Old crappy electrolytics...

[Moonface]

I have lots of old elect. caps in my drawers, and most of them are from the early 80's. Should I throw them away???                  

[aron]

Probably I guess.

Someone will chime in, but I wouldn't use them because most electrolytic caps are dirt cheap.

[smashinator]

Definitely not!   You should come up with creative ways to make them explode.

Perhaps you could figure out a sequencer to set them off.

Wear eye protection, though.

[petemoore]

Dude said he was testing caps by charging them then throwing them into a tub of water ['less stinky and less cleanup that way'] finding the 'toughest' ones that way...I always thought it's overvoltage or reversed polarity voltage that damages caps.

[Hal]

make sculptures out of them.

Like...sort by size and make landscape reliefs.  I can't explain my artistic vision.

[niftydog]

the electrolyte is a liquid, liquid evaporates, 20 years of evaporation and they're probably pretty cactus!

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Like everything in life, it all depends..
those caps could be perfectly OK for another 20 years or more.
If you have a meter that reads caps in the electro range, check them out.
If they are at rated value, then they havn't dried much yet.. small value electros seem to last quite a while if not stressed by heat.
OK, I only put brand new electros in my commercial gear, but for my personal stuff, I have nothig against an 'old' cap. I wouldn't recycle one that was already used, though.