tool cleaning fluid

Hi,
Does anyone know of a common household substance that can be effectively used to dissolve burned/hardened sawdust from rotary carving bits.
(I am thinking of things like WD40, petrol, oven cleaner etc) as a possible alternative to proprietry tool cleaning products.

Cheers

Jason.

I just use a small wire brush on a rotary tool.

Hi Jim,

I thought of that, but wasn't sure if repeated wire brushing would blunt the cutting edges.

Jason

Hi Jason I would go with the wire brush. Maybe one that has brass wires. Also it says arborist in your profile. Are you doing line clearance? I ask because I also am an arborist. I do lone clearance for Asplundh and we wear orange.

I use warm water with washing up liquid, just let it soak for a few minutes, then old toothbrush and elbow grease.

Hi,
Thanks for the replies.

M. Frary - I work for a firm that does line clearance but I am no longer tree climbing, I go in advance of the cutting teams and organise with the landowners what is to be done with trees on their property.

Arihato - I never thought of something as simple as soap & water! A friend suggested nail polish remover which is very cheap and seems to do the trick.

Regards

Jason.

Sure but the fumes are harmful.....

I have heard of using a propane torch to burn off the residue.

The problem with a propane torch is that you could overheat the tool and change its properties. Not a real issue with a solid carbide tool unless really overdo it, but a potential issue with high speed steel or brazed carbide tools.

Soap and water is good, but is corrosive to steel.

If the build up is pitch based, then turpentine works well.

Oven cleaner is good at removing pitch and other baked on organics, but most are sodium hydroxide based and can corrode both steel the braze alloys used to hold carbide cutting edges in place.

With most cleaning methods it is good to rinse well, dry well, and then coat with a light oil to displace any remaining moisture.