How to open dried oil paint tubes

[Hermes2020]

 

[Lazarus]

Hot water always works. i have tubes of 20 years .

 

[Triumph]

I hold a match/lighter to the base of the cap for second or two. For watercolor also.

 

[16ga]

Hot water always works. i have tubes of 20 years .

I agree with the hot water. My grandmother used to use a flame and melted/distorted alot of lids to the point where the threads wouldn't work. I don't know if modern lids will still do that or not but I don't want to risk it.

 

[Artyczar]

A flame on oil paints!?

 

[16ga]

A flame on oil paints!?

Well my grandmother never caught any of the paint on fire. She would get pieces of rag melted into the lid and sometimes burn that though.

 

[Bongo]

I just went thru my paint and did pretty much what you did - digging out paint from the cap and threads. There is however, a technique you can use to prevent paint from going inside the cap and on the threads in the first place.

As you lay down a blob of paint, press the end of the tube on the palette, and drag it a bit. This levels the paint even with the top of the tube. If paint is left sticking out then when you replace the cap that extra paint will fill the inside of the cap and spill onto the threads..

 

[ntl]

I set the tubes, cap down, into a sardine can with boiling water in it, enough to cover the lids. Sometimes I have to use 2 water baths, then carefully open with 2 pairs of pliers, one holding the shoulder of the tube, the other on the cap.

 

[Hermes2020]

I bet the sardines taste awful after that, though.

 

[ntl]

 

[wirfi]

I had tubes from the 90's I opened this year. What I did:
- Hot water
- Removed muck/dried linseed oil around the top with a knife
- Used a "Tongue-and-groove pliers"... and gloves

 

[Lazarus]

I had tubes from the 90's I opened this year. What I did:
- Hot water
- Removed muck/dried linseed oil around the top with a knife
- Used a "Tongue-and-groove pliers"... and gloves

Exactly what im doing. i have late 90s tubes also they all well shaped.

 

[Artyczar]

I always have to use a pliers anyway because my hands are weak.

 

[Lazarus]

I always have to use a pliers anyway because my hands are weak.

I used to that before i heard the idea of hot waters.

 

[Enyaw]

my paints don't last long enough to get stuck

 

[Lazarus]

my paints don't last long enough to get stuck

I noticed that. for me its more a value than useful.

 

[P. Barrie]

I always have to use a pliers anyway because my hands are weak.

I have to use pliers. My basil thumb joints have the cartilage worn away, the pain is getting worse.
These work well, you can get them online.

 

[Artyczar]

Thanks Patrick. I use a regular old rusty pliers from the 1970s, and another device that is made for opening jars. It looks like a fan with a handle and has inner teeth.

 

[triss]

I'm lazy about getting paint all over the threads and caps so mine always stick - before I go hunting for the pliers, I give the cap a slight turn in the opposite direction. Often does the trick.

 

[Marc]

I set the tubes, cap down, into a sardine can with boiling water in it, enough to cover the lids. Sometimes I have to use 2 water baths, then carefully open with 2 pairs of pliers, one holding the shoulder of the tube, the other on the cap.

Basically what I do, except I use a rag to expand the circumference of the cap.

I have some tubes forty years old. When I first started painting I was one of those who wanted to have the whole set. Well I never did, but I must have come close to with some ranges. Over the years my palette has reduced incrementally. As a consequence I still have some tubes from when I first started. It almost feels a little sad to finish them now, but I can still open them with this method.