PSA - When Mineral Spirits is NOT Mineral Spirits!

[MichaelMouse]

Being a noob woodworker information like this is appreciated. 

Reading all labels is good advice even if it's not an unknown directly appliable to woodworking. 

Caveat emptor  

[BrokenOlMarine]

Thanks, I actually got a small plastic bottle of that by mistake, and wondered what was up...
Good info.

[mound]

good news is it did finally dry out, everything looks and feels normal.

[Cooler]

Here is the MSDS for this product:

http://www.kleanstrip.com/uploads/docume...s_MSDS.pdf

It is listed as a petroleum distillate.  It should evaporate quickly if it is not contaminated.

[wood-chips]

I too recently purchased the "green" stuff at Lowe's as I had used the last of my MS in the metal can.
Fortunately I haven't used it on anything wood, only to discover it is neutered MS look alike.
It will get relegated to something other than woodworking and I'll search out real MS.
I live in western Nevada on the western US border next to CA.
All this kind of stuff is encroaching into NV and the west.

[EricU]

I'm not sure what makes it odorless, but I don't think that's a problem.  We used to work with a california-based company that used quite a bit of it, and it really didn't smell much.  We have trouble getting the same stuff in the hinterlands of Pennsylvania, what we get as OMS is not odorless.

[Alan S]

If we put aside questions of labelling and lack of access to what we've used before, does anyone know which, if any, of the uses for mineral spirits this "green" substitute meets? Is it actually good for anything?

[Stwood_]

If we put aside questions of labelling and lack of access to what we've used before, does anyone know which, if any, of the uses for mineral spirits this "green" substitute meets?   Is it actually good for anything?

No idea. I've never used it. In fact, I've stayed away from Kleen-Strip products for several years, after using some of their stripping agent. It worked about like water.

[Tony Z]

I've gotten a gallon of the milky white spirits at the local Lowes. Believe it was also Kleen Strip. I did not use it after opening and returned it. Did not seem right.

[FloridaRetiree]

The "odourless" and "non-flammable" on the label would both suggest it's NOT mineral spirit, which is basically Naptha, and both has an odour, and is flammable. 

Should be able to find a MSDS on that product some place that will say what's in it, but it's safe to say it's not Naptha. 

Might work fine for thinning paint etc, but it's not MS (or Mineral Turpentine as we call it here)

Have always had a gallon of mineral spirits in the shop -- along with acetone, lacquer thinner, turps, etc.

Considered mineral spirits a slightly more refined kerosene. 

In the days of oil based paints some old-time painters used to thin with kerosene to make the it spread better, or so I understood?