Topic awaiting preservation: Old Oil Paint Recovery

I gave my grandmother a watercolor painting that I had done as a present to her. I then found that she used to paint when she was younger. Recently she gave me her old oil paints since she doesn't paint anymore and has not for some time.
This was very nice of her to do but the problem is the paints are around 20 years old.
The tubes are still soft so I know that the paint has not hardened in the tubes but I have yet to be able to get a cap off of a tube.
I have looked into it some already and it doesn't seem like it is overly possible to restore the paints if they have hardened but these ones still seem somewhat usable to me.

Anyone here have any experience with old oil paints or would know if oil paint has a life span to them?

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"Show me a sane person and I will cure him for you."-Carl Jung
Eagles may fly high, but beavers don't get sucked into jet engines.
tj333- the semi-Christ

umm...I paint a bit with oils...

life span you say?

well...if over 500 years old master's works still can be seen...I would say either no, or very long

I think he's talking about the paint still in the tube not on a canvas. The paint under the lid is probally hard. If you can manage to get it off, try a needle.


The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. --Groucho Marx

tj, i asked my mother your question because she's been painting with oils for about 30 years.
she says that it depends on the mix of the paints as to whether or not they'd be good, but she said "in theory" they should still be alright.
she said to slowly warm them up by rolling them in your hands....this will also serve to mix them.
she said to get the lids off... warm the lids in hot water and carefully/slowly try to twist them off with pliers. she said to be patient when doing this.
she said if that doesn't work, cut the tops off and store the paint in air tight containers.

hope that helps

What Lacuna said ^ ^

However, I'd like to give you some warning advice:

Don't try too hard to unscrew the caps. The cap and the hardened colour could prove sturdier than the tube itself, leaving you with very colourful hands (and other things nearby). Happened to me when i got a bit overly enthusiastic trying to twist open one of my older tubes...

What Lacuna said ^ ^

However, I'd like to give you some warning advice:

Don't try too hard to unscrew the caps. The cap and the hardened colour could prove sturdier than the tube itself, leaving you with very colourful hands (and other things nearby). Happened to me when i got a bit overly enthusiastic trying to twist open one of my older tubes...

I managed to get a couple of the tubes open and the paint seems alright. Played around a bit with it.
Its a lot of work to get a tube open even after soaking it in warm water. Currently I have only been able to open some of the bigger tubes to open, the little ones look like the tube might not be strong enough to hold while the cap is twisting but I am working on them.

Looks like this is going to work out alright.

Thanks for the advice.

__________________________
"Show me a sane person and I will cure him for you."-Carl Jung
Eagles may fly high, but beavers don't get sucked into jet engines.
tj333- the semi-Christ