Canadian source for d'limonene

I use kerosene too. It works great for me. Here's what Ernie once wrote, however:

"I have been saying this for several years now, and will continue until the entire world sees the light of day. The best cutting fluid for aluminum, bar none, is industrial strength Citrus based solvent. I don't care what brand. The one I use is made by ZEP, and is called Big orange. The active ingredient is D-Limonene, and is extracted from orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit skins. It is the same stuff in Fast orange hand cleaner , and all the citrus based cleaners. The greater the percentage of active ingredient, the better. Big orange is

98% D-Limonene. Take Off ( a floor cleaning solvent) is 45%, and is available from Asplund Cleaning Supply. Big Orange works better than any industrial aluminum cutting fluid I have ever used, and smells great. It is also extremely safe, biodegradeable, and water soluble. The shit just works great. Try it , and you will not go back.

"I use it for tapping, cutting, drilling, sawing, milling, and turning. Just keep some in a small pump spray bottle. Squirt a little on the cutting edge as you cut." - Ernie Leimkuhler

Grant Erwin Kirkland, Washington === I have been looking for a Canadian source for this d-limonene. I found one that offered the stuff in three quantities - 55gal drums, tank truck and railroad tank car. This wasn't quite what I had in mind. I eventually tracked down

It sounded pretty good from the data on the web site but I couldn't find the actual concentration of the d-limonene so I e-mailed them asking for that info. Less than an hour later I had a reply.

"...Orange TKO is about 90 - 95% pure d'limonene. We use the technical grade of d'limonene, so it is a much higher quality that the food grade that some other products use (because food grade is cheaper). ..."

Aparently it has all the certs for use on food preparation equipment if you want when not cutting aluminum. I got a hold of some and tried it out this afternoon boring a ~2-3/4" hole in 6061-T6. Worked as good as Ernie claims - better than the A-9 I have been using.

Usual disclaimer - no association with the company, just impressed with the results so far. I plan to try it out for parts cleaning instead of paint thinner which doesn't smell nearly as nice. :-)

Ted