[Martin Aislabie]

But don't forget the virtue that paper towels are disposable. If you wipe up a fixer spill, the fixer is gone and in the trash. If you use a cloth towel to mop up the spill and attempt to re-use it later, even if it has dried, you run the risk of spreading fixer dust and contaminating your hands. I'd prefer for spilled solutions to get wiped up with paper towels and thrown into the garbage. Ditto with drying hands which have gotten into the fixer, if that occurs.

Chazzy, you are right of course

Paper towels still have a place in the darkroom, for quickly mopping up spills and then you just bin them

However, Jerolds’ point about using paper towels as dusters is very true, I tried it on a dark shiny work surface and surprised myself just how much stuff the paper towel shed as it collected up other debris :o

As for fingers in the fixer - I have to wash my hands very carefully if I ever do accidentally get fixer on my skin, as otherwise it leaches out onto subsequent prints, leaving inverse fingerprints in the shadow areas

Martin