Cleaning chains

[hslogger]

Best way to clean a chain is to put it where it belongs, in the wood.
If you have spare chains that are cruddy, run em clean, then take em off. They should be cleaned and oiled by your oiler. Take your chain and wrap it up in news paper, label it, 32" good, or 36" dirt and store em till you need them. If you hang em up someplace and never use them the dampness sooner or later will get to them.
In the PNW, rust never sleeps.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Boil them in anti freeze in an old crock pot for 24 hours. The chains will come out clean as new. Keep the crock pot for such cleaning. I would never use it for food again. I have used that to clean horribly caked engine parts, and they came clean.

 

[Bravo Xray]

Great question. Got me thinking, there is a homemade solvent called Ed's Red that is typically used for cleaning firearms. Should work good for chains and such too. I think I値l give it a try. With lanolin and transmission fluid, it has some lubricating properties. Would think it would be better than straight solvents.

Link to recipe:

Homemade Firearm Related Products

There are tons of recipes online....Google it.

+1 for Ed's Red. Just get an empty paint can from Home Depot to mix it up and store it in, and it'll last for years. The crud will settle at the bottom of the can, and you can siphon off the top liquid or filter it through some cheesecloth when it gets too dirty. I'm still using my first batch that I made about 4 years ago. As an easier alternative, regular kerosene will work just fine.

 

[xyz123]

In the wood best for cleaning a grungy chain

 

[cqaigy2]

Not to mention cleaning the bar and sprocket to get the grit out, if your getting into the dirt.

 

[hslogger]

If yer dragging yer thang in the dirt,shame on you. sprockets clean themselves if you are using free floating and not a star.
Bars need to be removed and drug out with a putty knife or one of your chain reflectors or thin knife. put it in the tip end and pull back through the groove in the rail so it exits at the mount end. sawdust compacted with oil, or dirt.

 

[TomSeller]

Some of the cheaper bar oils seemed to gunk up on me leaving a residue, I went beck to Stihl's oil.

 

[tjkubota93]

Yeah I cleaned bar out, I usually do that periodically.

I have been using Wal mart bar oil. Maybe that's why the fine dirt was so glued on.

I used to use motor oil. I noticed it's not as snot like and flings off too easy.

After soaking and wire brushing I threw them back in the diesel to clean off the mess from brushing. Look good as new.