Thanks so far for all the great answers to my questions guys, what a great forum. A couple more:

1) Is the any advantage in using a grain magnifier to check sharpness on the baseboard over say a 10x traditional magnifying glass?

2)I can't afford a precision spirit level to align my enlarger, I read a suggestion on another post that said to sand down a negative and use a magnifier to check for uniform focus while making corresponding adjustments. Has anyone tried this? I don't mind if its a little time consuming as long as it is effective.

3)The longer you expose the print the grainier it gets right, is this based simply on cumulative light intensity or peak light intensity? In other words, If I expose a print for 1 minute at f/4 and another one for 2 minutes at f/5.6 will their grainyness be the same? What about their contrast?

Looking forward to building some experience and making contributions of my own here. -psychorobotape

1) Is the any advantage in using a grain magnifier to check sharpness on the baseboard over say a 10x traditional magnifying glass?

The grain focuser is a lot easier but if you can do it with a magnifying glass, that's fine.

2)I can't afford a precision spirit level to align my enlarger, I read a suggestion on another post that said to sand down a negative and use a magnifier to check for uniform focus while making corresponding adjustments. Has anyone tried this? I don't mind if its a little time consuming as long as it is effective.

I've never done it any other way. Scratch the film with a needle, making a grid pattern, for maximum ease of focus. Wipe the scratced neg with your thumb to remove loose shreds of gelatine.

3)The longer you expose the print the grainier it gets

No, or at least, not visibly. You'll never see the grain of the printing paper. Overexposed negs get grainier, but that's another story.

Good to know, i feel much better now about not have a precision level. Hmmmm, I wonder, though, what excuse I'm going to use now as to why my prints look so bad....certainly it can't be the photographer ; )

Excuse # 17

Invoke the likelihood of impure water.

That'll get you through safely till things sort themselves out.

Best,

C