Shopsmith Forums

What do you do with solvents like mineral spirits or alcohol after they've been used to clean brushes or other things?

I avoid cleaning brushes whenever possible. I use the cheap foam brushes and throw them away when they are no longer useful. Between uses, I wrap them in aluminum foil and store them in my deep freeze. Once the brush starts to dry up in storage, it goes in the trash.

Down here- we have the city dump which accepts them as household chemicals.

Summer time I pour the used liquid into a large disposable aluminum pie plate outside and let the liquid evaporate. Fall and Winter I double line a 5 gallon bucket (that you buy from HD or Lowe’s) with plastic garage sacks, fill with kitty litter and a paper based fluid absorber. Pour in the fluid, let it dry and solidify, tie each bag. If your local garbage company allows disposal with regular garbage, then into the dumpster, otherwise a special trip to the city dump at some point. In the winter I’d probably leave it outside to keep the smell out there.
As a side note, I used to strain used liquid through a few layers of cheese cloth to reuse the liquid a time or two. Now I buy it in gallon containers and don’t worry about reusing it.
Hope that helps.

Be well,
Ben

I like the idea of letting it settle and decanting the clean part. Thank you for the suggestion, Beeg.

john_001 wrote:I like the idea of letting it settle and decanting the clean part. Thank you for the suggestion, Beeg.

Realize if paint thinner, the solvent will absorb oils etc. from the paint and become less efficient. Great for cleanup use. Use fresh as a last step(replenteshes that which is lost).

That's what I figured - it'd be good for preliminary brush cleaning, but not as clean solvent anymore.