The Daguerreotype: Contemporary work by Jonathan Danforth

I count this book published in 1999 among those necessary for all Daguerreotypists. Barger and White ran an exhaustive study on the Daguerreotype and the process of creating them. While the goal of the study seems to be to gain information useful for the preservation of 19th century daguerreotypes, the researchers took it upon themselves to recreate daguerreotypes first-hand in an effort to better understand their goal.

The discovery of light-sensitive chemicals in mid-nineteenth-century Europe carried large implications–for scientists, technicians, astronomers, and for the businesspeople who soon made family portraiture standard tabletop fare in middle-class homes. In The Daguerreotype: Nineteenth-Century Technology and Modern Science, M. Susan Barger and William B. White begin with a history of the process itself. Tracing the daguerreotype’s origins and development, they proceed to discuss what researchers in this century have learned about the chemistry of the daguerreotype. They also address practical curatorial issues, describing how to restore and preserve the artifacts themselves. Richly illustrated, this survey of a fascinating and ubiquitous feature of mid-nineteenth-century life also provides a detailed technical study of the daguerreotype process.”The original motivation for our work was to devise better ways to preserve and care for daguerreotypes. As materials scientists, we knew that we needed to understand exactly what a daguerreotype is and how it is formed before we could attempt the problem of how best to care for these images… Our scientific work also gave us the opportunity to take a new look and interpretation of the scientific and technological literature on the daguerreotype and to reevaluate its technical history.”
–from the Preface to the 1999 edition

The text is richly illustrated with daguerreotype photos and even scanning electron micrography which serve to explain the exquisitely fine detail that daguerreotypes are capable of achieving. Google has made available a preview of the book for free. While I own this book already, I will be referring to the online edition so that I can use Google’s search functionality.

I find the scanning electron microscopy particularly interesting. For further reading, head on over to this online excerpt from William E. Leyshon’s Photographs from the 19th Century (PDF Link).

I recently received an e-mail from a fellow dagist asking me about some equipment that I use. I thought that I’d share the information with you folks.

What RPM is the bench grinder that you use? A sculptor friend of mine suggested using a 1750 rpm rather than anything higher? Your thoughts?

I use a 3-Horsepower 3450-RPM buffing machine made by Jet Tools. It’s serious overkill but it’s a very useful tool for wood-finishing, general polishing, sanding, and grinding. I also liked the buffer in part because it has really long spindles so I can easily polish whole plates and larger.

If I were you and you can borrow someone’s for a little while, I’d try polishing on a 1750 RPM to see how it works. There’s no sense in getting a higher speed if you don’t need it. Take a look at Caswell Plating for some good supplies. I use their spiral-sewn cotton wheels.

Various dagists use different compounds for polishing. I use jeweler’s red rouge (red Dialux from Metalliferous) on the sewn wheel and then I finish up with black ferric oxide powder on my hand-buffing board. You can buy that stuff on eBay… it’s also a popular ingredient in incendiary bombs.

I have heard various reports of dagists using white rouge, blue rouge, and even Zam.  Whatever you do, don’t mix the different compounds on the same wheel!
Jonathan

I’m sorry to say that I can no longer recommend Theiss Plating to my students or on my website as a resource for Daguerreotypists. Theiss was recommended to me from a few sources when I was getting started but every order I’ve placed with them has been frustrating.

The most recent order, in particular, took four months to fill and was wrong even when it finally arrived at my door. Throughout this entire process, I was never contacted by Theiss. Instead, I had to make the calls to see what was going on.

In lieu of Theiss, I now suggest that Daguerreotypists acquire their copper plates from Rembrandt Graphic Arts and then take them to a local silver plater. I’ve written about this before and it will now be my default method of getting daguerreotype plates. My local silver plater is Surtronics in Raleigh, NC. This is a much more cost effective solution anyway.

I’m considering selling ready-made Daguerreotype plates on my site in one or two specific sizes. Stay tuned for more details.

Jonathan