Something not to buy for film developing

[Niner]

I had been using an old fashion church key opener for opening film canisters for developing. You know the kind. The one with the bottle cap opener on one end and the pointed opener on the other for making some V shape openings in a beer can....back in the dark ages before pull tabs and pull rings. My old church key had gotten pretty rusty and I found this "Kodak" tool for opening cassettes on ebay. Nine bucks and some coins and I bought it.

It arrived today. Wouldn't open a film cassette in the daytime....even with strong language for lubrication. I filed away trying to improve it with no noticable degree of improvement. So I sanded my church key and spray painted it. If you see one of these for sale and have the urge to buy it....sit down until the notion passes. It's crap.

[DuncaninFrance]

Like I said Robert.
Take a piece of 35 mm film, about 4" long. Put a piece of double sided tape one end. Remove the backing and slide the film into the cassette with the tape facing down. It will allow you to pull the film out of the cassette so you can start it on the spool before you put it in the light bag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfPF98ne9Uw

Also a couple of other ideas here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJrSpbWyXWI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZrR8w8BhwQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dmvHKZ7mB4

[Niner]

oK... you convinced me. I'll try the pull the leader out of the can trick.

[deadin]

If you are planning to reload the cassette, you are going to have to open it anyway to get the new film attached to the spool.
I used to have a bunch of cassettes that had a threaded end so they were easy to open and close. (I may still have a few around somewhere....)

Another trick that sometimes works is to just press the cassette down with the exposed spool end on something hard and the other end will pop off. ( On occasion I even would slam it down on the table to do this. )

[Niner]

Deadin, I have a reloadable cassette. Got it in some flotsam and jetsam with a camera I bought on ebay sometime back. One end screws off. There's a slot in the spindle for inserting the film end. You wind some film on, slip the film edge though the side of the padded cassette load slot, and screw the end back on. But.. you would need several of them and some bulk film to be worth the trouble. . however, getting the exposed film out would be no problem.

One time I had some unexposed film that somehow had gotten rolled into the canister. In a dark bag I transferred the film to this reloadable one using the commercial disposable spindle. The spindle fit just fine.

[deadin]

That's the one!! I even have a couple of bulk loaders around here somewhere. (The one's where you don't need a darkbag or darkroom to load the cassettes.)