Old paint, in unopened can...still good?

[Greenheart]

No jokes please, about my present boat being a do-it-up project that'll never be launched...

...but in 2003, my mate helped me bring a Skipper 12 dinghy to his Tooting garden, my own abode at the time having even less space than where I live now...

...and I enthusiastically bought various items, with a mind to the Skipper's rejuvenation. One was a 750ml pot of International's Interlux Super.

Now, the fact that the Skipper 12 never saw more water than the London rain during the four years of my ownership, isn't the point...

...but my old mate just called me to say he'd found this old 'new' pot of paint in his shed, still unopened, almost a decade to the day after I bought it.

Will it still be good, just in need of a stir?

 

[sarabande]

if he hasn't opened it already, it's worth turning it upside down and re-turning it every day for a week or two, to mix any sedimentation. You won't get a proper paint mixer into a pot of that size.

 

[LittleShip]

Unopened and not moved you will probably find that the solids have settled to the bottom of the can. A very good stir should get them back in suspension and allow the paint to be usable.

I have used paints that were very solid at the bottom with no adverse effects. It will take some time to re mix the solids.

Tom.

 

[sailorman]

No jokes please, about my present boat being a do-it-up project that'll never be launched...

...but in 2003, my mate helped me bring a Skipper 12 dinghy to his Tooting garden, my own abode at the time having even less space than where I live now...

...and I enthusiastically bought various items, with a mind to the Skipper's rejuvenation. One was a 750ml pot of International's Interlux Super.

Now, the fact that the Skipper 12 never saw more water than the London rain during the four years of my ownership, isn't the point...

...but my old mate just called me to say he'd found this old 'new' pot of paint in his shed, still unopened, almost a decade to the day after I bought it.

Will it still be good, just in need of a stir?

it will more than likely just have the oils risen to the surface with no skin formed.
open remove skin if there is one, stir with a flat lath & use

 

[RobinBirch]

I've taken the odd pot of 'old' new paint to my local dulux centre and they've kindly stuck it in their paint shaker.......quick and easy.

 

[Tam Lin]

Try it and see!

 

[Tam Lin]

Then let us know!

 

[Greenheart]

Then let us know!

Will do, thanks. I was wondering whether the manufacturer's description (of the paint in use being good for two years) might have impact upon its life unused, too!

 

[Tam Lin]

To try and give a more serious answer. I think that it if it stirs up OK and looks alright then it will be alright to use. I have used plenty of old paint and never seem to have had a problem. Having said that I am not a paint technology expert and I am sure that someone will be along shortly, in the best traditions of the forum, to say something completely different!
It also depends how tight you are or how concerned about the environment. Apparently the most environmentally friendly way of disposing of paint is to use it for the purpose for which it was created.

 

[nigelmercier]

You are lucky to have in your possession a tin of proper paint, before all the H&S bollox. Use it wisely.

 

[Greenheart]

You are lucky to have in your possession a tin of proper paint, before all the H&S bollox. Use it wisely.

Really? I'd no idea things had changed so much. The label on the Hammerite I bought last month, suggested it was very deadly to any nature in the vicinity...

...I wonder how much more toxic paint could have been, before the ingredients were restricted?

If that vintage 2003 pot I have waiting in London, is better than what's available now, feel free to bid for it!

 

[Lakesailor]

How dare you. After all the questions about making this craft perfect before even wetting it's bottom you now propose to sully it with some sludge that someone has given you.
Go out and get the very best paint that money can buy.

 

[Greenheart]

How dare you. After all the questions about making this craft perfect before even wetting it's bottom you now propose to sully it with some sludge that someone has given you. Go out and get the very best paint that money can buy.

But Lakey, it's MY paint! I only started the thread because I wondered whether it might have deteriorated in ten year's storage at my pal's place.

And from the earlier post, I understand that paint made back then IS the best that money can buy, compared with today's equivalent. Hardly sludge?

 

[reeac]

When we bought our first boat in late 1998 it came with a slightly rusty previously opened can of International boot topping. A few days ago I opened said can [now a good deal more rusty] for the first time with a view to using the paint to number our mooring buoy. Amazingly the paint looked like new and hadn't settled.

 

[kalanka]

A couple of weeks ago I opened a full gallon tin of FuChow enamel that my father gave me about thirty years ago and that has lain hidden at the back of the shed. It came from the back of his shed and I reckon it is a good fifty years old. My intention was to chuck it out. The can itself is rather rusty on the outside but, to my astonishment, there was no rust inside the can, the paint it was still liquid and after a thorough stir it appears to be perfectly good. I painted a metal jerry can and the paint went on without problems and with a lovely shade of blue. I was impressed!