Mineral Spirits

3747 Views 18 Replies 14 Participants Last post by N'awlins77, May 27, 2017

KhalTom

Discussion Starter · May 21, 2017

I went to buy Mineral Spirits and all Lowes or Home Depot has is MINERAL Spirits SUBSTITUTE. Is this work the same? I can buy Mineral Spirits off Amazon and from what I see on the bottles or the description it doesn't say Substitute.

So is there still real Mineral Spirits or was it all banned everywhere by EPA? Is the stuff Amazon sells real or the Substitute? If the Amazon stuff is real, is it worth getting instead of the substitute?

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1 - 19 of 19 Posts

Semipro

· #2 · May 21, 2017

Mineral spirits is highly toxic smells terrible costs more cleans better
The substitute smells better cost less but doesn't clean quiet is good.
what are you going to use this stuff for there are better cleaning products out there.
Both are a toxic waste and need to be disposed of properly. ( which most people do not )

Stick486

· #3 · May 21, 2017

it appears to be low VOC/odorless is all....
a tidbit of information that may be helpful...

.

Reactions: 1

Herb Stoops

· #4 · May 22, 2017

They both work for fire starters on the BBQ.
Herb

JOAT

· #5 · May 22, 2017

Been a long time since I bought any of that. Found out that latex paint has advanced to be the equal, or better than, oil based paint. The big plus of latex paint is water thinning, and water cleanup. Anymore the only thing I think I would use, that did not use water cleanup or water thinning, is shellac; and haven't used that for a long time either. Latex paint doesn't stink either, I often paint projects in the house.

And, if you have little kids, and want to paint clothes or whatever, you don't need to buy expensive textile paints - latex paint works just as well, and is very much less expensive. In fact, I've wondered more than once if textile paints are not actually latex paints, in small bottles, and the price jacked way up. When my younger son was still here I used to paint my initial on my pocket t-shirts, so I could easily tell mine from his. They have held up well for years.

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Danman1957

· #6 · May 22, 2017

Thanks for this link, Stick you are just a wealth of knowledge. I have been selling chemicals since early November and I learned more from this link than from the sales manager.
I would like to add that newer technology has benefited solvants. We now offer a solvant that literally has no fowl odor, in fact one customer that buys about 6 barrels per month switched to our product and claims it smells good. I would not use it as aftershave though. We call it Cromac 635 and I've been selling many barrels of it lately.

Cherryville Chuck

· #7 · May 22, 2017

About 12. years ago when I worked for an Esso distributor we sold at least 5 different grades of varsol (also known as white spirits or paint thinner) some were parts cleaner or paint thinner. The highest grade was used as dry cleaning fluid. It was odourless and wouldn't leave an oily residue. According to what the local dryer cleaner told me they washed the clothes in it and then threw them in a dryer to evaporate any residue out. That may be old technology now. Maybe they switched over to what Danman is selling instead.

Reactions: 1

ggom

· #8 · May 22, 2017

Hello !

be sure to buy it for what you want to use it:

A few years ago, i got fooled buying expensive mechanic parts substitute for dry-claen solvent,
- witch was just some sort of a dish wash soap
diluted with water for about 8 usd a liter..

Regards

Gérard

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Stick486

· #9 · May 22, 2017

more..

.

hawkeye10

· #10 · May 22, 2017

I use mineral spirits a lot. Mostly for the final dust removal on wood and to get a good idea what wood will look like when clear coated.

DaninVan

· #11 · May 23, 2017

I tried that non-petrochemical based thinner; it had a terrible smell and didn't work worth s**t.
It wasn't cheap either. I hate getting ripped off!

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Knothead47

· #12 · May 24, 2017

I recall years ago that people used something called Varsol as a degreaser and grill fire starter. Anyone know if it still exists or is available?

woodknots

· #13 · May 24, 2017

Knothead47 said:
I recall years ago that people used something called Varsol as a degreaser and grill fire starter. Anyone know if it still exists or is available?

Years ago that's the only thing my dad used. Still available at Home Depot, Canada, and other places.

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.paint-thinner---378-l.1000130966.html

Cherryville Chuck

· #14 · May 25, 2017

Knothead47 said:
I recall years ago that people used something called Varsol as a degreaser and grill fire starter. Anyone know if it still exists or is available?

Yes it's still widely used and commonly available. Any mechanics shop with a part washing machine uses it. Whether it's still used as dry cleaning fluid I don't know.

DaninVan

· #15 · May 25, 2017

Varsol, Mineral Spirits and Paint thinner are for all intents and purposes essentially the same thing. The big differences are price and quality of the distillates.
http://www.recochem.com/media/uploads/downloads/Solvents_and_Thinners_EN_WEB.pdf
Anti-freeze, windshield wash, solvents, Global supplier of automotive liquids & household chemicals - Recochem Inc.

Cherryville Chuck

· #16 · May 25, 2017

DaninVan said:
Varsol, Mineral Spirits and Paint thinner are for all intents and purposes essentially the same thing. The big differences are price and quality of the distillates.
http://www.recochem.com/media/uploads/downloads/Solvents_and_Thinners_EN_WEB.pdf
Anti-freeze, windshield wash, solvents, Global supplier of automotive liquids & household chemicals - Recochem Inc.

The rawer it is the cheaper it is as Dan says. We had the cheap one normally used for part washing when I was with Esso but prolonged contact with it caused dermatitis in some people so there were finer grades that were less prone to cause that. Still parts washer but a cleaner grade of it and more costly.

Reactions: 1

DuanePhillips

· #17 · May 26, 2017

I also want to know about this.. Thanks for the link.

Reactions: 1

DaninVan

· #18 · May 26, 2017

Flashing Off

DuanePhillips said:
I also want to know about this.. Thanks for the link.

Hopefully the folks looking at that first link took a couple of seconds to read the text in it...
"Evaporation is the most important factor to consider when choosing
your solvent. If it evaporates too quickly, the surface of the paint may
wrinkle or a haze may form. If it evaporates too slowly, the paint could
seal with the solvent trapped underneath, creating bubbles and blisters"

N'awlins77

· #19 · May 27, 2017

I still get Mineral Spirits at Sherwin Williams. I keep some at home, to clean brushes and thin oil base paint, but I use it a lot at work, to clean greasy parts. That watered down milk looking stuff that HD and Lowes sells, may work to clean brushes and thin paint, but not as a degreaser. When I tried to use it as a degreaser, it beaded up like it was just plane water. Might mix well with water base paints, but I doubt it will with oil base paints.

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