Xylene, acetone, lacquer thinner... what's the difference?
At paint departments everywhere I see a whole set of chemicals that are used for thinning, dissolving, stripping or diluting paint and finishes. Off the top of my head I can think of: - Xylene - Acetone - VMP Naptha - Lacquer thinner (which contains acetone and xylene) - Distilled alchohol - Mineral spirits - Paint thinner (often labeled as Pure Mineral Spirits and placed on the shelf right next to the mineral spirits) So what are the differences in all these? Under what circumstances (in the real world) do you use one or the other? The labels aren't very helpful only saying stuff like Thins certain oil based paints. Denatured alcohol is used for shellac mixing and removing. You can use it as a cleaner for the tools used with shellac. The others are various combinations of themselves, as with lacquer thinner. They are used to thin finishes. Different ones are used depending upon how fast the finish is supposed to dry. They will also strip some finishes, clean the tools used, and are used as cleaners for some applications. For the most part, brand names and price indicate the purity or quality of the product. For instance, cheap mineral spirits may have latent oil in it and leave a residue of some sort. Good quality mineral spirits leaves no residue when it evaporates. This is refined more when distilled. It would make more sense to you, if you started with the finish and looked at the recommended thinners and the relative characteristics these impart to their uses. I know this is not succinct and clear, but this is a rather involved issue these finishes and thinners.
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