Chris, best advice I can offer is bin it.

Emgee

Paint is a subject as wide as it is broad! However, most paints have a shelf-life and delicate storage requirements. If you stir a non-drip paint it becomes an ordinary paint and will drip with the best of them.

Generally chemical products that quietly change state when used don't store well. Glue, Paint, Varnish, Flux, Rubber etc all suffer from old age. Degraded paint may not brush, stick, harden properly, produce an acceptable finish, or last long. Your time is valuable – if the job matters, replace the paint.

Dave

I don't see why stirring a non-drip paint should turn it into ordinary paint, at least not permanently?

When non-drip paints first came out the buzz word was thixotropic, ie, the paint thins when subject to a time dependent shear. So when the paint is sheared by application with a brush it flows easily, but once the shear is removed it reverts to being viscous, so it doesn't drip or run. So if you stir a non-drip paint I'd expect it to thin, but don't see why it wouldn't thicken over time afterwards. In a wider sense non-drip paints are one type of non-Newtonian fluid, analysis of which involves tensors.

I've got a tin of non-drip gloss at home, at least a year old and it worked fine when I used it a couple of weeks ago. In due course I'll have a look at the tin and see if it says anything about stirring.

If nothing else I'm an expert at pot stirring.

Andrew

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I stir non drip gloss to get a better finish. As long as it is not too hot/cold, you can get it so that it brushes on and spreads just enough to remove the brush strokes, then re-gels and stops the runs.

Most paints separate over time since they consist of finely ground pigment mixed into a carrier base and one is usually heavier than the other. Can't think of any paint offhand that doesn't say shake or stir before use.

Oh dear, I've boo-boo'd, turns out my tin of gloss paint isn't non-drip at all.

The instructions on the tin say stir thoroughly before use. Can't say I've noticed it dripping, but it's only been used for skirting boards, so you don't need a lot of paint on the brush. Having bought it about 18 months ago for the main bathroom refit I used it recently for the kitchen refit. This time around I didn't read the tin and came unstuck. I thought gloss paint, therefore white spirit for the brushes. Got it all set up and after painting dropped the brush in and it went 'orrid. The brushes can be washed in water even though it's a gloss paint.

Andrew.

Has anyone tried to get rid of a half full tin of paint at the local dump, ours in Caister will not take the tin unless it is completely empty. When I asked why all I got was a shrug of the shoulder, and I thought that it was a recycling centre, so what do we do with these tins, put them in the household rubbish?

Pat

Stir a load of sand into the paint, and leave the lid off until it sets.

Just a guess, this is probably down to what your site is equipped to recycle, or not.

My local centre collects paint separately and recycles it for the mineral and solvent content. Perhaps your centre can't handle paint and only accepts metal cans for recycling. A half-full can of paint is highly contaminated from a metal recycling point of view. Without the right facility, it is rubbish.

I've found it unfruitful to ask operatives to explain the policies of their employers! Quite often they're only obeying orders for low wages and, like most ratepayers, haven't read the Council's website either. Delighted to say my local recycling staff are a jolly decent lot. I thought I was in for bother when challenged for dumping swarf. I could easily have turned it into a row by biting the stupid jobsworth's head off. Actually, he was only checking I wasn't a business, and, once I'd explained, he was interested to know more about Model Engineering.

Dave