by Philip Jacobs
Gallon containers of varnish, paint, etc. almost always cost about the same as three quarts of the same product. Some of the higher cost of buying in smaller containers is due to the additional packaging, but some also goes to markup, profit, overhead, etc. Being a sucker for a good deal, I always try to buy in full gallons when I think that I might use it, but some products go bad if not used up, say within a year of being opened, which is a waste of both material and money.
For many years I've bought glue in gallon jugs, either splitting it with a buddy, or pouring it into smaller, eight and sixteen ounce containers that I've saved and re-use. It wasn't until I found clean, new, metal, quart sized paint cans available from local full service paint stores and home centers like The Home Depot for about a dollar that I thought about doing the same with items like varnish that I use periodically.
For example, I like to use water-based polyurethane on fixtures and utility items in my shop because it dries fast and is easy to clean up. Quarts of one brand sell for $10.47 locally, and gallons go for $31.24. Add the cost of three empty quart cans (I use the first quart or so out of the gallon container) and divide by four for a net cost of $8.56 a quart, a savings of about 18 percent.
Since the price of the containers is fixed, the relative savings increase or decrease with the cost of the product. For some high-end marine varnishes, the savings can be as much as 28 percent.
It's also possible to clean and re-use the quart containers, especially those from water based products, or when the whole quart is used at once. Using a 29 cent paint can opener instead of a screwdriver to pry open the lid, and a rubber mallet instead of a hammer to close it, prolong the useful life of any metal, paint style container. Since it's just for my use I mark the outside of the smaller cans with a label that tells me what I need, such as, "McCloskey's Water Based Polyurethane - Satin". Larger shops, or those covered by 'Right-To-Know' regulations may require more information. Because some product labels contain guidelines or information that I may want to refer to later, I remove the paper labels from the gallon cans when empty, and save them in manilla folder, along with any Material Safety Data Sheets for reference.
