Keeping small quantities of paint

[webcraft]

Just finished painting a topside stripe and there's still nearly half a litre left. Handy for top-ups, but I don't have room for or want a bunch of messy nearly empty paint tins kicking around the boat.

Can the odd half litre or third of a litre of paint be safely decanted and stored in some kind of plastic container? Has anyone done this successfully?


(Ditto varnish)

- Nick

 

[pbeard]

I have often decanted into a screw top jar of a size to fill as near as possible to the top, thereby creating very little air space. It will keep v. well like this.

 

[aztec]

a good tip also.....

store half tins upside down, when you come to use them any "skin" will be at the bottom.

 

[Carduelis]

I tried keeping paint tins upside down, but its easy to get some skin in the paint when you stir it next time..

I find that if you turn it upside down and give it a good shake before you put it away, the lid usually seals quite well and the paint remains usable for a year or so afterwards. You do get a skin, but this can be cut-off and thrown away next time you open the tin.

 

[ajt]

put cling film over the tin before putting the lid on then turn upside down, worked for me

 

[craig2101]

As pbeard suggests glass jars are the way to go. I have done this for years without too many problems.
Only use food jars eg olives not coffee and make sure the thread of the jar is clean before sealing it up.
They can then be stored without taking up too much room, no rust on the bottom of the tin and a simple notation written on the lid lets you identify the contents immediately.

 

[Appleyard]

Go to a decorators merchant and buy a small tin of the liquid that's used to refill the vapour boxes for keeping paint brushes soft. Cut a small piece of cotton rag and soak it with some fluid. Close the paint tin and trap the rag between the lid and tin. The paint will not skin and will keep indefinitely. This works for normal spirit based paints,however I don't know how it will do with different solvents . Worth a try though.

 

[webcraft]

Glass jars are going to work, but are breakable . . . I was hoping someone would suggest a plastic alternative.

- Nick

 

[Ships_Cat]

Hi Nick

Good quality plastic food type screw top containers seem to work fine for epoxy and polyurethane paints (much to my surprise) but not the hardener - but I could not vouch for all paints nor all plastics and have not seen ordinary solvent based paints kept that way but suspect would be ok.

For new custom build boats the left over paint is often put into such containers by the builder for the owner's touchups. In our own case I kept the paint for around 5 years like that and still seemed fine.

John

 

[hannahman]

I use the plastic tubs that microwaveable soup comes in. Know the ones I mean? They have a good air-tight lid. (ok you may need a couple or so for the quantity of paint you are talking about). Alternatively, for smaller quanities I use the little tubs that pasta sauces etc come in. Again, they have that useful air-tight lid.

Doug

 

[MYStargazer]

Get an old nut or bolt, clean with white spirt, place in the original tin, replace lid and tap home with a mallet. Shake occasionally.

 

[huldah]

If using glass jars, paint the thread with fairy liquid and allow to dry. Tip to coat all inside surfaces and to seal lid. Lid should come off when required. Works well with evostick screw lids as well.

The easy way to prevent skin being a problem, is to cut newspaper circles, and to float them on the paint. The paper forms a thick skin that can be cut cleanly away.

Last time I had a skin problem I stirred the paint via a electrical drill, and all the bits of skin disapeared! Not sure it will work next time.

Philip