# Stain goes bad?



## new2woodwrk (Mar 16, 2015)

We've had a few small cans of Minwax stain and prestain go bad - is this normal?

The pre-stain coagulated.

The 2 other stains seem to separate and stirring would not re-blend them.

The cans were not that old - less than a few months

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

I've used cans of Minwax stain that were over 30 years old and they have always mixed back up fine for me, had to stir the hell out of a few of them but they worked

Mine was oil based is yours water based?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

new2woodwrk said:


> We've had a few small cans of Minwax stain and prestain go bad - is this normal?
> 
> The pre-stain coagulated.
> 
> ...


It's normal. You might have just bought the cans a few months ago but you don't know how long they sat in a warehouse or store shelf. They don't put an expiration date on the cans so you don't know. About all you can do is purchase your stain from a store that seems to sell a high volume so maybe it will be fresher. Minwax stains are more a dye stain than an oil stain and they normally have a longer shelf life than a lot of stains. It's the one think I like about their stain. I stopped using Minwax because they are prone to fade.


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## new2woodwrk (Mar 16, 2015)

Catpower said:


> I've used cans of Minwax stain that were over 30 years old and they have always mixed back up fine for me, had to stir the hell out of a few of them but they worked
> 
> Mine was oil based is yours water based?


Yah, mine is oil based as well

I shook up the can even though it says to stir only, that seems to have gotten the stain to reblend - the prestain is trashed


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Air in the can probably got to the conditioner enough to begin the cross linking and the product was done for. I've had MinWax stains in cans for years and they have always mixed back up. I don't use a lot of the stains that contain pigments as I don't like the look on wood. I prefer the stains that are just the dye component. I have let some colors of MinWax settle out so the pigment was solidified on the bottom and then poured off the dye and carrier to use.


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## Catpower (Jan 11, 2016)

Quite a while ago, I started using those "air in a can" things they sell in office supply stores to blow the air out of the can before sealing them, it seems to make it last better, then I saw the Bloxegen stuff that is basically the same thing

It is great you can use a refrigerant (R124) to blow off keyboards but if the EPA catches you venting from a reefer unit it is a big fine


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

I just used some Minwax Golden Oak stain that I had labeled “good 1988”. I’ve long since switched to dye and I don’t remember why I even wrote the date, but the stain still worked fine.


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