doublegunshop.com - home Forums Thread Like Summary - Stock Finish Storage Practices

Since Bill's thread was torpedoed, I'd like to restart the discussion. Here's the question: in your opinion, is fancy stock finish storage necessary or do you just leave your finish in the container it came in? If you use a different method or know of one that sounds like a good idea, what is it?

Bill suggested that a screw through the lid of a can / jar allows access without fully opening the lid.
I noticed in the Purdey video, that James MacDonald uses an old gatorade bottle that looks like it has been around for a few decades. Other gunmakers that I've seen use squeeze bottles with tapered spouts.
A woodworking blog somewhere suggested squeeze ketchup bottles with Bloxygen to remove the o2.

Personally, I have kept my home-made slacum brews in glass bottles-- smaller bourbon bottles mostly-- and I recently bought some small brown glass bottles with droppers so that I could easily add a few drops to the stock. (I'm thinking that oxygen is not as big of an issue for slacum, since it is slow to polymerize anyway.)

The StopLoss bags look like the most effective method of keeping air out. But a little difficult to dispense in small volumes, since you pour out what your going to use each time. For an oil finish requiring many applications, this seems like it would be wasteful.

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Somewhere, I acquired a bag of cheap marbles for the purpose of minimizing air in finish cans or bottles. There were purpose made for this I believe. Anyway they are a huge PITA and do not solve the problem well enough to bother with.

Woodreaux, It takes two screws. One for the finish to exit and the other to keep the presure equal to atmosphere. Replace the screws promptly before much air intrudes. The stoplose bags look like a really good solution. Can we google up a source?

I would like to add that many plastic storage containers are made of certain plastics that will allow solvents to escape at the molecular level making what you put in them to thicken over time. Also I do like to keep things in their original container if at all possible because you never know when you may need the health and safety information on the packaging. My method of keeping things especially paints and other items containing solvents is to remove Oxygen from the container and making sure the container closure is in good condition. In the photograph is a very low cost tin of Butane gas specifically for refilling gas lighters. By using one of the many adapters that come with the gas a bottle top and a short length of tubing and ingenuity you can come up with this simple air displacer. Butane is flammable but just as flammable as the many solvents used in the products, before closing the lid or top of the container I give a quick burst of gas to remove the air. I have found that doing this simple step things stay in usable condition for many years.

Why do these interesting and informative topics always seem to turn into a personal argument? Grow up, some of you.