Neat idea for storing paint in shop

bobgroh · Post by **bobgroh** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 11:52 pm

Saw this idea in Popular Woodworking a month or so ago - author used a CoffeeMate plastic jar (i.e. the liquid coffee creamer) to hold paint, shellac, etc.
[ATTACH]23304[/ATTACH]

The CoffeeMate jar has a hinged, snap-up lid which screws onto a white plastic piece that fastens to the clear storage jar. The snap-up lid has a a nice seal to the bottle itself. The author claimed that it would keep the paint/shellac/whatever in good condition for quite sometime.

Well, I tried it (with 2 lb cut shellac) and it seems to work great. When I want to shellac something, I just give the bottle a shake, pop the lid up, pour a bit into a clean cup or the like and then snap the lid back down. After using what I needed from the cup, I pour remainder back in the jar and then re-seal it. So far, no perceptible thickening or degradation in the shellac. And it is so easy to use.

In the picture, you see three CoffeeMate bottles - from left to right, one with the label on, one with the label stripped off and the last one is my shellac bottle. Of course, you should clean the bottle out thoroughly before you use it. I recommend that you give it a try.

burkhome · Post by **burkhome** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 7:31 am

Nice tip...

mountainbreeze · Post by **mountainbreeze** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 9:07 am

It looks like the schellac shrunk the bottle!

paul269 · Post by **paul269** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:14 pm

yeah, I tried it with some stain I mixed. The stain dried up after a week. I'm guessing the solvents were able to leak out.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 2:30 pm

Also some paints, stains and other liquids carry solvent that may melt plastic. Be careful. I had shellac go through the bottom of the can. Took a few years but all of sudden one day I had a huge mess as the shellac was ran everywhere.