Saving Tung Oil

[DC]

I was just transferring the dregs of my Tung oil to a squeeze bottle and noticed that a fair amount had hardened it the container, same a paint skinning over. Since this is caused by increasing exposure to oxygen as the can gets emptied I was thinking it would be nice if there was a way to isolate the oil from the oxygen. While I was thinking about this I was staring at my oxy/acetylene torch. What if a person was to put a squirt of acetylene in the bottle. It's heavier than air so it would settle to the surface of the oil and isolate it from the oxygen. I think it would work as long as the acetylene didn't react with the oil. Is there a chemist out there? Has anyone tried it? 

[Azmdted]

I can't speak for tung oil, but in wine making many folks add nitrogen to prevent oxidation of the wine during various stages.  I think nitrogen is an inert gas.  On my Tru oil, I buy the smaller bottles, keep the foil safety flap attached, punch a small hole for a drip to come out and then store the bottle with lid on upside down.  That minimizes air contact during use and storage.

[DC]

I went surfing. There is a product called Bloxygen. It's just Argon in a spray can. Sounds safer and I have a bottle of Argon in the shop. I don't have a regulator for it. Wonder what my MIG welder gas is?

PS Blueshield is 70% Argon and 25% CO2. I'll try that.

[mmattockx]

While I was thinking about this I was staring at my oxy/acetylene torch. What if a person was to put a squirt of acetylene in the bottle.

Acetylene is ridiculously dangerous and reactive. I wouldn't do anything with it that doesn't involve running it through the oxy/acetylene torch system as intended.

PS Blueshield is 70% Argon and 25% CO2. I'll try that.

That is a vastly safer, more suitable option.


Mark

[dylanholderman]

agreed use nitrogen or the argon shielding gas you have. they're both inert so either should work, heck nitrogen is the gas they use in chip bags to keep them from going stale.

[Flyonline]

I can't speak for tung oil, but in wine making many folks add nitrogen to prevent oxidation of the wine during various stages.  I think nitrogen is an inert gas.  On my Tru oil, I buy the smaller bottles, keep the foil safety flap attached, punch a small hole for a drip to come out and then store the bottle with lid on upside down.  That minimizes air contact during use and storage.

That's true, but generally we use CO2 because it does a slightly better job in being heavier than air sits on the top of the surface whereas N2 is the same density as air, so more likely to blow off. N2 is usually used in bottle i.e. filling and once opened but there are other products (usually argon, CO2 and N2 or blends) available. You can also buy pressure cans of this specifically for opened wine bottles, but they're not cheap.

That said, we also have to refresh the CO2 periodically because it will get taken up by the wine and/or dissipate - even through sealed stainless steel tanks, so I'm betting your jars/tins will also leak whatever gas you put in there as well.