oil based paint has formed a gel on top

sapphi

Hi everyone

I have half a tin of left over oil-based paint that I opened planning to use today but found that in the 1.5 years since I originally used it, an orangey brown gel layer has formed on top of the paint and it won’t mix through, it has set like jelly but thicker. 
I used a paint sturer to break through to the paint underneath and that is still a liquid. But is it still ok to use, or will the performance of the paint be compromised?

I’d really appreciate any one who knows a bit about the make up of paints. 

Photo below is trying to show the skin that has formed. It was brown but because of mixing the white paint has gone over the top.

redracer01

Hello @sapphi 

Welcome to Bunnings Workshop! Oil based paints have a shelf life of anywhere from 2 to 15 years. Depending how well it was sealed and stored. One of the best ways to tell if your stored paint has gone bad is to test it on a piece of board or timber. If lumping occurs, chunky sized bits of paint has formed despite a vigorous stir. Extreme bad smell like rotten eggs highly concentrated. Even then if it passes these tests the paint itself could be compromised because of mold growth or contamination from the container itself. Sometimes the integrity of the paint has been compromised and does not last as long as you would like. I recommend getting new paint just to be safe. You may bring your current can to the shop to allow the paint specialist to colour match the paint in the can. If you have time we would love to see your diy project here on workshop. If you have any questions or anything else we can help with please post it here on workshop. 

Cheers 

Red