How to revive dry liberon gold filler?

[MakeMeFrame-ous]

You know when you dig into your box and pull out a filler you use probably once every year and it's all dry? What can I add into it to make it liquid again? Some sort of spirit or artists medium? Any advice would be great. Thanks. Chris.

[Not your average framer]

Hi Chris,

That's a very interesting question. Is this filler in a tube, or a jar? I suspect that anything which has gone hard in a tube, probably is a bit of a lost cause, but something in a glass jar may, or may not be possible to revive to a usable state by soaking it with a suitable solvent. Unfortunately, it has to be the right type of solvent for the product in question.

For example adding white spirit to a product which originally contained cellulose thinners might not be a very promising start. It is probably not helpful to just guess the amount of solvent and then to try and mix the amount of solvent in the the solid mass. Better to leave it to soak in slowly and pour away any surplus some time later.

At the end of the day, there's no guarantee that this will work, or that it will be cost effective to do this, but this does not mean don't try it.

[vintage frames]

I would bet that the Liberon solvent is white spirit. Thinners is a very hazardous solvent and I doubt it would have been used in these wax fillers which are usually applied by hand. Add about 25% more volume of white spirit and warm the jar in some hot water. Work the solvent into the melting filler and add more to get it to a workable consistency.

[Not your average framer]

I would bet that too, but I don't know for sure what it is. So I was not going to say so.

[prospero]

I've done this many times using White Spirit. Or genuine Turps if you want to be flash.

It can take a while, but jabbing a few holes in it will accelerate the process.

[MakeMeFrame-ous]

Thanks for all the replies! I thought a bit of terps would do the trick!. This stuff is proper dry and as an experiment I will keep an eye on the jar just to see what the terps can do. I usually just chuck them out and buy another. I've bought another, but I will keep on with this for future reference. Thanks again people!! Much appreciated.