Mineral Spirits and paint thinner?

[Wade Lippman]

I am running low on mineral spirits but have a gallon of paint thinner I will probably never use. Can I substitute paint thinner for mineral spirits in finishing?

I have googled until my eyes are blurry. They are made of the same ingredients, and neither refers to anything in particular; a manufacturer can use any combination of solvents he wants for either PT or MS.
The articles all say PT is more toxic and less expensive than MS, but if neither refers to anything in particular, I can't see why they wouldn't be the same thing.

It is all so confusing. Can anyone clarify this for me?

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

I thought they were therm same thing. :)

[Jason Roehl]

Just today I used a splash of solvent from a jug of "Paint Thinner". The sub-title on said jug was "100% Mineral Spirits".

Technically, water is "paint thinner"--it will thin the vast majority of waterborne coatings out there. Some have claimed there is a difference between jugs that claim to be mineral spirits and those that are paint thinner, but in practice I can't say I've ever noticed a lick of difference. Both have worked just fine for me to clean out my brushes and spray equipment, or thin oil-based products in the extremely rare instances that I use those nasty, smelly excuses for coatings.

[Eric Mayhew]

I always understood them to be the same.

[Scott Holmes]

Most run of the mill paint thinners are 100% mineral spirits.

[Wade Lippman]

I was putting the mineral spirits away (finally...) and noticed my MS and PT are both made by Recordsol. I was going to email them and ask the difference, but found this on their website...
What is the difference between Mineral Spirits and Paint Thinner? What other names is it known by?

Mineral Spirits has fewer aromatic solvents while other similar Products – Paint Thinner, Varsol® Paint Thinner – contain higher concentrations. Both are petroleum distillates and are generally interchangeable.
I can’t notice a difference between the odour of your regular Paint Thinner and your Low Odour Paint Thinner. What is the difference between the two products?
Recordsol Paint Thinner does have a stronger odour than the Low Odour Paint Thinner because of its composition. There are more aromatics present in regular paint thinner which gives a stronger smell. The composition of the Low Odour Paint Thinner has less aromatics, therefore very little odour.

I presume aromatic solvents refer to toluene and xylene. I wonder if paint thinner uses more because they are more effective, or because they are cheaper.

[Jerry Olexa]

Generally, they are the SAME....IMHO