Non-Drip Gloss Paint

Sawdust works even better! I usually find that after 4 or 5 years when there is a management instruction to decorate, any less than 1/2 full tins are pretty solid!

I used to save all tins of paint, "just in case", now I am tending to bin them when finished if not fairly well full, and buy new when the next Senior Management Decoration Instruction requires activating.

I took a load of old paint tins with various amounts of paint left in them down the tip, asked what to do with them, "chuck then in the unrecyclable skip" came the reply. So now I do, without asking, and hopefully out of sight of their watchful eyes, "just in case"!

I have found the best paint is the ones that contain large amounts of lead. It goes on like a dream and leaves no brush marks.

Just a guess, this is probably down to what your site is equipped to recycle, or not.

My local centre collects paint separately and recycles it for the mineral and solvent content. Perhaps your centre can't handle paint and only accepts metal cans for recycling. A half-full can of paint is highly contaminated from a metal recycling point of view. Without the right facility, it is rubbish.

I've found it unfruitful to ask operatives to explain the policies of their employers! Quite often they're only obeying orders for low wages and, like most ratepayers, haven't read the Council's website either. Delighted to say my local recycling staff are a jolly decent lot. I thought I was in for bother when challenged for dumping swarf. I could easily have turned it into a row by biting the stupid jobsworth's head off. Actually, he was only checking I wasn't a business, and, once I'd explained, he was interested to know more about Model Engineering.

Dave

Some years ago, after I'd just tipped a load of rusty swarf into the JCB bucket at the local tip, I got quizzed as to what it was. I was expecting a grilling, but it turned out to be a local BBC TV crew doing something on recycling. They wanted to film me tipping swarf into the bucket. Unfortunately I only had the one load to tip.

Actually it was fortunate as I hate being on camera let alone on TV. If anyone wants my 15 minutes of fame they're welcome to it.

Andrew

Steel swarf?

I don't generate vast amounts anyway, but often ram it down into emptied and rinsed-out food tins, crush the tops closed a bit and put them in the salvage bin. It's the same metal, sorted by magnet I presume.

Years ago, I had to get rid of a glass fibre hull mold that was about 18 feet long, sitting on a rusty caravan trailer. I asked at the tip before arrival and the response was - "If you can get it into the skip, we take it". On the day we rolled up with said hull, all sawn up into 3 foot long sections, we were initially rejected until I offered 10 quid in the pocket, it eased the way around to the back of the skips and out of sight, when I asked where to stuff the old caravan trailer that had transported it, it was gleefully accepted !

Just out on interest, this evening I tried that old nearly full tin of iffy non-drip gloss paint which wasn't performing right, that had come with the instruction "Do Not Stir", that in a hissy fit I had given a good stirring to on the basis of it was crap before, stirring might make it better, if not then it will get binned anyway. Well, lo and behold, said tin of iffy non-drip is now looking like a real one, painted with it and it seems to be OK. Ripper!

Another lesson learned!

Chris

Ah! Like Nigel Graham, my swarf gets squashed down into clean empty tins, and the lid is then bashed on, before putting into the recycling bin, ready to be picked off by the magnet at the recycling centre.

Sadly, I have stirred non drip paint, without any apparent ill effects. (After all, I want it to run when I brush it on. As long as it covers and dries, contentment follows.) Ignorance IS bliss

Howard

A useful way of saving paint for a few more months: Replace the lid firmly, turn over and shake briefly. Then store upside down. If air gets in it is because the lid is not a perfect seal, so put the lid at the bottom and the paint will seal it.

It works for me

Cheers, Tim

Non-drip paint is 'thixotropic' so stirring makes it runny. It won't spoil it, and with time it will recover.

So if it has separated out, a good stirrring is OK, but you may want to wait before using it if the non-drip property is important for the job.

Neil