effective shelf life for Anchorseal?

[Roger Chandler]

I had an occasion to use some Anchorseal today on a large walnut pedestal bowl that I got a request to do from a lady. She saw the pedestal bowl my wife put an arrangement in at our church, and told me she wanted one.........maple would not do, she wanted walnut!

Anyway, our two clubs in the area go together and purchase Anchorseal in quantity, and the stuff I used today has been in my shop for two years........just about 1/5th gallon in that milk jug............I shook it up well, and proceeded to paint the roughout so I could put it in a bag later this evening for the drying process..... [the thing was too big for my 5 gal bucket of denatured alcohol]

It seemed to paint on just fine, and then dried in about 90 minutes to the point that I could bag the thing.

My question on the shelf life is because I did not expect this to be any good when I checked it....my shop has no heat in winter other than a little when I am in it, and this particular stuff has endured two winters, yet seems to be good as new.......I do know that our club orders the classic Anchorseal with the antifreeze already added to the mix.........

Anyone else find a long shelf life for anchorseal?

[Jeff Nicol]

Roger, I have a partial 5 gallon pail that I started out with 3 years ago and just add some to a small container when I need more. The small container gets some dried on the sides and rim but it always stays gummy like and never gets real hard and some times I take that off and use it to fill in big crack so it gets used eventually. But the point of my reply is that when the club I was in bought a 55 gallon barrel of it, I ended up taking the barrel home for future use and left it in my shed until this last spring and the gallon and a half that was in it was still good as ever, but it was the cold weather type so I guess that must help.

Good to the last drop,

Jeff

[Ryan Baker]

It seems to pretty much last forever. But it's just a wax emulsion so it really shouldn't go bad. It's not supposed to be allowed to freeze though, even the original formula stuff. I haven't frozen any, but supposedly something will happen to it and it won't recover afterword. It's probably more likely that it would start to "grow" something (mold) than it would actually go "bad".

[Jeff Nicol]

The stuff that I had left in the shed had been frozen 3 times (3 winters) and no issues, so I guess no growths so far! But when you say it is a wax imulsion it is a misleading statement for most folks to understand as most of us think of wax as parrafin or a candle. But what these wood sealers are made from is Polyethelene Glycol or as it is known in the wood workers world as PEG. PEG has been used for years to stabilize green wood and preserve it for use without drying it, the way it works is that PEG comes in either pellets, blocks or tubs of waxlike stuff that will dissolve in water. Then the wet wood (We used it for crosscuts of a log on the bias for plaques or clocks) is soaked in the mixture until it soaks all the way through and then when it drys the PEG replaces the water in the pores of the wood. It does discolor the wood a little but does not hinder working the wood to a finished product. So I suppose to make the immulsion the PEG must be liquified and then mixed with a carrier to create the sealer, Anchorseal smells a little like window cleaner so must be something that will not break down over time, be water based and dries fairly fast. Just using some of the memories from science class so many years ago to come up with that hypothothis!

I tried to create something using candle wax and emulsify it, but so far not so easy as I am not a chemical engineer but just a tinkerer, but some day I will come up with the million $ idea.

Jeff

[Roger Chandler]

Thanks for the info, Jeff........your experience sort of gives me a little confidence that what I have on hand will be okay for a while longer!

[robert baccus]

Thanks, that's good info. I've heard complaints about Anchorseal 2 and wondered if anyone has experience with that. I switched to Artisan which is like the old Anchorseal--covers well. Years ago before endseals became popular I dissolved paraffin in mineral spirits and used that--worked but not like the canned stuff.

[Steve Mawson]

Roger,
I have about half a gallon left that I have had for 5-6 years. Just used it on green walnut, seems to be working ok. Been kept in the garage all the time. Sure it froze a few times. Still looking good to me.

[Paul Gilbert]

Jeff - the MSDS for Anchorseal says that it is petroleum wax. The CAS number listed is 64742-61-6 which is "slack wax" which is a low melting point paraffin with some residual oil. To form an emulsion with this type of product you need an emulsifier with a high shear. Keeping it stable would probably require some dispersants - think detergents. In a freeze/thaw cycle I would think that the temp. would have to drop far enough that the wax would crystallize. That might not happen until well below freezing.

[Prashun Patel]

Anchorseal Original is to the best of my research a mixture of paraffin wax and petroleum distillate solvents. AS2 may not contain 'wax', but I'm pretty sure AO does. AO may have some PEG, but it's at least 50% standard petroleum wax.

I don't believe a dispersant or detergent is what you'd need to keep it soluble in a hydrocarbon solvent like Mineral spirits. You'd need a 'heavier' hydrocarbon solvent.

If, however, the solvent is polar (or more 'like' water) than ms, then, yes, you'd need a detergent.

[robert baccus]

I'm pretty sure the wax is paraffin which is essentially waterproof naturally in some waterbase?? like paints. It can be thinned with water for special uses like partially dried wood or whatever.