which is the best solvent to have for DIY/household uses

Hello everyone,

I know enough to know that 'best' depends upon the application. Well,
what I need to do is clean off old grease from the door hinges and

Actually, first thing I do after knocking as much off as can be done
mechanically (putty knife, wire wheel/brush, whatever) is the hot-water
pressure washer--does wonders. The remaining residue is then much less
to deal with...

other body joints of an old car in the garage. I heard both are used
as solvents and just wanted to know which you think to be best for my
particular application. Also which do you think is more useful to have
around for general household tasks?

Alcohol doesn't dissolve grease very well, although it is good for things like
tape residue. I would use odorless mineral spirits instead of turpentine, it's
a pretty good general solvent and a lot cheaper. It will not harm paint. But
for hinges, you may only need WD-40, it works nicely on grease.

==
409, in the white bottle. Excellent on grease. I use it on my solid oak
cabinets
so presumeably it won't harm paint.

Turpentine/mineral spirits stinks too much ! Hard to get off hands etc.

Both too stinky as well.. Try WD-40 (aka Goo Gone) on a rag..Works great

dpb & Rudy --

I'd hate to use water on metal parts, since it might be hard to get
all the water out of tight spaces, and you might have rust issues
after.

When I was younger, we would have used trichloroethane as a great
solvent for greasy auto parts. It went out of production in 1996 and
is hard to find, but they must have replaced it with something more
environmentally (and human) friendly. Lacquer thinner or mineral
spirits might be a good choice, but a knowledgeable person at a
larger auto parts store might have better ideas.

I have no particular objection to using off-the-shelf
specialized degreasers e.g. 409, WD 40 etc
for this application or any other. In fact, I think many
of them probably have additives that could aid
the degreasing..surfactants etc. ...but why have a product
that only does one specialized task when there's another
that does it and other tasks too...such as mineral spirits,
which doubles as paint thinner.

However, as Phisherman pointed out above, kerosene has
quite a few other uses and has many favorable properties.

I'll probably just get one small can each of kerosene and m. spirits.

Thank you for your recommendations and advice,

This is my list that have kept on hand for 60 yrs plus and find they
have filled needs very well.. Knowing which to use where is important
part...
Denatured Alcohol
Mineral Spirits
Turps or turpentine
Acetone
Lacquer Thinner.
Ketone (Rarely needed)

As others have noted, there is no best solvent. Around my house I have
so many that it is hard to keep track of them all. A quick mental
inventory tells me that I have: Stoddard solvent ("odorless" paint
thinner), turpentine (the real stuff, made from pine trees), acetone,

When I worked in a Sewing machine factory using a Blanchard grinder, the
solvent we used to clean the preservative off the steel blanks before
grinding was called Solvasol by Stoddard. The blanks were just dunked
into the 5 gallon pail, using a basket type strainer with a handle on
top, and the basket was twirled by the wrist for a few seconds. It was
some bad sh*t and stung the hands if you got any on them.

denatured alcohol (mentholated spirits for you Brits), Goof Off (a
mixture of potent solvents for removing dried paint spots and the like),
carburetor cleaner, naphtha (for spot cleaning clothing), and even WD-40
(not a solvent in itself but its base works well for cleaning off
certain materials). Of course there is always water, the "universal"
solvent.

What works best for what is all a matter of chemistry and physics. At
the most basic level you have polar and non-polar solvents. You might
which will probably leave you confused but if even a few of the concepts
stay with you it might help.

Remove excess grease with paper towels. A toothbrush dipped in
kerosene will help loosen old grease, then wipe again with paper
towels. Dispose items properly. I suspect either two of the solvents
mentioned will work, although not as well. WD-40 is another good
solvent for your application. I like kerosene as it has lots of
uses, it is inexpensive, somewhat non-toxic, helps removes/prevents
rust, kind to cured paints, plastics, and skin.

Right. The choice of solvent should be of the same family as that which
you're trying to dilute. Both turpentine and alcohol are made from plant
material. Mineral spirits (paint thinner) is made from petroleum.

Since door hinge "grease" is made from petroleum products, mineral spirits
is the the solvent of choice.

If, however, you lubricated the hinges with chicken-fat, alcohol might work
better.

Chickens aren't plant material (at least outside of chicken "nuggets"
which are, as far as I know, of indeterminate origin)...

Good point. Still, there's nothing better than to put your lips on a
chicken's nuggets...

which is the best solvent to have for DIY/household uses - turpentine or denatured alchohol?