Is there a way/method for extending the shelf life of Minwax Wood Putty after the jar has been opened? I know that the small jars only cost less than $3/per but it sure seems a waste to have to buy a new jar of each color 4 months after each one has been opened and a little bit used.
Open the lid .. blow in a little propane from a torch .. close the lid. Propane, being heavier than air will sink to the bottom, effectively keeping the oxygen away from the putty, which needs oxygen to cure/dry.
I don't think it's as much the little bit of air "stored" above the contents which causes the hardening as it is the pressure differentials between the inside and outside of the container caused by temperature and atmospheric pressure changes. Those cause solvent vapor out and air leakage in through the minute gaps around the lid, which almost never seals perfectly once its been opened.
Having the contents resting against the seal joint is better, because it's a lot harder to force liquid through a small leak than solvent vapors or air, plus the contents will dry in the leak and seal it.
I started storing all my partially used cans of paint upside down about
20 years ago and know they "keep" much better that way.
The last can of "Plastic Wood" I bought had it's can's "label printing" upside down with instructions to store it lid end down for the reasons mentioned above.
They don't give ingredients on the jar (probably because we ain't going to eat the stuff). It does say that it contains an ingredient that causes cancer in California?????? Doesn't cause cancer in any other state?
Anyway, someone in another forum told me to use oil based putty from The Color Putty Company
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which they said they had jars three years old that was still pliable.
I will put a little acetone in the Minwax jars and see if I can revive them.
Yeah, I guess I should have given directions for how to "check first" but I think some things ought to not be too hard to figure out... :) (Or yet again, should that be a ":(" ?)
That is what I did "FIRST". The MSDS only listed two ingredients which were "Takc" & "Calcium Carbonate". Common sense dictates that it is made up of a lot more than these two ingredients but they only chose to list these two.
Thus, the reason for coming here and asking............ Secondly.....
And yet ANOTHER retard from HomeMoanersHub shows up 14 years later to offer advice without bothering to check the date of the original post. Are ALL the people who use that silly-ass site this stupid?? Apparently.
replying to Stan, john wrote: That is cuz they feed rats 5,000 times their body weight in all their tests. So everything tested causes cancer in CA. They just don't test or publish the results of testing salmon and healthy stuff. Just exaggerating of course, re the amount, but you get the idea.
Old post but I was curious and read the safety data sheet as I write a lot of them. Considering the product as compounded ingredients are safer and even though I err on the side of caution I would have toned down the toxicity warnings.
There is stuff that causes cancer in California that is not considered cancerous any where else plus there are de minimus thresholds not exceeded by OSHA standards but are exceeded in California which are ridiculously low. I put the warning on all of the SDS's I write if the composition has used any amount of chemical on the list even if it might have evaporated, e.g. 1 percent in a solvent used to coat a film then evaporated. This satisfies California and keeps away the bounty hunters looking for something to turn in and collect part of their draconian fines.
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