stickshift
Well-known member
Cleaning up an old tool chest and need a good spray degreaser that won't harm the paint. Brake cleaner is too harsh for the paint on this chest.
Good degreaser that doesn't harm paint?
- Thread starter stickshift
- Start date
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Some regular old dish soap, warm water and a rag may be all you need...it's meant for cutting grease anyway, and it's always best to start with mild cleansers and only work up to harsher stuff if necessary.
Docbentley
Well-known member
Try Simple Green
Shiftless
Well-known member
Simple green undiluted is a good paint stripper. Slow, but effective. For cleaning, I would start with dish soap and water with a rough rag like terry cloth. Then maybe step up to a white scotch brite scrubbing pad if that didn’t work.
I use Simple Green diluted 1 part SG to 10 parts water for an all purpose cleaner. For tougher grease, I use it diluted 2:1 or even full strength.
FrankLee
Well-known member
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
If there's heavy grease and grime, mineral spirits on a rag should work and not harm the paint.
OP
stickshift
Well-known member
Nah, this is way too tough for dish soap and water.
Now that you mention it, I used mineral spirits years ago to clean off some very greasy bike drivetrain parts. Worked great. Plus I have some on hand.
This stuff looks pretty interesting. Unfortunately it's a shipped item at Home Depot. If the mineral spirits don't work quickly enough, I"ll try this.
Saw you use Johnson's paste wax after degreasing on painted and unpainted metal. I was thinking of spraying/wiping some aerosolized gun oil (3-in-1 type lube). But I guess the paste wax lasts longer? Would car wax be similar (I've got some of that laying around)?
X2 on the mineral spirits & rag .
didit
Well-known member
I find that WD40 on a rag cleans well following up with a mild soap and water wipe. I use WD40 for removing everything from paint overspray, stickers, decals and old grease and general crud.
Will_Yetter
Well-known member
Try warm water and dish soap first, and if that isn’t cutting it move to some diluted Simple Green. Could also get some paint safe automotive degreaser, like from Adams Polishes
DFB
Well-known member
Ya mineral spirits should do the job...a naptha parts washer fluid (Crown PSC) was what I used to clean my grungy old Craftsman tool chest for a resto
I tried this after seeing the results FrankLee had with the drill press cleanups.
Very impressed! Spray on, wait, hit with bristle brush, rinse off. I found it works better if you are able to use a brush to help loosen dirt/grease.
I used to use 409, which worked very well, it too water rinses away with no film left.
Kevin
LeonardY
Well-known member
I have a steam cleaner that works well. Just dry thoroughly.
Shiftless
Well-known member
FrankLee:
Thanks for posting the tip and the photos regarding your favorite degreaser. I went to their website and it’s obvious that they sell to some pretty serious users. That alone is an indicator that the stuff must work very well.
If it didn’t, they wouldn’t be selling these large size containers.
Not only 5 gallon buckets, but 55 gal. barrels and even 275 gallon totes! I’m impressed!
Not too many users will buy 275 gallons of a product they haven’t tried and found to be superior.
I have a 5 gallon bucket of Evaporust in the garage and I thought that was kinda *********.
Thanks for posting the tip and the photos regarding your favorite degreaser. I went to their website and it’s obvious that they sell to some pretty serious users. That alone is an indicator that the stuff must work very well.
If it didn’t, they wouldn’t be selling these large size containers.
Not only 5 gallon buckets, but 55 gal. barrels and even 275 gallon totes! I’m impressed!
Not too many users will buy 275 gallons of a product they haven’t tried and found to be superior.
I have a 5 gallon bucket of Evaporust in the garage and I thought that was kinda *********.
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Shiftless
Well-known member
LeonardY:
I bet a liberal coat of Grez Off before steam cleaning would be even better!
On my latest vise restoration, I was facing dirty black grease on the inside and the outside surfaces. I did an initial wash down with mineral spirits and a stiff parts cleaner brush. Then I switched to undiluted Simple Green and finished off with a minute or 2 of blasting with an electric pressure washer.
As you already said..dry thoroughly. I use old towels followed immediately with an electric heat gun. Compressed air from a blow gun speeds things up if you have shop air handy. I don’t usually bother to set up my portable compressor.
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I bet a liberal coat of Grez Off before steam cleaning would be even better!
On my latest vise restoration, I was facing dirty black grease on the inside and the outside surfaces. I did an initial wash down with mineral spirits and a stiff parts cleaner brush. Then I switched to undiluted Simple Green and finished off with a minute or 2 of blasting with an electric pressure washer.
As you already said..dry thoroughly. I use old towels followed immediately with an electric heat gun. Compressed air from a blow gun speeds things up if you have shop air handy. I don’t usually bother to set up my portable compressor.
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karoc
Well-known member
Echo what Stuart saying,Dawn dish washing soap is a good grease cutter. Commerical on TV shows person cleaning oil off duck using Dawn soap.
4xdog
Well-known member
I use diesel for first-pass grease removal. Slower solvent than mineral spirits, but in the end about the same effectiveness. And as it's a much oil as solvent, it's very slow to evaporate. Makes it easier to coat and forget for a day or so to come back and wipe.
Fierljeppen
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I'll second the WD-40. It's a gentle, but very effective de-greaser that will not harm paint. I've been using it 30+ years for many applications in the industrial maintenance world, so it's a product that I always have on hand.
It's much more economical in the gallon container.
It's much more economical in the gallon container.
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Augus7us
Well-known member
I had the same problem and I bought a gallon of organic cleaner from harbor freight. I think its citris based.
I didn't expect much but it worked great for me on cleaning up some old tools without taking the paint off.
I'll try to find it in the shop and take a picture.
I didn't expect much but it worked great for me on cleaning up some old tools without taking the paint off.
I'll try to find it in the shop and take a picture.
Mwaters
Active member
I have always liked Castrol Super Clean. I think it may be just Super Clean now. With the concentrate I would just fill a spray bottle with a little of it and the rest with water for general use. Increase the concentration for more difficult de-greasing.
https://superclean.com/products/
https://superclean.com/products/
BillK
Well-known member
I tried Grez-off on the engine in my Wifes Riviera years a go and it totally removed the paint on the air cleaner. Never touched the stuff again.
OP
stickshift
Well-known member
I ended up using a strong dish soap for the box itself, so I wouldn't have to use a ton of mineral spirits. It was good enough for most of the box (apart from the where the slides seat), plus it's so easy to hose off. But on the drawer slides, soap and brush were only good to remove some of the grease. Mineral spirits easily wiped off what soap and brush couldn't remove.