Talk:Mineral spirits

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Please note that Mineral Turpentine and White Spirits/Mineral Spirits are not equivalent. Mineral Turpentine generally has a very high aromatic content while WS/MS can be specified to be low in aromatics. The two are often put to different uses, Low aromatic WS/MS burns with a hot, clean flame and so can be used in stoves and as a fuel in general, whereas Mineral Turpentine is most often used as a solvent. Even though there is a lot of cross-over, the two should not be confused. The very name mineral turpentine is misleading since it contains no terpenes (cf wood turpentine). Use of the more general name High Aromatic White Spirit or Mineral Spirit is very unlikely to be widely used outside of specific industries. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Malchemist (talk • contribs) 00:08, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

Hi! I just like you to change/exclude the following centense: "In Europe, it is referred to as white spirit."

Unlike what many ill informed mostly Americans believe, Europe is not one country and do not speak "American", well not yet!

We have many different language witch is probably why I never come accross the term "White Spirit" on my journey's except in the US and where tourist flock.

It is btw quite interesting that the sentence was included to begin with. But this is the subject of a compleatly different, and to me a much more interesting discussion! ;)

Peddapedal (talk) 11:37, 31 August 2008 (UTC) Peddapedal 2008-08-31 Kl. 13:08

You've obviously never travelled in the UK or France. It's the normal phrase used in British (and Commonwealth?) English, and has certainly been exported to French bricolages, where it appears as "White Spirit" on the bottles and is pronounced phonetically as "Wheet-y Spir-eet". :-) So that in itself covers a good chunk of the European population... 86.31.47.149 (talk) 18:36, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

While Peddapedal is busy patting himself on the back for not being American, I thought I would point out that throughout his diatribe, the most obvious theme is misspelling. While arguing on the use of "English" as opposed to "American", he has managed to mangle normal English spelling and grammar in a way that should be an embarrassment to himself and anyone whomever attempted to teach him his language. Joe 12 String (talk) 02:03, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

How do I add a link to an other language ? ex: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/fr/wiki/White_spirit ??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Transisto (talk • contribs) 00:03, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

Merge

Mineral spirits, mineral turpentine, and white spirit appear to be synonyms. Is there any difference between these terms that I am missing? Also, turpentine substitute redirects to mineral turpentine, which seems inappropriate as it is but one of several substitutes used. Dforest (talk) 17:34, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

I'd tend to agree - Mineral spirits is probably the most universal name for an article, although white spirit has the best content at present. Or do North Americans understand the name "white spirit", as that's probably the WP:COMMONNAME outside North America? 86.31.47.149 (talk) 18:36, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

As mentioned below (unsigned comment), in Australia, mineral turpentine and white spirit are distinctly different products.--Blouis79 (talk) 22:55, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

In the UK we have a big chain of DIY stores called "B&Q". Typically they have numerous 5-litre containers each of White Spirit and Turps Substitute shelved in close proximity. Are they different? I don't know but I think they smell different and they are certainly labelled differently, although all the warnings and contents information are identical.(David.stuart.thompson (talk) 14:18, 6 August 2010 (UTC)). In Australia, mineral turpentine, and white spirit are two distinctly different products. It is dangerous to confuse the two different products in usage. mineral turpentine is common, but white spirit is not very common. A little knoweledge is dangerous to confuse these products.

A merger would be very valuable. Many of us in the U.S. are not aware of different names for substances in European English (like gasoline and petrol). The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) via the ChemIDPlusLite program identifies white spirit as a synonym of Stoddard Solvent having the same CAS RN of 8052-41-3. Batya7 (talk) 16:33, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

For the sake of simple accuracy, a merger is necessary. While searching for the definition of the mysterious "White Spirits", I was referred to the equally mysterious "Stoddard Spirits" and finally found this discussion on a merger with the more common U.S. term "Mineral Spirits". Silly to need to eventually stumble across the truth, isn't it? Joe 12 String (talk) 02:05, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Yes, merge! They're the same stuff! Most obvious merge ever. --Mwongozi (talk) 22:00, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Merge, have all the articles lead to "Stoddard Solvent" or something of that nature. As all the substances are chemically identical, I do favor the "White Spirit" page, as long as most the figures are in centigrade and Farenheight, as the "White Spirit" page is very inclusive. A no-brainer merge if there ever was one. --Mailman9 (talk) 22:09, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Absolutely not. The European penchant for caucasian sounding words has to be stopped. The American name should stand. The Europeans should eat humble pie and accept the US term as the universally accepted term for this petroleum distillate. The term "White Spirit" should be eliminated as it reminds the world of the ignoble, racist past of the barbarian civilizations of Europe. —Preceding Wikipedia:Signed by American Legend comment added by American Legend99.156.166.179 (talk) 11:42, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Cry about it more why don't you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.194.104.132 (talk) 18:10, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Merge, per policy/guidelines. The only subject that is really open for discussion is what the title should be. WP guidelines require synonyms to be covered in a single article. I notice that according to White spirit, the inventor, Stoddard, lived in Atlanta. That might be a good reason to choose the American name over the European one. How familiar are Europeans with the term "mineral spirits"? "White spirit" is unfamiliar here across the pond.--Srleffler (talk) 03:11, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

It is most unclear which common-name solvent products are similar in different countries. It should be clear from the available chemical composition information if they are equivalent. Anyone proposing a merge should first ensure full chemical composition information with references is available and written in the article. In Australia, the following are all different products: mineral turpentine, white spirit, dry cleaning fluid, lighter fluid, though they are all mixtures of petroleum distillates. Products that are proven to be equivalent across countries should be listed as synonyms. Wikipedia perhaps should give more serious consideration to a mechanism for a local synonym to be the preferred one for display in different countries. --Blouis79 (talk) 22:50, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Comment: Paint Thinner

If they are merged, it would be good if some mention of "paint thinner" was incorporated in the article near the very beginning, since in the U.S. and Canada mineral spirits are sold in cans/bottles labelled "Paint Thinner". See Paint thinner which may need some work of its own. Modal Jig (talk) 11:07, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Source?

"Artists use mineral spirits as an alternative to turpentine, one that is both less flammable and less toxic."

Petroleum distillates are less toxic than distilled tree resin? That's quite an outlandish claim that should be backed up with multiple reliable sources if it is to stand.

64.222.110.145 (talk) 21:25, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

It should be backed up, but it isn't so outlandish. It's not intuitive that one complex mixture of distilled hydrocarbons should be less toxic than another just because it was distilled from tree resin. --Srleffler (talk) 04:04, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Odourless mineral spirits most certainly are less toxic, yes. And it's not about where it came from, that matters. It's about its composition. Destructive distillation of volatile tree resins can create a lot of things that are quite toxic, especially if the tree is green. The odourless variety are fully hydrogenated, containing no double bonds and no benzene ring structures; but only alkanes. Purity may even be medical grade. Some of these fractions may be used as laxatives or skin treatments, such as petroleum jelly. -- 99.233.186.4 (talk) 01:49, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Mineral spirits/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Because in IEC 60950 also mentioned to use petroleum spirits as marking durability test solven, so I like to make sure if mineral spirit is exectly the one!219.87.155.2 09:55, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Last edited at 09:55, 17 October 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 00:08, 30 April 2016 (UTC)