Remove grease from old dirty locks

[Balleduk]

Howdy again! whats the best way to remove old old and grease from the lock? can you dip it in something strong that removes it? or will it rust without? so you dont get oily everytime you practice on it.

also, can you use a little oil or something on old locks thats dry and make metal to metal sound?

[Silverado]

I just experimented with this the other day. Had a couple locks that were full of gunk and sticky. I wanted to see if Brakleen would work any better than the WD40 I usually use to clean locks.
I used WD40 on lots of locks and it seems to work well enough.
I used Brakleen on this one sticky gunky lock, and it seemed to work very well. It kind of just melted everything out of the lock and after a little bit the excess that drained out was nearly black.
It did need some WD40 for lubricant afterwards, as Brakleen is a fast-drying cleaner, not a lubricant.

[rusirius]

I'm sure you'll get more (probably better) responses, but I personally find that a soak in Kerosene works wonders for dissolving grease and crude. Unfortunately, it also strips out everything, so you'll want to get it lubed back up after. I've personally come to find Sentry Tuf-Glide to be really awesome stuff for this purpose. But any lube that isn't going to make a mess and put you right back in the same situation should do fine.

[cledry]

Soak in mineral spirits works well. Won't damage lock, finish or skin.

[Jacob Morgan]

If it is really bad, and you plan on doing it a lot, you can go the auto parts store and buy a can of carburetor cleaner. It comes in what looks like a 1 gallon paint can. They have a removable basket inside so you can put small parts in it and lower it all down for a good soak. Pretty strong stuff if I remember correctly. Would keep it away from anything not made of metal.

[billdeserthills]

I like 91% Isopropyl Alcohol I keep some in a small glass jar in my van and just drop the whole cylinder in it for a few minutes to clean it
I used to use brake cleaner, but I don't like how it treats my skin and the fumes are awful indoors

[djhobbes]

I have found that brake cleaner or electrical contact cleaner have worked best for me. Once all of the old grease/oil/gunk is removed from the lock, I carefully blow it clean with compressed air and apply a small amount of lubricant to restore the normal action of the lock. For padlocks that can be disassembled, I generally remove the cores first so I can avoid getting any of the grease/oil/gunk into the core.

[LockPickViking]

I just put them in a white spirit bath for about 10-15min, then rub them with a cloth. they get really fresh and shiny i never noticed that does any damage to the lock either.

[G-lock]

I like to use mineral spritz, or acetone. Unless the lock is painted or has painted lettering on it. In this case i just put the lock in a pot submerged in some extremely soapy water and put it on the stove at about 110 to 120 degrees for about a hour. When it comes out i can normally wipe it clean with a ppr towel, q tips , or if its bad a soapy tooth brush. Then i always lube it with some type of dry lube

[Silverado]

Makes me wonder if locks are dishwasher safe...

[Rushnofsky]

Personally i use lighter fluid. good ol' ronsonol. i take the parts and put them in a prescription pill bottle with a little of that, swirl it around for a couple minutes and poof, the grease comes right off.

[GWiens2001]

Personally i use lighter fluid. good ol' ronsonol. i take the parts and put them in a prescription pill bottle with a little of that, swirl it around for a couple minutes and poof, the grease comes right off.

...along with your eyebrows, if you add a lighter to the mix.

Gordon

[Jacob Morgan]

There is a gunsmith out there that swears by Simple Green for parts washing. Of course he dries and oils everything thereafter. It is easy on the skin, non-flammable, etc. Agitating a lock in Simple Green then rinsing in boiling water (that will evaporate) might be worth trying.

[mam007]

Hi All. Not sure whether anyone has had similar scenario, but my driver pins are super stuck (you'd think someone jammed them on purpose) and i have not managed to get out but one of them by using a blowtorch. The amount of grease there was inside is mostly gone, but I am not managing to clean around the pins.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

I've tried, hot soapy water, house-hold cleaning solutions, blow-torching it, ethanol (99.9%), WD-40, Brake Cleaner - all in that order

Thanks and good day

[Squelchtone]

Hi All. Not sure whether anyone has had similar scenario, but my driver pins are super stuck (you'd think someone jammed them on purpose) and i have not managed to get out but one of them by using a blowtorch. The amount of grease there was inside is mostly gone, but I am not managing to clean around the pins.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

I've tried, hot soapy water, house-hold cleaning solutions, blow-torching it, ethanol (99.9%), WD-40, Brake Cleaner - all in that order

Thanks and good day

Unless this lock is being restored because parts are no longer available, I'd throw it out. That's a lot of effort to work on a lock. What kind of lock anyway? Is this a deadbolt? A padlock? Are you a locksmith or trying to fix it up for lock picking practice?

Got any photos of it?

Squelchtone