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Rejuvenating hardened tungsten putty?

Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 11:10 am
by FatSebastian
We have some older tungsten putty that, although stored in its original packaging, has become a bit too stiff to be useful. Two questions:

1. Is it possible to treat hardened tungsten putty in some way to make it malleable again? I would hate to throw it out if so. (The putty in question probably originated from Maximum Velocity, in case an answer is formula-specific.)

2. Has anyone ever made their own tungsten putty using tungsten powder and some kind of binder? If so, what might be a long-lasting recipe? For example, I know it is possible to make Silly Putty by mixing starch with Elmer's Glue-All...

Re: Rejuvenating hardened tungsten putty?

Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 1:30 pm
by whodathunkit
FS,
You have really picked a good one here to talk about that most of us probably don't even think about Un-tell it's way to late and we find it's un- malleable !

I have had the worst luck when using the Min wax brand wood putty on my derby car builds or woodworking project's
if it's one I have used in the past and then have let set on a shelf for a good long while.. it gets stiff and un-workable as well.
The Min wax wood putty is an oil base type putty.. I've found to soften it up to make it workable you can use a few things .
Like a little bit of Vaseline petroleum jelly (Or) a few drops of Granola vegetable oil (Or) a few drops of Baby oil..
by kneading it into the putty to make it malleable once more.

Maximum velocity- tungsten putty .. is a tungsten powder and a polymer mix of some type.
( if its a clay polymer type putty Vaseline or Baby oil will help to make it malleable once more .)


Have a Happy 4Th of July !

Re: Rejuvenating hardened tungsten putty?

Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 9:38 am
by FatSebastian
whodathunkit wrote: Mon Jul 04, 2022 1:30 pmMaximum velocity- tungsten putty .. is a tungsten powder and a polymer mix of some type
I double-checked and it is Pinewood Extreme brand, not Maximum Velocity. It is (or rather, was) a bit oily, but is now quite crumbly. The closest comparable material that I know of, based on odor and texture, is plumber's putty. I have Vaseline and mineral oil available to me that I can try. Thanks for the suggestions!

Re: Rejuvenating hardened tungsten putty?

Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2022 10:35 pm
by FatSebastian
Because of the apparent similarity of my hardened tungsten putty with old plumber's putty, I searched online for how others soften plumber's putty and discovered these recommendations: linseed oil or flax-seed oil, WD-40, and mineral oil. The latter two are petroleum based, and worked better than seed-based oil for my particular type/brand of putty. WD-40, as a penetrating oil, seemed to mix a bit more efficiently.

Now, based on the experience, I believe that trying to resuscitate tungsten putty is about as worthwhile as resuscitating dried-out plumber's putty - not worth it IMO. The process is messy and the final consistency will never be as good as fresh product. But if I had to make a recommendation I would suggest trying WD-40 as a softener. Whoda's suggestion of Vaseline would probably work too and might be less messy (but I didn't try Vaseline, fearing that its higher viscosity would have required more mixing effort than I was willing to expend on an item that had been destined for the garbage can...)

When looking for information about softening old W putty, I did come across the occasional query for a recipe for homemade tungsten putty. I now suspect that my old W putty might have been something like a mixture of "non-hardening" modeling clay (aka "Plasticine"?) and fine tungsten powder/dust. For anyone experimenting to make their own putty, I'd be curious if this combination might turn out to be a workable recipe (perhaps with a few drops of WD-40, Vaseline, Lanolin, or similar, added to improve mixing / kneading)... :thinking: