# New one to me



## Kittyhawk (16 May 2021)

This may be well known but it's a new one to me.
In my aircraftery I finish the aeroplane models in Britax Teak Oil which I buy in 500ml tins. Usually they get 5 - 6 coats depending on timber density and each coat uses about 10ml. So theoretically I should open and close the tin 50 times. In reality by the time the tin is half full the remaining teak oil has gone thick and gluggy and unusable. Since the tin is only open for the couple of seconds it takes to scoop out a spoonful of oil I assume the problem is caused by the air volume increasing in the tin and not solvent evaporation.
A chap I know is a supplier of various clear finishes to cabinet makers and they take the product in 20 litre drums so I asked him how do they stop the oil or varnish from going off in the drum? 'They put rocks in it,' he said. I dutifully laughed at his little joke and asked again, but how to they do it, really? 'I told yer,' he said. 'They put rocks in it.'
So the penny dropped. Put some sort of ballast in the tin to raise the oil level which in turn displaces the air. I tried it on my just emptied latest tin of Teak oil and got to use almost the entire contents without problems. Obviously an amount if teak oil was trapped among the pebbles but the loss was far less than having half a tin becoming unusable. The instructions on the tin of teak oil is to give it a good shake before use and I saw that the pebbles were causing a big of damage to the tin - the pebbles being a bit pointy in places. So the current plan for the next tin is to pinch some of my grandson's marbles and try them out.


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## Phil Pascoe (16 May 2021)

I used to make wine and I did much the same when taking it off the lees - I used marbles to take up the air space.


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## pils (16 May 2021)

I didn't know that. *that is simple genius*. thank you for sharing.


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## Cabinetman (16 May 2021)

Just been looking but couldn’t find it, crows/rooks putting stones in a jar to raise the level of the water so they could get the worms on the top – I thought everybody knew this one,
The other way is to keep it in the sort of bags used for beer boxes and squeeze the air out before sealing it


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## Doug B (16 May 2021)

Yep small clean pebbles or marbles in oil is an old trick


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## Bristol_Rob (17 May 2021)

I was always taught to flip the paint can over a couple of times each time you put the lid back on. Does this do the same thing


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## Ollie78 (17 May 2021)

Marbles are good for this.


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## Tanglefoot20 (17 May 2021)

Hi rob...I am of the same opinion...put lid on turn can and then swirl it round....seems to do the trick....by the way that workmate is great !

Steve


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## pe2dave (17 May 2021)

Bristol_Rob said:


> I was always taught to flip the paint can over a couple of times each time you put the lid back on. Does this do the same thing


I don't think so - this 'trick' was to get a better seal with the lid?
Talking of which, I now no longer mess up the lid using a screwdriver. this solved it. No more bent lids


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## gregmcateer (17 May 2021)

I have a similar opener, but it also has a magnet to hold the dripping brush over the pot - quite neat. 









ProDec Magnetic Paint Brush Holder


The ProDec magnetic paintbrush holder has a built in can opener and conveniently clips to the side of a paint can. The magnet attaches to the ferrule of the brush, making it easy to rest the brush and allowing drips to fall back into the can.




www.brewers.co.uk


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## Stevekane (18 May 2021)

I recently saw somthing on the internet where an American chap had an aerosol of somthing like nitrogen which he gave a sqirt into the can before fitting the lid, this gas being heavy dispersed the air in the tin and stopped the contents skinning over,,I thought it was a very clever idea and meant to see if it was a available over here.
Steve


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## pe2dave (18 May 2021)

Possibly Carbon Dioxide - heavier than air Steve? Good theory, wonder if it worked.


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## Sgian Dubh (18 May 2021)

Stevekane said:


> I recently saw somthing on the internet where an American chap had an aerosol of somthing like nitrogen which he gave a sqirt into the can before fitting the lid ...


