Ken Moiarty wrote:
I realize it is commonly assumed that paint thinner and mineral
spirits are exactly the same thing; probably due to the fact of their
interchangeability as paint diluants. (But then turpentine is also so
interchangeable with paint thinner, yet is obviously not exactly the
same thing).
I just picked up some mineral spirits to compare with some paint
thinner of the same brand which I have been using. {Was crossing my
fingers for an improvement in a problem I've been having with tiny
air bubbles forming upon application of Varathane paint, after using
mineral spirits to prime my paint brush with instead of paint
thinner. T'was not to be, however. Next time I'll try turpentine
and see if that won't deliver any advantage either.} Aside from the
mineral spirits having a smell only-so-slightly different in
character from the paint thinner, I also noticed that the mineral
spirits worked surprisingly better than the paint thinner for the
paint clean-up (i.e. oil-based Varathane). Mineral spirits seems to
be a stronger solvent than paint thinner (or at least as far as
comparing the two respective products of this particular brand is
concerned).
Ken

Paint thinner is a description of the use, not the material. As you
have noted many different things can be a paint thinner, even water, which
would not of worked at all in your use.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit