Removing old cosmoline

[Flybipe]

Does anyone have any tips for successfully removing 60+ year old cosmoline?

[Arty163]

Good Evening,
I have heard that brake fluid does a good job. I have not tried it. When I was cleaning up an old Lee Enfield I used engine degreaser from the local auto-parts store and just let it soak overnight. Worked a treat.
For the wood parts I used Easy-Off oven cleaner after reading an article. It did work very well, but I later read that it can seriously harm the wood.
Hope that is of some help.
Arty

[DoraNineFan]

Good Evening,
I have heard that brake fluid does a good job. I have not tried it. When I was cleaning up an old Lee Enfield I used engine degreaser from the local auto-parts store and just let it soak overnight. Worked a treat.
For the wood parts I used Easy-Off oven cleaner after reading an article. It did work very well, but I later read that it can seriously harm the wood.
Hope that is of some help.
Arty

Brake fluid is also quite effective at removing paint, often unintentionally for automobiles. I'm not sure if I would use it if you wanted to save the original paint on the item.

[Dan Jones]

A few years ago I purchased a Lee Enfield .303 rifle that had been packed in molten cosmoline (under pressure it appeared) and then wrapped in brown paper. Apparently a bunch of them had been packed away in an armory right at the end of the war and had come like this from the factory, so it was a very old and quite solid "lump" wrapped in brown paper. Once I got the thing out of it's wrapper (which took about an hour) and began disassembling it I cleaned the cosmoline using 100LL aviation gasoline (euphemistically referred to here as "the blue solvent"). But, although it works quite well it is dangerous as it burns like... well... gasoline!

Pick your clothing carefully if you use it - I'd stay away from rayon or anything that might generate static electricity. But it does work.

Dan

[aerojock]

Try camp fuel. I use it for degreasing.

[4RG.I.'S]

Depends a bit on what the cosmoline is on, how big the item is and where you live. A very common and easy method is used in the firearm community. Start be wrapping it in paper towels (some use old bath towels), then in a black plastic garbage bag. Set it outside in the sun (some put it in a vehicle with the windows up for extra heat though I would question the long term off gas effects in a vehicle you would drive in) and let it bake all day. This heats up the cosmoline and it soaks into the towels. at the peak of heating, take it out and wipe off as much as you can, then repeat the process. This way, there's no extra chemicals to deal with, no soaking or splashing, just safely dispose of the cosmoline soaked towels.

[Marauderman26]

Does anyone have any tips for successfully removing 60+ year old cosmoline?

Use mineral spirits. Effective and minimal effect on the surface underneath.

[AG pilot]

To remove the bulk of the heavy stuff I gently heat the item with a "heat gun", and wipe it with dry rags. Then I use mineral spirits, to remove the rest of the residue.

[shrike]

Back in the good old days of surplus guns I had a deal with a local shop where I would get six rifles in cosmoline, and bring back five clean ones (keeping the best one for me)

I found that the 'slower' the solvent, the better the results. My favorite was either naptha. or the cheapest charcoal lighter you could find. Fast solvents like 'blue solvent' or lacquer thinner would cut cosmoline, but evaporate too quickly to get it all off, just redistribute it in a thinner layer, but the slow solvents stay around long enough to wipe it off.
Sacrifice an old bath towel. The terrycloth worked better than regular shop rags for the bulk of clean-up

[famvburg]

I've heard of using kerosene.

[JohnB]

3M makes a spray (with the neat pin-point swing-up needle applicator) brake cleaner.
That removes just about anything without harming the finish.

[GregP]

I use gun cleaning solvent available at any gun shop. Worked on my Enfield that was "new in the canvas wrapper, packed in cosmoline" from 1950. I cleaned it in 1985 and gun-cleaning stuff worked very well. I think it was Outer's Solvent. Still have some and it still works, but don't do it around the favorite furniture.

The wife will put you in the doghouse until you relace it.

You can't get the smell out of cloth.

Ok with me, but the ladies smell it and rapidly disapear.

I'm now searhcing for negative Outer's Gun Cleaning Solvent. Chocolate comes close, but is nowhere NEAR the same response in reverse.

Money helps.