I have used Watco for years for almost all of my furniture building and found that it definitely has a shelf life of 6 months to a year. As somebody said, maybe you can use some kind of substance to blow into the can to replace the air. But without that I just throw the stuff away when it starts getting a little thicker in the can. I think it is about the best thing for bringing the grain to life. Even if I want a shiny finish, I'll use the Watco first, let it dry very well, then put a high gloss lacquer over it. Earl
Watco shelf life
Apr 04, 2005
2 Replies
I have Wacto that is over 10 years old and doesn't appear to have a different cure time or behavior then Wacto that is less then a year
I haven't had a problem with Watco turning to jel like tung oil does. But maybe I'm lucky. A trick I used with tung oil was to drop clean marbles into the can to raise the fluid level and reduce the air space at the top of the can. This seemed to preserve the shelf life. When the can was empty I just dropped the marbles in a quarter inch or so of thinner in a mason jar and wiped them off in a day or two.
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