It's called Bloxygen. UK prices seem to be about twelve or thirteen times higher than it costs in the USA. I'd take a lot of convincing to think UK prices make the stuff worthwhile buying. Slainte.


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## akirk (18 May 2021)

or you could buy the wine version at about 1/3 of the price...





Private Preserve Wine Spray | Wine Preserver Prevents Oxidation of Wine, Inert Gas Aerosol for Wine & Liqueurs : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen


Private Preserve Wine Spray | Wine Preserver Prevents Oxidation of Wine, Inert Gas Aerosol for Wine & Liqueurs: Private Preserve Wine Spray | Wine Preserver Prevents Oxidation of Wine, Inert Gas Aerosol for Wine & Liqueurs: Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen



www.amazon.co.uk


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## Doug B (18 May 2021)

akirk said:


> or you could buy the wine version at about 1/3 of the price...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Now that’s completely lost me, why would you put the cork back in an opened bottle of wine


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## Stevekane (18 May 2021)

Many thanks for the info chaps, the amazone advt says its Argon gas, would it be possible for anyone with argon, or argon mixes to just squirt some into the open can where it would sit whilst you popped the lid on,,it clearly requires a heavier than air gas,,,in fact could you use a squirt of calor gas,,,or am I my way to making a bomb!


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## JimB (19 May 2021)

Or... make sure the lid is on tight and store the tin upside down.


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## Phil Pascoe (19 May 2021)

I used some oil based masonry paint that I'd put away upside down fifteen years before - it was fine.


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## Jacob (19 May 2021)

Kilner jars are good - I've a bit of oil in one. The tops are easy to prise off even if stuck.


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## John Brown (19 May 2021)

My father used to use the marble trick for his dark room chemicals(that sounds more sinister than it was).
I had a bit of a dispute a few years back about the merits or otherwise of squeezing and capping plastic tonic water bottles to stop the contents going flat.
My! What an interesting life I live!


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## Kittyhawk (19 May 2021)

From what I was told years ago, plastic under the microscope shows a lattice like structure and is porous to gas under pressure - there's a word for it and I can't remember what it is. But that is apparently the reason that beer is not in plastic bottles. But then soft drinks are so I dunno.
Concerning a gas displacing air in tins, I use pebbles in my teak oil but I'd rather something else. Been thinking about propane, contains carbons, no oxygen, heavier than air, I've got lots and I don't smoke.


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## Droogs (20 May 2021)

Not a good idea, you want an inert gas to replace the air in the tin. ~ this


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## Lefley (21 May 2021)

Kittyhawk said:


> From what I was told years ago, plastic under the microscope shows a lattice like structure and is porous to gas under pressure - there's a word for it and I can't remember what it is. But that is apparently the reason that beer is not in plastic bottles. But then soft drinks are so I dunno.
> Concerning a gas displacing air in tins, I use pebbles in my teak oil but I'd rather something else. Been thinking about propane, contains carbons, no oxygen, heavier than air, I've got lots and I don't smoke.


But beer is in plastic bottles. Google it. Major american breweries have did it for years in places like sporting events where glass is a Nono. And home breweries have had plastic bottles for as far back as I can remember.


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## sometimewoodworker (21 May 2021)

There is an excellent product called StopLossBag™ I’ve been using them for at least the last 8 years and have just finished using a polyurethane I put in one 7 years ago and it was still perfectly good I’ve been using some from the bag over that time. It certainly beats rocks and is easier than spray heavy oxygen excluding can, yes I’ve used it.


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## John Brown (21 May 2021)

Lefley said:


> But beer is in plastic bottles. Google it. Major american breweries have did it for years in places like sporting events where glass is a Nono. And home breweries have had plastic bottles for as far back as I can remember.


Coopers sell plastic bottles for home brewing that have a special coating that they claim reduces oxygen ingress? Egress? Gress?
I'll go with migration.


