Paint Mixing

Ive never had an issue with shaking bottles - i always put a clean ball bearing or two in there and it shakes just fine. I hate using a stir stick because sometimes with thicker enamel you waste a lot of it on the stir stick.

Shaking a paint bottle just plain doesn't work.....it gets the paint up into the cap and then it seemingly dries there and you have a hell of a time opening the bottle everyday after that. (I've wasted a few bottle of paint doing that very thing.) However using a small screwdriver works wonders.

Oh, and a screwdriver can also be good personal defense weapon if the the carpet monster decides to sneak up on you.

Shaking isn't very good. It splashes paint up the neck of the bottle where it dries and then falls back into the paint the next time you open the bottle. Stirring is the method I use, and old bits of sprue gets the chore. A few seconds over a match flame and a good squish of one end makes a dandy paddle.

I also use sprue.  It's basically free & it really doesn't take that much effort to stir a small bottle of model paint.

Regards,  Rick

I keep coffee stirring rods on hand.  These are plastic tubes, pretty cheap. One box does a zillion models.  They also can be used to transfer small amounts of paint or thinner, pipette style.

I also do use pieces of sprue when there are lengths available. If I can find a piece with a J or L shape, I use this on older bottles that I haven't used in awhile, the hook at the end stirs better than the straight coffee rod if there is a lot of solids in the bottom.

I agree.  Shaking little bottles of paint doesn't work very well, even with a BB in the bottle.  I just use a little screwdriver.  Works for me.  Badger sells a little paint mixer for about $10 that a lot of people seem to like.  I tried sticking a piece of 1/8" wire in my Dremel.  It worked, but seemed too much trouble.

Don

What's wrong with stirring it with a piece of sprue?  If you want to get fancy, you could carve the end of the sprue into a paddle-like shape.

Mechanical paint shakers are, in my opinion, a waste of time and money.