Household Solvents : toxicity & application

This is a very rough introduction, intended to disambiguate some common substances.

You can try the following solvents in sequence from weak to harsh; toxicity tends to increase with strength; you may also want to pre-test each one on the material to avoid damage:

/// most COMMONLY available in bold ; typically, POLARITY, STRENGTH, and TOXICITY increase together ///

///
/ RELATIVELY MIXED composition, LESS POLAR /

1. diesel ( C8-C21, evaporates slowly, oily )

2. kerosene ( C10-C16, evaporates less slowly, oily )

3. white spirit @ mineral spirit ( C7-C12 )

4. turpentine ( from trees ... but not less toxic )

5. heavy naphtha ( upstream, C7-C12 ) 

6. gasoline ( C4-C12, evaporates quickly )

7. light naphtha / "white gas / lighter fluid" ( upstream, C4-C6, evaporates TOO quickly )

///
/ RELATIVELY UNIFORM composition, MORE POLAR ( "paint thinner" is typically a mix of these )

1. ethanol / denatured alcohol

2. IPA @ isopropanol

3. xylene @ xylol ( aromatic hydrocarbon, non-polar, less toxic )

4. acetone / "nail-polish remover" ( ketone, polar, less toxic )

5. MEK @ methyl ethyl ketone @ butanone ( ketone, boils slower than acetone, more toxic ) 

6. toluene @ toluol ( aromatic hydrocarbon, non-polar, more toxic )