A reader has a method he says greatly increases the lifespan of a can of paint.
“Long ago I learned a technique to make paint last almost indefinitely–in quantities of 1 gallon of less (though it might be possible with current plastic 5-gallon buckets). Making very sure that the cans are tightly sealed, turn them over every year or two. Today I’m painting with a long since discontinued Flecto plasticized Varathane enamel. I first opened and used it 11 years ago, but had always flipped it every year or two. It does take about 3-4 days to dry, but I’m betting it was slow even back in the day. This is the third “opening,” and it’s behaved the same each time.”
I opened a very old – maybe 20 years – can of exterior latex paint that I wanted to use on an exterior window. The paint had pretty much completely separated: watery liquid on top and thick sludge on the bottom. I tried to mix it a number of times over about a week, but every time I reopened the can, the liquid had again separated and stayed at the top of the can. Is there any way to make this paint usable?
No, from experience it will never work.
Use the hardener found here.
About half way down the page.
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When it is a plastic container the problem of air tightness is in the line of contact between the container and the lid. Look for a way of improving its air tightness. You can try this, put runs of cell tape to across the joint. Ensure the runs are flat close, overlap one another and are long enough to provide additional mechanical strength to withstand turning stress during flipping, then put a note on it “Please Do NOT Disturb”.
Good ideas. Thanks