Have you ever opened a jar of wood finish that you mixed months ago, only to find that it looks like this? A semi-solid gelatinous mass?
While it looks cool, and feels cool when you touch it, it also means money down the drain. When most wood finishes are exposed to oxygen, the finishes become ruined over time. For many years I would just crush the cans inward to reduce the amount of oxygen that could stay in the can. But this method just delays the inevitable. I’ve still got a number of cans with ruined finish sitting on my shelves.
Several years ago I researched other methods for displacing oxygen in the wood finish cans. I didn’t feel comfortable adding kerosene to the wood finish, as some people suggested. Some manufactures sell plastic squeeze bags that looked promising, but seemed a bit expensive over time. Bloxygen sounded like the most popular & safe method, so I tried that for awhile. Bloxygen is a can of compressed argon gas, which apparently settles below the oxygen in the container, extending the life of your wood finish (you can read more about Bloxygen here).
I tried emailing the company with questions, but wasn’t able to get a response. But, my order did go through just fine, and now it’s my go to way to preserve wood finishes. You can find the Pump-N-Seal® pump here, for $34.95 (including shipping). The way I figure it, that’s the cost of a quart of Waterlox varnish, so it should pay for itself P.D.Q.
The pump is quite easy to use. I use glass canning jars that are left over from when we preserve peaches or pickles or salsa. You can even recycle pasta sauce jars, jam jars, or peanut jars. Just make sure the metal lid has a functional rubber seal.
Punch a tiny hole in the top of the lid (they even provide a thumb tack), the place the little yellow sticker (called a “tab check”) over that hole. Press it down firmly.
Place the pump over the hole, and then start pumping away (10 times seems to work fine). The pump can be easily removed by pulling up on the suction cup tab.
The wood finish lasts a long time, and the lid can be sealed over, and over again, without having to replace the yellow tab check. This is a major benefit over argon gas, which has to be sprayed each time you finish up using the wood finish. That’s it!
What do you do to keep your wood finish from going bad? Please comment at the bottom of this page to share your ideas. Also, here are some upcoming classes at the Wood and Shop Traditional Woodworking School:
If you have a FoodSaver vacuum system, there is a canning jar accessory available that uses standard canning jar lids and there is no hole or tab check to fail.
Just $0.02 from the peanut gallery and another option.
Cool, thanks for the tip!
Great, and timely, tip Joshua. I just opened a can of marine varnish from last year only to find it 1/2 gelled. I need to purchase another, so hopefully this will help this can last longer.
Hey Shawn, I guess if it was really “timely” I would have posted this video last year before your can of varnish got ruined!
Josh,
I use the “Dust-off” aerosol cans from dollar store that are used to clean computer screens. I read somewhere that they either contain argon or work similarly to argon. A quick blast seems to do the trick.
–Bill
Ah, very good tip Bill! And it’s a lot cheaper than Bloxygen.