I did some of my own research too and was very interested in the properties of spike oil as turpentine gives me headache and sore throat. My findings are that turp consist of 85% of alpha-pinene, while spike oil is 80% mix of linalool, 1,8-cineole and less camphor. If to look at those chemical SDS (safety data sheets) I could not decide what is less evil for my health as all of them are nasty chemicals. I could not decide what I will want to sacrifice and still use odorless paint thinner. If someone find a good article that talks more about health exposure, please do share.

My main concern here that there is also quite a lot of marketing involved to make things look less dangerous. That is the reason I try to verify everything myself, but I get stuck sometimes.

Please make sure that you have a very good ventilation for any of those chemicals present in your studio when you have to handle them.

Even water is a nasty chemical when you get down to it.. corrodes damn near everything it touches.. over time 🙂 There are shades of nastiness and from a pure chemical POV, Spike oil is lower on the list then Turp or OMS or that nasty crap they call "paint thinner" in the hardware stores around here in SoCal. I'm willing to try it and see what results I get. Personally, I do not have any reactions to OMS or Turp when I use them so it's just curiosity at this point and maybe some prevention if I like the results. I was "fortunate" years ago as a mechanic, there was very little in harsh chemicals that bothered me. AN interesting side note is that I was banned from the machine shop at Hughes because my skin is very acid. I would leave etched finger prints in many of the finley polished metals they worked with. Even today, if I use a polished steel tool and dont clean it, within a few days there will be rust in the shape of my finger prints. Go figure. Its a "feature" 😃

I have been feeling rather sickly and a little dizzy for the past three weeks, i got checked out by my GP who gave me a complete check up as well as blood analysis....No issues were found, coincidentally i had my quarterly check up at ENT the same week so i asked if they could check my inner ear which of course effects the balance...again all clear. I was stumped as to what was making me feel so shitty and then it occured to me that it might be fumes, i am not fortunate enough to have a studio and so i have to paint in the dining room on a table easle, the room is unventilated and stupidly it never occured to me i may be harming myself. I have stopped painting for a while maybe a couple of weeks to see if i start to feel better , i have also invested in a air purifier for when i resume painting. i am not sure that this is causing my health issues but having been given the all clear by my doctor i guess i have to start to elliminate other possibilities, and this would seem an obvious starting point...

tel I hope you will feel better soon ! do you have an opportunity to open a window every 15 min to let fumes out? May be to open it just slightly and keep it opened while painting? Get well!

      I hope you are feeling better soon too Tel. I don’t have great ventilation myself but I found a thing called zest it, it seems more planet friendly and less fumey. I haven’t tried it yet, but hope to soon, and hopefully it is good and helps with the wooziness sometimes get from paint and cleaner fumes.

        Thanks guys, as i say i'm just speculating, guess time will tell, no the room has zero ventilation and unfortunately i have no place else to set up, if this proves to be the cause of my current state i may have to consider acrylics

        This is not useful right now if you live in a wintry clime, but I have two of a model of fan that sits in the open sash of a window. I put one set to blow in one window, and the other to vent in the second window. I just shut the door and close off the registers to conserve air conditioning and let the fans do the work of keeping the air fresh and moving. Also keeps the rest of the house from smelling of linseed oil.

          I actually work out of my garage so I can have the door propped open a bit with the back door for the side breeze. When it's too cold or hot, I just go to my loft and play with pastels or my watercolors 😃

            tel if that unfortunately happens give a try to gouache. This is the closest to oil in some behaviors but also water based. I saw today there are even special varnishes for gouache to preserve the painting.

              Mmm, thanks Sunnylady...interesting thought and something i hadn't considered, amazon out of stock at present so i may return to this if my ailments prove to be a product of exposure to toxic fumes...they look and sound like the perfect option to oils

                Have you considered the water based oils? I've seen good things with them but I have not tried them myself.. all in good time 🙂

                  So i have checked out the water mixable oils and rather than wait an longer for a resolution to my ailments i have gone ahead and ordered some, i think going forward they are the best alternative as they have the same properties as regular oils without all the toxicity issues, NO MORE TURPENTINE!! YAY!!!!

                  11 days later

                  I am so pleased with the water mixable oils, they go on just the same as regular oils and wash up is so easy, also they sell for about the same price, i chose 12 colours from Winsor and newtons Artisan range and a bottle of water mixable linseed oil...wish i had found these earlier!...Thanks Wybnormal.

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