luvtwofish Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Hello pourers! Kind of a newbie here, I've been pouring for about a year. I bought 5 gallons of plastic and poured what I need for now. I keep the jug of plastic indoors in a dark closet and was wondering what the shlef life is if any. Thanks in advance and love this forum guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone2long Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 (edited) Avoid temperature extremes and you should be fine for years, there was a thread on here about this just remember the longer it sits the more separation the more mixing you'll need to do, like when you think it's mixed enough start over and mix again it tends to separate and needs aggressive mixing. Edited June 17, 2009 by mrbilky spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial All The Way Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I use the 500 saltwater plastic from LC. Live in CT with old man winter. The gal I had in my outbuilding I was using got a quarter inch thick hard patch over the entire bottom and would not mix or anything else. I still used the plastic and it seemed just as thick as the other gal. So no ill effect I could see but as stated big time seperation in cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevtherev Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I found some M-F plastic in storage that was around 30 years old. I mixed it up thoroughly and it worked fine believe it or not! So did the 30 year old colorant! Mine was stored in a basement in a box so cool and dark is the rule for me. Good luck. kevtherev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSC Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 I had some (Southern Plastic) 5 gal bucket .... over 35 years and it was well setteled out ... but .. with enough mixing worked fine .... I had a lot of Paste and liquid colorants from then and all but 1 can was OK (the one can lid was not tight enough and it dried out .. It was paste). Biggest thing as mentioned before is that it will settle out and takes some mixing to get it into condition to work with. My Hope that helps Have fun JSC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvtwofish Posted June 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 Thanks for the info guys! I guess I don't need to worry about the plastic going bad on me. Thought I might have to cook the plastic then melt it if needed later...what a waste that have been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Husky Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 (edited) I'm no expert, but In the 70's plastic used to be sold in liquid or in solid pieces. I Imagine it would be possible to cast the excess into plastic Ingots which would take care of settling out and hardening issues. Just store them in plastic bags in the proper environment. Wouldn't that be a feasible remedy? Edited June 18, 2009 by Husky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bojon Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 I like the idea of ingots of plastic.I have no idea why I didn't think of that.I always save my left over cooled plastic in a bag,with the color formula inserted.Why not clear,well mixed blocks stored in baggies.Only down side that I can think of would be getting the right amount when it come time to color it. Many years ago,when I started,the plastic came in metal containers with a warning to prevent freezing.I have had my plastic,the liquid,the newer formula,stored in a unheated garage with no bad effects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Husky Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 I like the idea of ingots of plastic.I have no idea why I didn't think of that.I always save my left over cooled plastic in a bag,with the color formula inserted.Why not clear,well mixed blocks stored in baggies.Only down side that I can think of would be getting the right amount when it come time to color it. Many years ago,when I started,the plastic came in metal containers with a warning to prevent freezing.I have had my plastic,the liquid,the newer formula,stored in a unheated garage with no bad effects. I've been casting some Sluggos out of Silicone sealant and to avoid waste I weighed the finished lures on a digital scale and use that as a base for how much I need to squeaze out. I believe you could do the same with hardened plastic. It's all about the math! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevtherev Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 Don't cast all your plastic for later remelting; most fluorescent colorant has to be added to liquid plastic before heating. kevtherev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gone2long Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 I would think if you cook your plastic in advance you would be burning off some of the heat stabilizer that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
