Very old tin of paint

You can still get good oil based paints even today for a price but only from specialist shops not from the DIY sheds.

ICI last made Dulux paint back in 2010 when Akzo Nobel took them over but I suspect the paint you have dates from even before that. They kept the brand name Dulux but made by International Paint.

The only slight catch might be that the resins will have gone off a bit and it may never quite cure properly remaining slightly tacky forever. Or if you are really unlucky never dry at all and need scraping or burning off.

Somewhere there will be an enthusiasts site with paint tins through the ages that will allow you to date it.

Thanks. The copyright notice is dated 1994 but this is not necessarily the production date of course.

I have just looked and it is totally dry - not only touch dry but it can be rubbed with a finger.

I did see one claim that the shelf life is 40 years if unopened and nearly as good if opened and properly sealed. The advice seems to be if it does not mix properly or has an odd smell it is 'off'.

I had a new tin of red oxide primer for the fence that was off. The component at the bottom had solidified and no amount of mixing would mix it in properly. What remained had a plasticy feel and was lumpy. My suspicion is that air got into the can.

(This was the same can that I dropped on the concrete in another thread, where it proved easier than I expected to clean up the mess. I wonder if this was because the paint was off?)

Yes well there must be tons of the stuff still stuck to things our there so I doubt's if your tin would add much to the total amount even if it has got something now considered dodgy in it. Brian

I understand that, but I was wondering if the paint was better before restrictions were imposed on some of the ingredients.

Yes, else they would not have been using those ingredients.

NT

No new technological developments to compensate then? That's what I wondered.

If technological developments solved all the issues there would be no reaso n to legislate out some ingredients. Legislation inevitably (usually) bans ingredients that have an advantageous balance of properties. And yes, I acc ept that in some areas that's not what happens (plastic flakes & pesticides spring to mind) but normally it is.

NT

I'm using some 2 pack polyurethane vehicle paint dated use before 1994.

It still seems to work as intended.

Mike

except that creocote does not do the job. Utter waste of time using it.

Possibly the advantage of the old banned ingredients was that they were cheaper, not better.

Andy

eason to legislate out some ingredients. Legislation inevitably (usually) b ans ingredients that have an advantageous balance of properties. And yes, I accept that in some areas that's not what happens (plastic flakes & pestic ides spring to mind) but normally it is.

cheaper is better

NT

Just as a hypothetical example[1], "cheaper, but contains unecessary and dangerous levels of cadmium, arsenic, lead, and plutonium" would probably not be widely considered as "better". Cheaper is certainly cheaper, which indeed can often be a good thing, but this is not always true.

#Paul

No, because it's not just cheaper it's cheaper & more toxic. Your brain might be cheaper but it's not such good value.

well, there are perverse results in the world, but a given item being cheaper is fundamentally a good thing

Voting for remain, brexit then Greta would probably indicate insanity.

NT

As an aside, I was out with the a couple of CID officers when they asked if I smoked (which I don't) then said to look inside the glove compartment, which contained a couple of packets of American cigarettes. Being American, all the hazardous materials were individually listed. They said these were for the neds, who believed that because they had all these extra ingredients they must be better.

If white paint goes yellow in a year that's pretty bad. I don't care how cheap it is I won't want it again. Show me another paint that keeps its colour indefinitely (or at least several years) and I'll take it. Even if it's more expensive.

To me the white paint that stays white is better than one that quickly goes yellow, even if it is more expensive.

Andy

Can oil-based paint stay white? A painter told me that the restrictions on volatile organic compounds (VOC) meant that all oil based paints will yellow over time, and only water based paint will stay white.

I have found it to be OK Apparently it's based on diesel oil. Certainly improves the life of fence posts if applied before erection.

Store your paint tins upside down to avoid lots of problems.

Next you'll be telling us that water is wet.