Sometimes it's nice to be able to make your own finish, not necessarily trying to out-do the manufacturers research and development but because we like to make things. Hence we could buy bowls much cheaper than we can make them, but we make things.
Member
Sometimes it's nice to be able to make your own finish, not necessarily trying to out-do the manufacturers research and development but because we like to make things. Hence we could buy bowls much cheaper than we can make them, but we make things.
Contributor
The idea of displacing the oxygen to extend the can life is good. On occasion, I have injected some propane from a propane torch. It is substantially heavier than air so it "should" work. So should butane. I'm not a chemist, but I suspect that it wouldn't interact with the finish. Interestingly, nitrogen is just slightly lighter than air. But if a person introduces nitrogen and does wait too long, it'll probably do just fine in displacing air (with oxygen). CO2 is similar to propane in its density.
Contributor
The propane idea is interesting- can anyone think of a reason not to do that? It’s an idea that’s been batted around for a while......
Moderator
Propane does work. One serious caution, of course, is using flammable gases around sparks or flames! Yikes. Read the comment from the Bloxygen people below.Originally Posted by Jeff Clode
CO2 has also been used in some case. Note that the commercial oxygen displacing Bloxygen now uses pure Argon. But when they started they used a mix of argon, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. From the first can I bought:
bloxygen_contents.jpg
Nitrogen is slightly lighter than pure oxygen but insignificantly less lighter than atmospheric air (which is almost 80% nitrogen - do the math) so it does work, but argon is arguably marginally better. However, the Bloxygen people quit using nitrogen and CO2. From their current FAQs: "CO2? We use ultra pure Argon because it's totally inert. CO2 is okay, but it's not totally inert and will react with water to form carbonic acid. "
Their comment about propane: "What about Propane? No. Just NO. This is dangerous."
You can read the Bloxygen FAQs here. Keep in mind that they are in the business of touting their product!
http://www.bloxygen.com/frequently-asked-questions.html
JKJ
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