Real White Spirit or Fake ?

[Stuart B]

I posted recently about problems getting my usual floor sander to come back to me with an estimate and how others had either let me down or quoted too high a price .

Suggestions were made to get a belt sander and do it myself but I made one last attempt to get hold of my usual guy and he came out last week and said it would cost £100 so he ( or rather two of his guys) did it yesterday and I'm well pleased with it .

He was using Morrell's 2 part Wood Finish and I asked him how he cleaned the roller and he said if they did clean them they used White Spirit then added " The real stuff not the ??? " I didn't catch what the l;ast part was .

Are there different types of White Spirit ...?

Stuart

[Colin Wilson]

Possibly turpentine substitute ?

[Andy Dingley]

No, there's a spec for it and it's surprisingly rigid. Turps sub. is different (and will leave a non-volatile oily residue behind). The cheapest of market stall grades might contain anything, but if it's from a relatively trustworthy source, it's the same "white spirit" from anywhere, to all practical purposes.

The only one where there really is a "genuine" article is of course turpentine, for which the real thing is distilled from one of several tree species, not from petrochemicals.

[unopened]

is probably substantially correct. The usual Wikipedia disclaimers apply.

Sid

[unopened]

Actually, belay that. What Americans call white spirit, and what people in the UK call white spirit are apparently not the same thing. The Wikipedia article talks about the American stuff. UK white spirit is defined in BS 245 : Mineral Solvents (White Spirit and Related Hydrocarbon Solvents) for Paints and Other Purposes. Just goes to show that Wikipedia disclaimers should be taken seriously - do not take it as your only source.

Sid

[Rod]

Many years ago I had a Coleman camping stove. You could run it on their own proprietary fuel (very expensive), petrol (cheap but a bit smelly) or, IIRC, white spirit. I never did find any because it was the US version they meant - which I think is closer to petrol than any form of paint cleaner/thinner.

[Clive George]

"White Gas", not white spirit. But yes, pretty similar to petrol.

I've still got a Coleman camping stove - probably rather newer than yours was though. Works on petrol very well :-)

cheers, clive

[Andy Dingley]

They are the same, only Americans very rarely use the term at all. They're more likely to use either:

"mineral spirits" (turps sub.)

"denatured alcohol" (meths)

"Stoddard solvent" (our white spirit)

"white gas" (camping stove fuel, similar to petrol, but without the additives (leaded or unleaded) to make it suitable for engines). Our nearest is either Coleman fuel or lighter fluid.

[Dave Gordon]

So what actually is White Spirit. I remember from school...

Methane - one carbon atom, aka natural gas Ethane - 2 carbons Propane - 3 carbons, comes in red tanks, preferred to ... Butane - 4 carbons, comes in blue tanks, freezes in winter Pentane - 5 carbons, not sure if its a gas or a liquid at room temp Hexane - 6 carbons Heptane - 7 carbons Octane - 8 carbons, aka petrol etc

Is white spirit one of the C6/7/9/ etc, or something else entirely?

[Andy Champ]

is one component