What's a Good Degreaser?

ddavelarsen

ddavelarsen

Joined
Dec 7, 2000
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Naturally I didn't buy the recommended degreaser for Gun Kote and now I'm second guessing myself. Can I get by with just using lacquer thinner or acetone? Or what else would you recommend that I can find locally?

Thanks,
 
I'd think acetone would probably be good. It will evaporate away on its own leaving your work clean and ready to go. Some cleaners will kill the grease and then you'll have to mess around cleaning them off and risk getting gunk on the blade again.
 
If you want something other than what you've mentioned, Dave, you could try an automotive brake cleaner like BrakeKleen.
 
fitzo said:
If you want something other than what you've mentioned, Dave, you could try an automotive brake cleaner like BrakeKleen.
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Lacquer thinner has less chance of oil residue in it, and if you go with Mike's recommendation, get the non chlorinated variety of brake cleaner. Much safer.

Dave, this ain't brain surgery here, just bead blast the thing, put on some clean rubber gloves, wipe it down with lacquer thinner, heat, and spray. Keep the gloves on so you don't touch the metal with your bare hands. CLEAN GLOVES!!

Nuthin tu it.;)
 
Well the whole point might be moot - I can't find a damn place in Des Moines that will sandblast anything this small! Cripes, I may end up going to HF to buy a freaking sandblasting cabinet. :rolleyes:
 
Dave, it's hard to find that sort of place in the yellow pages.
Call a few gun shops, the kind that actually have gunsmiths. They usually have a blaster, or can tell you where to take it.
Another lead is to call shops that do hard chrome plating. Lot's of blasting there.

The places in the phone book are just the type of place that do buildings, or remove graffiti.

Another way is to send it to another knifemaker that has the equipment.:eek:

Good luck.

Edited to add; Unless you're adding that coating for rust protection, the whole subdued finish thing on the blade is somewhat of a standing joke among much of the special operations community. They see no need for it. Just satin finish the parts showing above the sheath to keep it from reflecting as you move.
No need for ninja stuff on the blade.;)

A bead/sand blasted blade can actually be somewhat of a health hazard, as the pits can trap bacteria, that a hurried wiping cannot remove, and using the same knife to prepare food with, or getting cut with....................Well, you get my idea.
 
I'm always trying a new degreaser. Just bought a can of 'lectro-clean. It uses a chemical I haven't tried yet. I tried it. Nope.

Like Fitzo said, the best I've found so far is the breakcleaner where xylene is the main ingredient and includes alcohol. Even the can of 'pure' acetone I have leaves a film. I also do Higgys thing and use simple green.

FWIW for testing I take a piece of steel. Scrub with simple green. Then use the chemical cleaner. If water beads even the slightest I know it leaves a film.

Now that I'm back in town and ready to resume my epoxy thing I'll be testing more. Next is boiling in water with a little TSP.

Steve
 
Sando said:
Like Fitzo said, the best I've found so far is the breakcleaner where xylene is the main ingredient and includes alcohol. Even the can of 'pure' acetone I have leaves a film. I also do Higgys thing and use simple green.

...................
Steve
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A warning here!! Xylene is extremely toxic, and, IIRC regular respirators won't even protect you from it. It can do central nervous system damage etc.
It's much worse even than lacquer thinner.

Call the company that made your respirator, and ask them if the cartridges you have will protect against it. That is if you're even using one.:eek: :(
 
Steve

If your "lectro clean" is the same stuff that I have used in the past, make sure you only use it outside. It is really nasty stuff. One of my co-workers sprayed some on a roach and it died instantly. When he sprayed roaches with normal bug spray, they just ran away. Maybe they died later under the work benches. None of us were willing to use it inside after that.

Take care.

Phil
 
Charcoal lighter is mineral spirits. A great universal solvent for grease, smudges, etc. If you have the right chemical compound, whatever you are trying to remove should simply wipe off. Mineral Spirits is what some dry cleaners used until they had fires. They now use Percholorethylene. Both are good degreasers. "Perc" is not flammable but it has so far survived the scrutiny of those who claim chlorinated hydrocarbons are destroying the ozone later, are carcinogenic, etc. Trichloroethylene is also good if it is still available. Industry used chlorinated hydrocarbons as "degreasers" for decades. However, as some have been determined to be carcinogenic, a product called D-limonene has been used as an "environmentally friendly" replacement. It's based on citric acid. Try an Ace Hardware for the chlorinated products. A company called "Sunnyside" used to package these products for Ace as solvents for specific uses. Of course, charcoal lighter is readily available. Gulf-Lite used to be "odorless mineral spirits". It had no residue and less odor than standard mineral spirits. It also was more expensive but worth every penny. Standard mineral spirits should work fine. I keep charcoal lighter in one place in the garage...close to the charcoal and my motorcycle. Works great on both.
 
Great, thanks all. Mike I take your inhalant warnings seriously, thanks. The Gun Kote is supposedly gonna be camo, we'll see. ;) Mostly my idea is rust protection. There won't be any bright spots showing above the sheath anyway.

I have plenty of charcoal lighter, I'll do some testing.

Steve, when you say water won't bead up, do mean that a clean metal surface water will film over? Because I've never had a surface that clean. I thought you couldn't avoid water beading from surface tension completely. If I'm wrong I have a lot to learn about cleaning metal.

Time for a new thread, new aspect of the same question I'm beating into the dirt... :rolleyes: Eventually I should understand everything I need to to get this thing coated!
 
White gas works and its cheap, rubbing alcohol, brake cleaner in aerosol cans is convenient. Watch what you get it on, some of it will bubble paint right off of metal. When metal is truly degreased, it will coat in a thin coat. If you see beads (think rain on car wax) its got oil on it. It still has surface tension but its properties of adhesion cause it to flatten out.
 
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