What is the difference between them? Can one be used instead of the other at any time?

I'm asking because I'm trying to see what I can find locally here.. I can get regular turpentine at arts and crafts stores with oil paints.. but I don't know what white spirit is exactly so I can ask about it

Thanks for any help you can give me

Hisham

White spirit is an oil product, whereas turpentine is made from trees. I think they have more or less the same characteristics. I prefer turpentine my self, however it might more be due to habits than anything else.

Actually, there are two types of turpentine one indeed made from a fir variety(?) and the second one is from mineral oil. The first one is the real turpentine which you can buy at art stores and smells rather pleasant while the second one is a cheap replacement meant to clean your brushes and smells bad but is cheaper. The second, mineral-oil-based variant one is a no-no for most modelling activities except maybe for cleaning your airbrush when using enamels. The "real" turpentine can be used with oil paints for any of the usual modelling applications.

White spirit is (I believe!) the same as lighter fuel and can usually be bought at supermarkets at lower prices than real turpentine.

Personally, I'm using the lighter fuel with oil paints not just because of the lower price but also because the lighter fuel makes the oil paints dry quicker.

Anyone correct me in case I'm wrong with any of the above!

Hope this helps!
Cristian

Turpenoid is is made from organic materials and is used mainly for oil paints. It works well for making washes with oils as well as blending them. You can find it at art stores. White Spirit, or as it is called in the states, mineral spirits, i beleive comes from patroleum. It is much stronger than turpenoid, as a thinner viscocity, and can be used in place of turpenoid. I use turpenoid when working with oils and mineral spirit when working with enamels.

I recomend staying with the thinners packaged and sold within the hobby industry from companies like Mig Productions or AK at first, as you can be sure about their quality. The stuff you can find at big box stores, while can work, can also be of lesser quality and in the worst case scenario eat up your model.

White spirit is exactly the same thing as mineral spirit. In the UK, it's called "white" spirit, and in the US, it's called "mineral" spirit.

Common paint thinner is the same thing, too. Odourless or odorless paint thinner, or odourless white spirit or odorless mineral spirit are the same thing just formulated to be less smelly.

White / mineral spirit is refined from petroleum and is a form of organic solvent.

Turpentine, or turps, is another form of organic solvent. Turpentine is refined from the sap of conifer / pine trees.

Although both white / mineral spirit and turpentine are organic solvents, they are quite different chemically. Our interest is in their qualities as paint thinners and brush cleaners, so no more about where they come from...

Turpentine is a traditional thinner used for artist oil paints. One reason why it's used by artists is tradition. Artists have been using it for hundreds of years. Refined petroleum products are historically much newer.

Although I have used turpentine in the past as a model paint thinner and brush cleaner, I no longer do so. I have found that sometimes it can be very aggressive, lifting underlying coats of enamels. Also, turpentine varies widely from brand to brand. Often, a brand which works well today, will be reformulated next year when you need to buy another bottle, and the new formula will not work so well.

Finally, there are many "grades" of artist turpentine, many of which are really more petroleum than tree. The heavier, yellow and oily turpentine dries yellow and sometimes sticky. This is not objectionable if you're painting a picture to hang on the wall, but it doesn't work for me with models. Even the clear, highly refined turpentine will sometimes leave a white residue after it dries.

Over the years, I've found turpentine to be more trouble than it's worth. The one thing that I did find with turpentine is that paint that has been thinned with it does tend to keep longer in the bottle. However, this one advantage did not outweigh the disadvantages of inconsistency between brands and bottles. No two bottles of turpentine ever seemed to work exactly the same.

Now I only use odorless mineral spirits to thin hobby enamels or artist oil paints. I also use it to make washes and clean my brushes after using those same kinds of paints.

I have found that there is very little difference in mineral spirits from one brand to another (except perhaps the smell). It is also much less expensive than turpentine. Having said this, though, some mineral spirits can be a little "hotter" and more "aggressive" than others, so when you first try a new brand, some caution is advised.

The small bottles or jars of proprietary enamel airbrush thinners (Model Master, etc) are often formulated to evaporate very quickly, and I wouldn't recommend them as a thinner for brush painting or to make washes. These will usually dissolve earlier layers of paint, sometimes even dried acrylics. Their main ingredient may be mineral spirits, but they have other additives that make them aggressive.

The large jugs and cans of mineral spirits from the hardware or home improvement store are usually quite mild and forgiving, though.

Because mineral spirits is pretty uniform across brands in how it performs, I have learned to work with it so that I avoid its downsides. I very seldom have any surprises with mineral spirits, like it suddenly lifting earlier layers of paint, etc.

In regards to using it to thin artist oil paints, I have found that mineral spirits will work with all brands of paint and with all of the additives that I sometimes use, like Ox Gall, etc.

If you can't find "white" spirits in your area, try looking for "mineral" spirits. If mineral spirits is not available, try looking for "paint thinner" and then check the list of ingredients. I believe that you will find either "white" or "mineral" spirits is the top ingredient.

HTH,

What is the difference between turpentine and turpenoid, (beside the considerable price difference)?

Think of turpenoid as a highly refined turpentine. The thing is, every brand has their own proprietary formulation, so the painting characteristics vary from brand to brand.

A lot of times, turpenoid has more petroleum distillates in it than turpentine. Other times, it's nearly and only "purified" turpentine.

There is actually a precise chemical compound that is called "turpeniod," but when sold in bottles as a paint thinner, what you get can be almost anything the manufacturer wants to call "turpenoid."

Some manufacturers only recommend their turpenoid for brush cleaning, and others pimp it for thinning and cleaning.

If you have a brand that works for you and that you like, no problem - all's good. If you don't mind experimenting, then again, no worries. If you're looking for a good, all-purpose thinner and cleaner, then it's a crap shoot until you test the stuff.

BTW, these same general comments apply to turpentines. Every brand is a little different.

Remember that these chemicals do not have the same name across thye world, I was informed that Turps and White spirit are different at least between the UK and the US.