cloudy mineral terps??

[szczepan4069]

Not sure where this one belongs......BUT....i am intrigued as why mineral terpentine now turns into a cloudy jelly when a small amount is poured into a container to clean brushes??? I've used mineral terps for years.....at least the last 35 years.....however, its only in the last few years I have noticed that the terps tends ti go cloudy then turn into a jelly over a period of a couple of days. Is this related to the chemical composition of mineral terps?....or is it more related to the oil paint that i was cleaning out of the brush. My most obvious answer comes down to profit by the paint/terps manufacturers. The more terps you use, (and therfore the LESS you can reuse) the better for the manufacturers. Any other forum members have their own conspiracy theories for this tid-bit??

cheers
szczepan

[Big Shed]

Does it turn cloudy after you wash the brushes in it?

If so, and you are washing brushes used for poly etc, than that is quite normal.

The less turps you use to wash the brushes, the worse it gets, ie less trups more paint/varnish, quicker oxidisation of the resin in the turps solution.

[szczepan4069]

Hi Bigshed...........thanks for the response...i too can understand the cloudiness. that is normal. what baffles me.....is that it doesnt take more than a week......and what would otherwise have been a very well shook out brush, wiped on rags thoroughly and then placed into an inch or two of mineral terps, the terps then ends up turning into a gel.....that i admit - over a long period of time is also fairly normal.....however - this now happens so quick....i cant but help think that there are other factors at work......????