By Bruce W. Maki,
Editor
When I have to remove glue,
tar, grease or some gummy substance, I turn to the world of smelly
petro-chemicals. No, not for aromatherapy, for their solvent properties.
There is a wide range of solvents that vary in strength and their tendency
to attack things that you don't want to dissolve.
I often start at the low volatility (and safer) end of the
spectrum and work down the list to the stronger stuff. The scale goes
something like this:
Rubbing Alcohol - Very cheap, almost
harmless, works on a few glues.
Denatured
Alcohol - Ethyl alcohol denatured (i.e. tainted to make it undrinkable)
with Methyl alcohol. Toxic. Methyl alcohol will make you blind if you drink
it. Dissolves many adhesives and gummy substances, but not as well as
mineral spirits. Dries quickly and leaves no residue.
Mineral Spirits - Common ordinary paint
thinner. Widely available. Dissolves most glues. Cheap, about $2 a
gallon or less. Will dry out the skin on your hands, turning it whitish.
(I'm told it draws oils from your skin). May leave a residue, which can
be cleaned with rubbing alcohol.
Goof-Off™
- Contains Methylene Chloride, a known carcinogen, but also a very
effective latex paint remover. Very good for removing glues and gummy
substances. Expensive, about $5 a quart at Home Depot.
Automotive Brake Cleaner - An excellent
solvent, leaves little or no residue, dissolves all sorts of things. May be
very flammable. They used to use Trichloroethane (TCE) in brake cleaner,
which is almost identical to Perchloroethane, which is dry cleaning
solvent. But... it seems that sales of TCE to the public have been
restricted. I believe it's because TCE messes up the ozone layer. TCE
was cool because it was non-flammable, so you could smoke a big fat stogy
while you worked, if you're into that kind of thing. So modern brake
cleaners are a mix of solvents which are usually flammable, but none leave
much of a residue. They are expensive, about $2 for a spray can, but a good
thing to have around for really quick spray-cleaning of oily/greasy parts.
I have used brake cleaner for spot-dry-cleaning to get grease or oil stains
out of clothing, with decent results
Acetone - Commonly available as finger nail
polish remover. This dissolves some petrochemicals. May work on glue. I
haven't tried it on much. I recently used acetone to clean urethane
foam from a spray can, before it had dried, and it worked
perfectly.
Lacquer Thinner -
Nasty stuff. Stinky. Quite volatile. Evaporates quickly, so it's quite
easy to create an invisible cloud of explosive vapors. I use this for
cleaning my spray guns when I use certain types of fast-drying wood stains.
Lacquer thinner seems to soften dried urethane, and will definitely
soften dried lacquer, which is the most common finish on factory-made
cabinets. I would not recommend lacquer thinner for most people, unless you
do a lot of wood finishing.
Carburetor
Cleaner - Carb cleaner usually contains one of the nastiest
solvents I've ever known... xylene. It really stinks. It's a known
carcinogen. It burns great. I once set my car's engine on fire by
spraying too much carb cleaner on it. Luckily I didn't damage anything.
It's probably explosive if kept in a confined room, so ventilation is
necessary. Actually, ventilation (or a gas mask) is necessary for all of
these products.
I believe that every home needs a supply of rubbing alcohol,
mineral spirits, and Goof-Off, at the very least. This basic set can clean
almost anything. But keep these goodies away from children.
Often the biggest factor is the tool used to apply, spread or
scrub the solvent. There are many plastic scrubbing devices, such as
dishwashing brushes or those 3M Scotch-Brite pads. Many household plastics
are of the polyolefin family (polyethylene and polypropylene) and will not
be affected by the solvents mentioned here.
Look around and try different tools, and don't be afraid
to raid the kitchen. Some of the best cleaning tools are ordinary
discount-store items. It looks like we're goin' to Big
Lots.
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