Pure Gum Spirits of Turpentine
We're proud to offer USA made Diamond G Turpentine!
Made in Georgia, this is the purest thinner for our linseed oil paint. If you'd like to thin our paint with a 100% pure, and natural solvent for your primer coats this is the only solvent we recommend!
There's some primer coat math info below.
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Amounts needed for priming.
- 50%Paint
- 35% purified linseed oil
- 15% turpentine
This doesn't need to be super precise. these numbers can move a little with no real affect on the primer
Examples of mixes:
- 9.6 fl oz of turpentine added to 1 quart of paint, and roughly 22oz of oil will yield 2 quarts of primer.
- 19.2 fl oz of turpentine added to 2 quarts of paint, and roughly 45 oz of oil (almost 1 1/2 quarts) will yield 1 gallon of primer.
Thinned primer coats should get you around 650-800 square feet of coverage per gallon depending on the porosity and texture of the substrate.
You do not need to use turpentine for thinning heron paint!!!
But we get it, some of you like to. If you'd like to, here are some suggestions, and what you should expect.
Again, no need to use turpentine. It has some benefits in the primer coats, but if you're looking to stay solvent free it's 100% fine to use our Purified Linseed Oil to thin our paint. Thinning (cutting) the paint with real gum turps does indeed make a thinner paint that's easier to brush, and lay down thin coats. The turps gasses off, and leaves behind less paint (less oil) so the coats should cure faster. There's simply less oil to cure when using turpentine so it makes sense that it helps get to touch dry faster. Don't believe the mumbo jumbo about turps making the paint cure faster for magical reasons. Nothing chemically is happening between the oil and the turps. You're simply putting less oil on the surface, and that thinner coat will have to spend less time reacting with oxygen molecules while curing.
There are some wood species such as Souther Yellow Pine that are really resinous, especially older growth material. There are a lot of potential paint adhesion issues with this wood going back in time. It simply sheds paint. One way to assure adhesion is to make primer coats that are really heavy on the turpentine. Turpentine is a natural solvent to rosin, and pitch so it can melt the surface deposits, incorporating them into the paint for a solid bonding with the wood. Some old paint formulas suggest priming with a cut of around 75% turpentine to promote adhesion. That's a really thin primer coat (and lots of VOC's) but may work for specific woods where adhesion could be an issue.
Pure gum turpentine, while natural, comes with significant health and safety warnings due to its high volatility and chemical reactivity.
Please use with caution.
Turpentine is considered a Hazardous Substance.
