Oven cleaner is handy stuff. It's a super degreaser for really nasty old
engines, but it will often also take off any remaining finish. I have used
it on a number of truck and motorcycle engines that were so nasty you just
about couldn't see the engine. Wear your eye protection, though.
I wanted to pass on a de-rusting tip. I restore old Stanley hand planes
and have started on Coleman lanterns. Hot citric acid will remove rust in
a hurry and doesn't hurt the base metal. I disassemble an old plane, toss
the steel and iron parts in an old cook pot full of water, add a couple of
tablespoons of citric acid (available from a homebrew store or on the web)
and heat to boiling, then turn the heat off ( I use a Harbor Freight
single burner propane hotplate). You can see the rust boiling off the
parts. It turns the rust into a black goo that brushes right off. It
doesn't affect some paint, but the hot water sometimes will lift
paint. The old japaning on hand planes isn't affected, but the paint on
lantern tanks is. After the solution cools off I dump it in a plastic jug
and re use it until it's too nasty and won't work any more. Cheap,
effective and pretty safe.
Dave C
At 06:48 PM 1/14/2007 -0500, Rick or Lori O wrote:
>Oven cleaner will work. I used the aerosol variety a while back to remove
>the anodized finish on wheel trim rings.
>
>Rick O.
>72 TR6
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