Originally Posted by
robertorolfo
So then why does WD-40 smell soooooo much better than mineral spirits? I used a tiny amount of mineral spirits recently to clean up a shift lever (maybe an 8th of a cup in a jar, plus a few q-tips dipped into that jar), and my bike room stunk like mineral spirits for a couple of days. And yes, I had the windows wide open and had good cross ventilation when I was working in there.
WD-40 smells like it does because they put a fragrance in it.
The MSDS says less than 1%. WD-40 puts fragrances in all of its products. Their chain lube smells like Hai Karate! Really brought back my high school days the one time I used it.
WizardOfBoz gets the rest completely right. I don’t notice the smell of odorless mineral spirits unless it right at my nose but I’ve been working in a chemistry lab for 40 years which does a number on your olfactory senses.
Originally Posted by
robertorolfo
And is everyone saying that mineral spirits just dry on their own and don't leave any residue behind? Just curious.
Mineral spirits are right at the edge of not being too volatile. Flash point can be an indicator of how quickly something evaporates. The flash point for mineral spirits is from 20°C to about 200°C (70°F to 400°F). The most common one you’ll run across is in the middle of that range with a flash point around 30°C to 50°C (90°F to 130°F). It won’t flash to flame easily but it evaporates fairly quickly and cleanly. The higher boiling material is more in the kerosene and/or diesel range. If you use kerosene, it will leave residue behind. Mineral spirits are just slightly smaller molecules that evaporate a little more easily. Diesel is definitely an oil and doesn’t evaporate very quickly, if at all.