Best way to clean caked up / dirty tools

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Best way to clean caked up / dirty tools

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I've been donated a tool chest/box :D
Some of the tools inside are worth adding to mine
For example a Snap on imperial set
Hardly going to be used, but so worth having

Issue is - they are caked up in muck - yuck and grime
But they'd clean up quiet well tbh

my question is - what cleaners can i use that will help soak that gunk without attacking the chrome on it?

I tried attacking a few of them with a baby sized bottle brush - its dried solid so it aint shifting

ziggy
 
As dave says petrol makes a good cleaner but usual safety things use small amount of fuel beware it catches fire and stuff...... most health and safety bodds dont like flamable liquids as a cleaner for obvious fire and burn risks

panel wipe or jizer is ok too

or bilt hamber surfex degreaser rinse well dry and spray with GT85 is probably the safest option
 
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i've not got safe place to use petrol

Im not trusted with flammable fuel in my house..... as some teenage years ago i was playing with nitro methane (model RC fuel)
Stuck a lit rag into a "empty" can, where the fumes set off - giving me a very very nasty burn....

Ziggy

i once put a lighter to the nozzil of the nitro refuel bottle

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well it flew across the garage and went with a right flipping bang :eek:
 
i once put a lighter to the nozzil of the nitro refuel bottle

gallery1.jpg



well it flew across the garage and went with a right flipping bang :eek:

Mine was a metal 5l Can
It went with a Roaring rush and poof as the can expanded a little
and the sudden feeling of.... Hot hot ho HOT HOT HOT HOT!!
MUM!!!! A+E !!! NOW!!!!

nor me that's why i wait till mrs dave is out :devil:

Got nowhere safe to leave it tho :(

Ziggy
 
I always save the diesel from fuel filter changes as it's such a good cleaning agent and as mentioned not easy to light.

Although if rust is an issue on the tools then non of these agents will help and you'll need a rust converter
 
My tools get really really grimy so I use soapy water, if that's not enough I use kitchen cleaner Mr Muscle, CIF etc, then dry them thoroughly any moving parts like ratchets, adjustable wrenches, the hinge on pliers / centre rivet get soaked in wd40. Even a light squirt of WD40 will shift most stuff.

Even worked in oil / grease on plastic screw driver handles comes off.
 
So after been scrubbed again
Soaking in hot dishwash water - i let the soak
Attacked them with a Mini bottle brush from a baby kit, and a toothbrush :)

Have to run my finger nail around the sockets to get a ridge of dirt out
Some sockets needed a cocktail stick to dig into dirt corners which did come out easier

Left it soaking had another attack on them with the brush's

They have come up somewhat quiet well tbh :)

The socket rack tho... thats just plain nasty.... chrome peeling off and rusty

Ziggy
 
So after been scrubbed again
Soaking in hot dishwash water - i let the soak
Attacked them with a Mini bottle brush from a baby kit, and a toothbrush :)

Have to run my finger nail around the sockets to get a ridge of dirt out
Some sockets needed a cocktail stick to dig into dirt corners which did come out easier

Left it soaking had another attack on them with the brush's

They have come up somewhat quiet well tbh :)

The socket rack tho... thats just plain nasty.... chrome peeling off and rusty

Ziggy
do you not have a dish washer?
 
I have a bottle of parts bin washer fluid in a trigger spray. As well as being the best alloy wheel cleaner ever it cleans the crap and crud off most stuff. ;)
 
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