"Green" Lesson Learned

Stopped by the local big box hardware store, among other things, to pick up a quart of mineral spirits, to replenish my gallon can.  Found something in a plastic quart bottle labelled mineral spirits.  The bottle was also labeled "green," explaining that it is lower odor and a lower VOC (volatile organic compounds) emission blend.  OK.

Got it home, pulled the seal, and poured it into my gallon can.  What came out of the bottle was a thick, milky white, something that smelled a little like mineral spirits, but clearly was not.  A little subsequent web research identifies the stuff as an emulsified water/mineral spirits mixture.

This stuff is worthless for its intended purpose, as it will not clean a paint brush of varnish or oil-based paint and, if used to thin varnish or oil-based paint, the water will separate out and fall to the bottom of the can, leaving the varnish or paint ruined.  I also ruined the actual mineral spirits in my gallon can, since it turned the combined stuff into a thinner milky white unusable can of yuck.  I used the concoction to kill some grass growing in an expansion joint in the street in front of the house.

So, here's another green fail.  Stuff labelled mineral spirits is not fit for its intended use.  Using it will ruin paintbrushes and cans of varnish or paint, and the entire impacted group of materials and supplies are rendered waste.  The stuff was no doubt in a plastic bottle, since it would rust through a metal can.  And, the quart of schmuck was $9.  A whole gallon of real mineral spirits is $15.  Never again.  If you see something - anything - labelled "Kleen Strip Green," turn and walk away.  Buy real mineral spirits and know that what appears to be worse for the environment is, once again, systematically better for it.

Magic

I seem to have developed the advanced skill of attempting to open an Office app at exactly the moment Microsoft is sending an update to it.