Ben Moore paint

[kevin nee]

I recently bought some Ben Moore primer & paint. It’s been a while and serious sticker shock. I used les than 1/2 gallon of each. Now I want to save this liquid gold. In the past I have had about 50/50 success rate storing paint in the original cans.
Does anyone have a good way to store paint. I am thinking Tupperware.
Thanks in advance, Kevin

[Rich Engelhardt]

Make extra sure there is no paint in the rim.
Then pound the lid on with a rubber mallet (start on the side nearest to you - just in case you skipped step number one. That way if there is any paint in the lip. it will shoot away from you )
Store the can upside down.
Stick it in a plastic bucket - just to be safe.

Years ago when glass marbles could be found cheap - people used to dump them into half filled cans of paint so it would raise the level of paint & leave less air inside the can - the idea being less air would help prevent the paint from skinning over.

Buy some of the gas in a spray can they sell and shoot that into the can before you pound the lid on. I forget the name of it. It's compressed nitrogen that's labeled something like "Block Ade".

Instead of buying the stuff above - use propane gas instead.

Any of these will work - or not - it all boils down to cleaning the lip of any and all paint.
Fold over a paper towel and run it around the inside of the lip. Use two and start them in opposite directions around the lip and when they come together, you'll have about 95% of the stuff in the lip. Repeat until you get it all.

Don't use the old handyman trick of pounding a nail into the lip of the can so the paint drains back into the can. When you do that, you scratch off the liner (yes, they spray a vinyl liner of the metal so the water in waterborne materials won't rust the metal) and the can will rust. Usually it rusts solid against the lid & when you go to pry the lid off - all it does is tear and little sharp pieces stick up all around the lid.

[Alan Lightstone]

That gas is Argon, and is sold as "Bloxygen". I would think nitrogen would work just as well. Anything non-reactive that excludes oxygen.

[Jim Becker]

Good paint is not inexpensive. Be sure you sign up for the brand's customer discount/offer programs as it will save you money. That's been pretty meaningful for me with SW, for sure.

As to storage, historically, I did keep stuff in the original cans, but what I'm doing now is buying the empty quart cans to store paint once I'm down to about a half a gallon can. That gets a lot more air out of the picture and the "new" can seals a lot better than one that most assuredly has paint on the rim, even if you use a spout system to pour.

I do not recommend Tupperware or knock off for this application. They don't seal as well as you may think, especially over time. (And yes, I was a "Tupperware lady" back in the early 1990s... )

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Jim. You can buy 1 quart Mason jars or 1 quart cans. 32oz Ball jars are about $10 a dozen around here. I have some trim paint for my outbuildings that has been in Mason jars for several years and I used some just the other day.

[Paul F Franklin]

Menards sells these in qt and gal sizes:

Paint container.jpg

I like them because they are plastic and don't break if bumped or dropped, and they don't rust like metal cans can after a while. I've stored paint in them for at least a few years with no noticeable degradation. If I know I won't be using it anytime soon, I will float a piece of plastic wrap over the surface before putting the lid on. That works well for premixed sheetrock mud as well.

[Jim Becker]

Those look really nice, Paul...I have not seen them in this area, unfortunately, so I do the cans.

[Doug Dawson]

I recently bought some Ben Moore primer & paint. It’s been a while and serious sticker shock. I used les than 1/2 gallon of each. Now I want to save this liquid gold. In the past I have had about 50/50 success rate storing paint in the original cans.
Does anyone have a good way to store paint. I am thinking Tupperware.
Thanks in advance, Kevin

The number one thing, and it has already been mentioned, is to store the can upside down. If the paint then leaks out all over the place, well, that’s a different problem.

[Ron Selzer]

Menards sells these in qt and gal sizes:

Paint container.jpg

I like them because they are plastic and don't break if bumped or dropped, and they don't rust like metal cans can after a while. I've stored paint in them for at least a few years with no noticeable degradation. If I know I won't be using it anytime soon, I will float a piece of plastic wrap over the surface before putting the lid on. That works well for premixed sheetrock mud as well.

Have a big splot on the floor where a gallon fell off of the workbench and came open
Ron

[Wayne Cannon]

I, too, keep several empty quart psint cans (with interior longer) on hand to store lesser quantities.

Most plastic storage containers leak. Fill one with water (e,g., to store waterstones), and a year later, the water level is down an inch. The expensive ones were the worst offenders, even leaking water when inverted. The best I found, believe it or not, were from the Dollar Tree store -- no leaks, no evaporation!

[Mark e Kessler]

You can also use this as a usually cheaper alternative to bloxygen…. i have opened 1/2 filled cans of paint/varnish 6+ months old with no skinning.. also use it to keep my espresso beans fresh

https://www.amazon.com/Private-Prese...7915329&sr=8-5

[Alan Lightstone]

Two questions:

1.) Why store the paint can upside down?

2.) Anyone just get a nitrogen cylinder and appropriate regulators to do this? Buy once, cry once. I'm used to working with compressed gasses, but never heard of anyone taking this route.

[Jim Becker]

I'm not sure I'd entertain going to the trouble to use added inert gasses to help preserve waterborne paints, especially given just how accurate color matching is these days. Merely stepping down to smaller containers is an easier way to help keep paint "fresher" and that extra finish for touch ups and smaller projects will also take up less storage room than partially filled gallon containers. But that's me. Other may not agree.

[Doug Dawson]

Two questions:

1.) Why store the paint can upside down?

Because presumably there’s no air leak in the bottom of the can.

[Ron Citerone]

Mayonaise jar if water based.