Good Milliput gone bad?

[Bloodhowl]

Ok all. I have had this yellow-grey milliput for a while (probably several years) and was wondering if it is bad. I used superfine milliput that I have had just as long and it it is fine.

View attachment 11892

The stick on the left looks like it is discolored, but having never worked with the stuff before, I am not sure. Maybe it comes that way?

View attachment 11893

This lump is the resulting mix of the two sticks. It was very dry and crumbly, and did not seem to mix smoothly like the superfine. Did I just not mix it enough, or is it in fact past it's prime?

Please, no feces or defecation jokes!

 

[majestic0110]

hey bloodhowl, I had a similar thing happen to me with old milliput. It does look discoloured to me. My problem was that the two elements would not combine well so I added a touch of warm water to the compound and then mixed as normal and it was ok. This was my experience though and mine was not as discoloured (or as old) as yours seems to be. Hope that helps.

 

[Bloodhowl]

hey bloodhowl, I had a similar thing happen to me with old milliput. It does look discoloured to me. My problem was that the two elements would not combine well so I added a touch of warm water to the compound and then mixed as normal and it was ok. This was my experience though and mine was not as discoloured (or as old) as yours seems to be. Hope that helps.

Every little bit helps! I'll try it with a bit of warm water thrown in and see what happens! Thanks!

 

[majestic0110]

cool, don't use an excessive amount thought because that makes it really slimy !

 

[Bloodhowl]

Warm water did the trick! The mix still seemed to have some dried lumps in it (like using the center stripe portion of GS that comes in ribbon form), so I am thinking cutting off that brown "skin" from the stick on the left should fix it and make it much smoother.

 

[cassar]

the hardener should be grey in colour not brown id say its gone off and will probably cause you trouble down the line.

 

[majestic0110]

I'd say cassar is right, it mighn't set properly or last long :-/

 

[supervike]

Please, no feces or defecation jokes!

That's all I have!

 

[Einion]

...I am thinking cutting off that brown "skin" from the stick on the left should fix it and make it much smoother.

Out of curiosity, when you cut down into it does the discolouration run deep or is it just a surface coating?

The hardener for MagicSculp and Apoxie Sculpt have exactly the same problem, with MS mixing the tarry stuff into the putty doesn't seriously effect the final result but with AS I found a noticeable reduction in hardness sometimes (it should set really hard but it ended up a little softer than MS).

To prevent the problem in future, keeping the hardener in the freezer is apparently the key... either that or using large enough quantities that it doesn't have time to go off like cassar!

Einion

 

[Bloodhowl]

Out of curiosity, when you cut down into it does the discolouration run deep or is it just a surface coating?

Einion

It is just a surface coating, maybe 0.5mm thick. I cut it off and mixed the two(much better mixing it this time), and have it curing right now. Once it's dry I'll try carving and sanding it to see if retains cohesion or just crumbles.

I have had this stuff and the superfine sitting in a drawer for well over 2 years. From everything I have read, I thought it was beyond it's service life.

 

[Bloodhowl]

After letting the milliput harden overnight it felt a little mushy and not "rock hard" per the instructions(HA! that's what she said!). I tried sanding it and it just crumbled. I am officially declaring this batch of yellow-grey beyond its shelf life and tossing it into the trash bin. The Superfine on the other hand, seems to be holding up fine, despite being stashed in a workbench drawer for over two years.

I have ordered some Magic Sculpt per Einion's recommendations in other threads and will see how it goes. Thanks all for the input!