Hard wax oil, skinning, and argon

Ever since I picked up a bunch of argon at about 70% off I have been using it as a matter of course to prevent skinning of partly-used finishes in their tins. (Argon is a gas that is heavier than air and basically completely non-reactive, so a bit of a squirt in a container and it forms a barrier against the air.)

Well I forgot to do this with a half-full tin of hard wax oil the other day, which is notorious for skinning and going off in the tin. (Evolution Classic, if it matters.) After only 3 days I remembered and checked it, it had a good skin going, but the other containers of HWO I had around were nice and liquid. I dealt with the skin and argon'd the problem tin, and all has been well since.

If you want to do this yourself, you only need a little bit - one of those small welding gas bottles (the tiny disposable ones, 80mm dia x 300mm high) with a valve and a tube is fine and will last you for quite a while.

Nice one. I use these. Just decant left over finish into them, label and date it, squeeze the air out and seems to keep a lot longer.
Attachment 468512

hurcorh,

Where do you get these?

Cheers

Yvan

ebay, aliexpress, etc. Mylar Liquid bag is the name they are normally found under. Some packs come with a small funnel which is quite handy.

Has anyone tried using glad wrap or the industrial plastic wrap? put it in the tin so that its touching the liquid so the air is above the plastic wrap?

Can those mylar bags be refilled too or does the finish inside still go off eventually?

If the wrap is touching the surface of hte liquid that would work. The objective is to make sure the air does not contact the finish so that it doesn't go off / dry.