Lacquer Shelf Life

[Philip Secrist]

I have an unopened gallon of McFadden clear spray lacquer that is dated 2005.  Is there a shelf life for spray lacquer? I also have just about a gallon that was opened and it is dated 2007.  Is there anyway to tell if it is not useable?  I hate to throw away the stuff. I love Mcfadden's lacquer and I know they are no longer in business

[Jeff Highland]

It should not be a problem at all for either can.

[Frank Ford]

I have some lacquer that is verifiably over 30 years old (I bought it myself) and it's just fine.  The gallon can rusted a bit, discoloring the lacquer to a perfect aged amber, so in that sense it's better than new.  I talked to the finish chemist at the factory, and he said lacquer is good indefinitely, but with old stuff it's a good plan to do a sample finish and see if it appears to dry normally.

When I heard McFadden was about to go out of business, I bought ten gallons from LMI and stashed it so we'd be able to spray for some years to come.  Not doing full refinishing, we don't go through that much.  Turns out that new stuff became available right away, so it was an unnecessary expense, but I figured it would be good insurance, having weathered shortages of bone, ivory, ebony in years past.

[FRANK]

Party on Garth Party on Wane yea no problems here with keeping Lacquer around for a while .If I were you and I had a concern about top coat I would do a test piece of wood and hash out the results afterward