing, and not packaging.