Thread: odour reduced turps???

hi soundman

There's another thread somewhere that covers the "what is mineral turps?" question in detail.

Basically Mineral Turps (or Turps Substitute) is a substitute for original turps (made from turpentine) and is not a single substance but is a range of hydrocarbons. Low ordour turps is just one recipe of mineral turps that has less of the aromatic ingredients in it. It costs quite a bit more (nearly double). It's health affects depend on the actual product recipe but it is classified the same as normal turps in terms of it's hazardous rating.

Simon

I am well aware what mineral turps is and that low odur turps is probably a different brew & logicaly would contain less aromatics but specificaly what's the diff.

Originally Posted by soundman

but specificaly what's the diff.

There's something like up to a couple of hundred different hydrocarbons in mineral turps so it can vary a lot.

I'm going to drop into science mode so forgive me if this is too basic.
There are fundamentally two types of hydrocarbons:
Aromatic hydrocarbons that have a benzene ring (eg benzene, toluene, napthalene and their derivatives) and have distinctive smellsl
Aliphatic hydrocarbons that don't have a benzene ring (alkanes, alkenes, cycloalkanes) that smell much less

Normal mineral turps can be of the order 10-30% aromatics and the rest aliphatics but low odour turps is mainly aliphatics normally around the c9 to c20 range (ie chains of 9-20 carbon atoms).

Some products will disolve better in aromatics so low odour turps isn't a alternative in all cases.

Going back to your qeustion about health, aliphatics are generally less hazardous than aromatics but should really be treated the same.

Hope this is specific enough.

Simon

When I get on the turps my breath is pretty aromatic the next morning, should I change my brand of turps.

thanks very much somon thats exactly what I wanted to know.

In essence low odour tupps has less of the "good stuff" and probably won't desolve "some" things as well.

not that I was planing to use any but its worth knowing.

who knows it may even be cheaper to manufacture?
Like skim milk they charge the same price and sell the cream as well!!!