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## GLFaria (21 May 2021)

Back in my photography days I used small glass marbles to top the chemical's bottles. Allways had about a couple kgs at home. Of course they had to be well washed and dried when changing reagents.


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## clogs (22 May 2021)

I use a lot of volatile metal primer.....mostley brushed aplication......
the biggest tin is about 3.5ltr.....here in Crete industrial paint products are sold by weight....????
anyway, with the ambient heat in summer and an hours working with an open tin it starts to get quite thick......
So when finished I use a little of the correct grade thinners, just to enough to cover the surface area of the paint in the tin...
Close the lid and invert the tin until next time.....never had any paint go off or skin since using this method....
Paint is very expensive here and have lost a lot in the past due to skinning and starting to go lumpy.....
Also, never bother now to clean brushes, said thinners for this metal paint is almost €40 for two litres.....
so now I just use enough thinner to give a dept of 10mm in a large paint tin (that will take the brushes) then dump the brushes inside n close the lid tightly.....saves a fortune on thinners and brushes last well providing you use the wooden handled type....plastic handles melt with the thinners fumes......plan to make a proper closed paint brush tin from st/steel where the brushes are suspended just above the thinners, that way any paint drops to the bottom....and no claggy paint on the brushes....these are available in UK prof paint stores but not here.....
ps all painting is done in the open......hardly a rainy day prob's here....thats after March 1st......


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## Trainee neophyte (22 May 2021)

clogs said:


> here in Crete industrial paint products are sold by weight....????


So is rope, which always flummoxes me:

"How much is 20 metres of rope?"

"I don't know Sir, we'll have to weigh it to find out. "

The endless complications of living in foreign. Still, the weather's nice...


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## bobblezard (22 May 2021)

Marbles would seem to be a good option if using original containers. Some years ago I went on a day course with Tracey Owen who had his oils decanted into small plastic bottles with 'sports caps', basically used children's drinks bottles. He squeezed these to expel air before closing. Always seemed to be a good idea.


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## Kittyhawk (23 May 2021)

Well, somethings going on with my Briwax Teak Oil in that it's taking days to loose its stickiness. It's winter in NZ but my workshop doesn't drop below 20°C so temperature shouldn't be a problem. I put pebbles in the tin to eliminate air and the oil looks fine. I had thought the problem might be the surface prep with oil impregnated 0000 steel wool causing the stickiness but just used 400 grit paper inter coat and no improvement. Currently I'm thinking that since I don't like using teak oil from an open tin I normally scoop out the required amount for the coat being applied - about 8 - 10ml. Oil is applied to the work using a 10mm sable artists brush. Perhaps by decanting such a small amount of oil to use, the solvents in it are evaporating too quickly and I am applying a solvent depleted product and that is resulting in the stickiness. Don't know, clutching at straws here.
But concerning beer in plastic bottles I checked this one out and indeed beer does now come in plastic bottles but this is intended for immediate consumption and not for long term storage.


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## pgrbff (23 May 2021)

Trainee neophyte said:


> So is rope, which always flummoxes me:
> 
> "How much is 20 metres of rope?"
> 
> ...


And polythene sheet in Italy. How much is 5linear metres? Have to cut and weigh it.


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## Droogs (23 May 2021)

pgrbff said:


> And polythene sheet in Italy. How much is 5linear metres? Have to cut and weigh it.


Surely they must have cut and measured a meter or each at some point and put a note of it on the wall.


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## pgrbff (23 May 2021)

That would be thinking ahead. Too complicated.


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## sometimewoodworker (24 May 2021)

Droogs said:


> Surely they must have cut and measured a meter or each at some point and put a note of it on the wall.


Why bother to do that when it’s sold by weight not by length, it’s also quite likely that the weight for a given length varies from roll to roll.


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## Droogs (24 May 2021)

So you can ask - how much is 47m of x
and the reply can be "About £xx.xx" just like for nails and other things sold by weight, shop-keeps usually know much the D of Q is for any item they sell


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