paint thinner versus mineral spirits

[gudrun45]

My husband uses paint thinner and mineral spirits interchangeably and claims that I can use paint thinner for my BLO mixture.
My thinking is that there has to be some difference between them since mineral spirits are quite a bit more expensive than paint thinner.

Can anybody enlighten me on this?

Thanks,
Gudrun

[lucky788scroller]

Paint thinner IS Mineral spirits! At least in my neck of the woods.I never noticed a price diffrence in the two, BUT if it says Lacquer thinner, thats a whole nother ball game there!!! Dale

[ozarkhillbilly]

http://http://www.paintquality.com.a...t/solvents.pdf

http://http://www.woodworkersjournal...71/readers.cfm

Gudrun, check out the above links for some information, they are both easy to read with out getting real technical. You will have to scroll down a little on the 2nd link to get to the question regarding our topic here, but like Dale said they are essentially the same.

Mineral spirits generally contains small amounts of aromatic solvents (Xylene and/or Aromatic 100/150) to give extra boost to its solvency power. That extra strength is needed to stand up to the polymer modifications contained in newer resin systems and varnishes.
Technically, mineral spirits and paint thinner are the same. But some hybrid polyurethane systems are not soluble in paint thinner because it lacks aromatic content.

Perhaps it's my server but I can't get my own links to work!? I'll try this one on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_spirits

[lucky788scroller]

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/ez...68/qanda.cfm#2 try that link , I think its one Bill was trying to post. Dale
And maybe http://www.paintquality.com.au/selle...t/solvents.pdf that one?

[MacS]

PT vs. MS

Your husband was right, the next time you have buy some, buy the cheaper one, as they are the same solvent.

The only differences are, the "price and there names".

[GrayBeard Phil]

Just to confuse everything

Gudrun45:

Please don't confuse Paint Thinner with turpentine. Another whole different chemical soup.

You should not use turpentine as a general solvent, as I have been told, because it is for specific usage and a specific thinner for products that state on the label, thin with turpentine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turpentine

{Technically, since most paint sold these days is Latex paint, most "paint thinner", AKA paint solvent, is water. But no one wants that discussion. )

Phil

[ozarkhillbilly]

Thanks Dale! I don't know what I did, but I did it.........

[Bill Wilson]

Some paint thinners say that they are 100% mineral spirits on the label. If it doesn't, then I err on the side of caution and only buy that which is labeled mineral spirits to use for mixing with oil/varnish finishes. If I'm just cleaning brushes, etc, then anything called paint thinner will do.

[gudrun45]

Well, I'm sure glad I asked the question because now I know! (Of course, had I been thinking I could have researched it myself on the Internet. I apologize for not doing that.)
Anyway, the reason for my question was that I bought mineral spirits at Menards yesterday. A gallon metal can was somewhere close to 7 dollars, while the paint thinner came in a huge plastic jug and only cost something like $ 4.75. Dummy me I didn't even look at the ingredients but went ahead and bought the mineral spirits.
I'll know better next time!

Thanks again,
Gudrun