Decanting: How to make your Cleaning Oil or Turpenoid stretch

Decanting will help you keep your cleaning oil or turpenoid as clean as possible and last as long as possible.

You will need your two jars, paper towels, and a dropper.

In my photo I have three jars as examples: the left jar's paint sediments have not settled so it is not ready to be decanted, the middle jar's paint sediments have settled and are ready to be decanted, and the right jar is a new jar that I will decant the cleaner oil into.

You can decant your sediment-ready jar by either pouring the top oil into a new jar, or by using a dropper to move the oil into the new jar. If the sediment in your oil jar has settled but is not hard enough for you to just pour the clean oil into a new jar, you can either allow it to settle longer (this will take a couple of weeks) or just use a dropper.

Steps to Decanting your Cleaning Oil (or turpenoid):

1. Either by pouring or by using a dropper, decant the good top oil into a clean jar.

Note: my sediment was settled enough that I was able to pour my top oil. In the left image you can see the sludge with a thin layer of oil over it. In the center image you can see me removing that final thin layer with a dropper.

2. Using a dropper, continue to remove the clean oil until the sludge begins to mix with the oil layer as in the right image.

3. Using a paper towel, clean the remaining oil and sludge out of your jar.

With two jars you can go back and forth, keeping the oil as clean as possible. I actually like to have three jars, because then I can allow one to settle for a couple of weeks yet still have a completely clean one to decant. Eventually the oil will just need to be completely changed out, but until that happens, you can keep stretching your cleaning oil.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.