Official Luthiers Forum!

Does anyone make a plastic container for varnish storage where the air can be squeezed out of the container before storage? If so, who has them? Looking for options for storing unused varnish so it doesn't gel/waste in storage.

I assume pint sized Mason jars stored upside down will work ok (thoughts?) but for samller quantities a container where all air could be removed might work nice as long as the cap seals very well.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

add marbles

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

i used to use these in my darkroom:

http://www.2spi.com/catalog/photo/air-evac.shtml

don't know how they'll hold up to shellac, and they're terrible to clean, but you could give these or others like them a try. you could also give your bottles a "nitrogen purge" before you seal them if you have any nitrogen around. nitrogen will displace the oxygen in the bottle.

I used these for tung oil. http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.a ... 44133&ap=1 They can be a little messy if you aren't careful.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I don't know if this will work with varnish but I had the same problem with polyurethane and I solved it by spraying 'dust destroyer' gas in my poly container before closing it. The gas sprayed is not air, and it is heavier than air, so it acts as a fluid mambrane that isolate the poly from the rest of the air in the container.

The same can be done with nitrogen but it's harder to get. Dust Destroyer is found at Staples.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

A couple of those links have nice collapsible bottles, just wish they were smaller. Like start at a pint or smaller and collapse from there (instead of starting with a quart capacity).

Thanks for the links.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I've been marinating marbles in varnish for years, and it works great. They displace a bit more than half the volume, so you need to have a smaller can to decant the varnish to when the marbles reach the top. If you keep the level of the varnish just below the flange of the can it won't harden up or skin over, and you can just keep transferring it to smaller cans. Eventually you get a new can, and when you've used some of that, put in the old varnish, and so on. The marbles can be rinsed off and re-used, so a couple of pounds will last forever.

So you use the original can? They are typically very difficult to pour out of (I love dangling prepositions <smile>).

I guess I'll look for marbles. Any tips on the initial pour from quart cans?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Yeah, it can be a bit of a mess when it comes time to transfer varnish from one can to another. You don't have to do that until the can gets full of marbles, though. I find that regular paint cans work about the best for storing varnish (who'd a thunk?), so long as you keep the rim and the edge of the lid clean. I try to get into the habit of wiping them down before putting the top on. Note; 'try'...

I use one of these when I pour paint or finish through a strainer into my sprayer. Keeps the can rim clean. http://www.homedepot.ca/product/paint-p ... out/978741

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Check your local dollar store for collapsible jars. You should test them for resistance to varnish first.

Bob

I use small (jelly size) mason jars to store my varnish. I decant the varnish from the can into a quart size plastic paint mixing container from the hardware store and then into the jars. I also use Bloxygen. It is an inert gas (argon I think) in a spray-type can. It displaces the air when you are sealing up the jars so the varnish doesn't gell. I think it's available from Woodcraft, Rockler and Heartland tools, among others.

Good luck,
Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

Look for some Australian wine in a cask .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bag-In-Box#Wine_cask

Do you get local wine supplied like this over there ?
The bags are very strong And I have been told work well for what you are looking for. I am yet to try it out though .

I had the same problem when buying [ not sure what you call them] 4 quart [ 4 litre can down here ] cans of Estapol sanding sealer going off before I had a chance to use it all , I was told to try the bags but never got around to finding an empty wine cask . I ended up dividing the sealer up into 4 1 litre glass bottles and am happy with that out come . Some times I loose a little but that's fine compared to the half a can I sometimes lost through a bad seal.

cheers Rob