# White Spirit Vs Turps Substitute



## albus16

Hi all,

I don't mean to sound blonde or anything, but...

I have always used white spirit to clean the dust and grease off my projects before finishing. 

Earlier today I found myself in a situation where I needed to do just this but only had turps substitute to hand. I used it without much thought and it did exactly what I wanted. 

I was just wondering if anyone could explain in layman's terms what the difference is, if any? And what are the implications of this on what I am using it for? 

As far as I can tell, turps substitute and white spirit are very similar, whereas real turpentine is totally different?

Thanks,

Alex


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## deserter

Real turpentine is a natural product taken from a trees sap. 

White spirit is a distillate of paraffin oil. 

Turps substitute is a distillate of petroleum. 

White spirit is a far cleaner and better thinners than turps, and to the touch feels less oily. In painting decorators usually shy away from turps in favour of white spirit for this reason. 

Natural turpentine is a totally different beast, practically useless as a thinner in paints but a brilliant binder for pigments as in artists oils. It is also used for making polishes when mixed with waxes.


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## Elapid

Was in a DIY shop the other day and both had exactly the same ingredient list. I think these days they are just making a batch and using different labels as it's easier for them.


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## deserter

They will have the same ingredients both are distillates of crude oil at the bottom line, if you really want to see the difference wash 2 brushes one in turps subs and one in white spirits, the turps brush will feel oily and require a lit of soap to bring it really clean, where as the white spirit will come put with just a tiny drop of soap.


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## Phil Pascoe

I read an article by Rustins some 20 yrs ago which explained it rather well: white spirit has a B.S. no., turps sub. hasn't. White spirit can be sold as turps sub. - but so can anything else that disolves paint, so if you are using the stuff to thin paint rather than to wash brushes, use white spirit.


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