Naptha?

(...)

Apparently, it just evaporated locally. My local sporting goods store lists only shoes, sleeping bags and LED lanterns under the 'Coleman' brand. Perhaps it is worth a drive out there for some face time.

I get nothing but 'deer in the headlights' looks when I ask about 'naptha' at the same darned stores where I used to buy gallons of the stuff for ~$7.00 then ~$9.00 then ~ $14.95. Even the Pro paint store clerks now act like they never sold the stuff! What the heck?

Purple cleaner, oven cleaner, gasoline are next to try.

Thanks, Ed.

--Winston

Dunno, I like it here in Texas, particularly the weather. I've been to SF a few times and it's certainly had "weather" when I've been there.

Heck, that's The City. "The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco." --Attributed, probably falsely to Mark Twain.

Fine sourdough and chowder, though.

Most of the Bay Area has a very moderate climate and very reasonable humidity.

--Winston

FWIW, as a purple cleaner, oven cleaner, and gasoline user, I'd try them in that order, unless you don't mind the gasoline fumes, in which case that would be second.

I mix my own oven cleaner for cleaning my charcoal grill but it's a bugger to get straight lye these days. The only over-the-counter retail source I've seen identified by others is Roebic Crystal Drain Cleaner, which I buy from Lowe's at $11.00 for two pounds It's now $1.98 for two pounds online, under different names, but then I pay $10 shipping. d8-(

I do buy 20 pounds or so at a time online once in a while. You want 100% sodium hydroxide crystals or pellets; mix 20% with water by weight; dump in some diatomaceous earth to make it stick a little to the grill. You can use potassium hydroxide but it's more expensive.

Mix 40% for cleaning drains, and stand back...At 40%, it's like thin syrup.

At a guess, you're in CA and CARB has struck yet again at the VOC chimera. Gasoline isn't a substitute for paint prep, even the leadless stuff you get these days has additives. Also a lot more hazardous to use as a solvent. In other, less controlled areas of the country, V.M. & P. naptha is on the hardware store shelves, although not as cheap as it used to be before the present oil-supply manipulations. If there are any left out there, you might see what the body shop suppliers sell for paint prep. Probably water-based, but it might do a job of degreasing. For cooking greases, lye-based cleaners work, assuming no aluminum in the area. I get dollar store oven cleaner to clean off the stainless parts of the grill. Just need to let it set more the longer the stuff has been cooked on. For wheel bearing grease and the like, it's already soap, lye won't do much for that and you'll need some kind of solvent. Finding one in CA that CARB hasn't banned will be the trick.

Stan

Not on aluminum, though! For that, a little baking soda and water, spray onto the (hot) surface, and rinse. Repeat. Again. Again... it's slow, but it doesn't eat aluminum like lye does.

Ronsonol or Zippo lighter fluid. It's almost pure naphtha - it will even get gum out of hair.

Cheers! Rich

Try the local tobacconist, if they haven't yet banned tobacco in your area.

Good Luck! Rich

"White gas" was just unleaded, which they all have now, but before I tried gasoline, and if you really really can't find any lighter fluid, I'd try acetone or MEK (Methyl-ethyl ketone).

Good Luck! Rich

SF Bay? Hey, just contact John Larkin and see if he'd let you use his vapor degreaser! ;-)

Cheers! Rich

I chase after lye now and then for anodizing prep. For cleaning a grill or smoker, my preference is a pressure washer. A pressure washer works quite well with just water and if you really need to you can feed some purple on the chemical feed after doing a pre-wash, let that work a bit and then post-wash to remove the remaining residue. I don't generally find the degreaser is necessary.

"White gas", is similar to unleaded, but a bit more refined and without the additives in unleaded highway gas.

It's warm here now. Don't have any problem with frostbite. One less thing to worry about!

Winston wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news4.newsguy.com:

I've had very good luck with "lacquer thinner" from a paint store. Lots of folks have mentioned lighter fluid, and that works very well, but it's a bit less agressive than lacquer thinner. Your problem may be that California has banned almost any volatile solvent known to man. They are know to cause brain damage in politicians. Ooops, too late...

Doug White

That sounds good. Sometimes I wish I had one of those washers.

It was 97 F a few hours ago here. Tomorrow, 100 F.

It feels like Texas, without the armadillos.

Copied to disk and printed.

Thanks again Ed!

--Winston

surfaces:

Used to watch my father clean carburetor parts in straight gasoline with a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Amazing.

Indeed. Thanks, Stan.

--Winston

Ah! I shall add acetone to the list. 'Still have some of that, though naptha is *much* gentler.

Naptha is volatile as all getout. Has a different aroma than eu de unleaded. Must be the additives.

--Winston