What do YOU use kerosene for?

I have used kerosene in the past to remove rust from tools. It is also of course used as oil in lanterns. I used it the other day to my surprise to clean some greasy parts up and it worked great. I got to thinking about it and am a little puzzled, since most solvents do not act as oils and vice versa. What exactly is kerosene, and what do you use it for?

Reply to
Bob in Oregon
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According to my Father-ln-Law you can use kerosene for everything. :-)

He cleans tools with it, removes tar with it, removes scuffs on his bumpers with it, takes grass stains off the mower with it......the list goes on. It's kinda like WD40. I'm sure there are folks who rub it on sore joints too.

Refining wise it falls between Gasoline and Lubricating oils on the chart of processing. It's a little cruder than Gas but more refined than your 10W30 Pennzoil.

Oh yeah and it does make starting a fire in the woodstove easier. (NOTE: Even though it burns slower don't over do it here. Remember your eyebrows don't do much but just burn em off once and see how many people notice)

Reply to
bremen68

"Bob in Oregon"

I can't answer your questions but want to point out that NOTHING stinks worse than OLD kerosene--as in a lamp.

Long story short, we had a lamp on the mantle for about five years. Thought the (slight) stink was from soil/plants or insulation in old house. Moved. Stink followed. Finally discovered stink coming out of tall lamp chimney. Wife dumped it out onto paper towels to dispose of it. I couldn't breathe. Had to leave the house. Took three days to air out the house.

-Doug

Reply to
bole2cant

Jet fuel...no, really.

Reply to
good ol' Bob

Kerosene can be used in solution with water and applied with newspaper to clean windows (on the outside, of course). As a lubricant for clockworks (non-digital), put some on a feather to oil the spring-driven mechanisms and gears. There are camping lanterns and backpacking stoves that run on kerosene. A bit harder to start, but safer than some other liquid fuels. Somewhat more expensive, however and not quite as available as unleaded gasoline.

Reply to
IBM5081

#1 diesel fuel.

Reply to
Rumpty

The BEST material for cleaning packing grease off new tools. Bottom feeders may ignore this advice, since they'll never have packing grease to remove.

-- LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

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Reply to
LRod

The FUNNIEST line I've read here in years.

-- LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

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Reply to
LRod

I remember as a kid my dad using it "for everything," too.

Cleaning greasy parts is NOT a suprise for me ... using it on rusty tools I'll have to try - that's new to me. I used it quite successfully to get the shipping paste off the cast iron tables of my TS.

-Chris

Bob > I have used kerosene in the past to remove rust from tools. It is also

Reply to
TheNewGuy

Don't forget, kerosene is very effective when using it to wash one's = hair.

Kills lice and nits dead.

--=20

PDQ

Reply to
PDQ

It would be, WD40 is part kero...

Reply to
njf>badge

Many old almanacs, etc., tout it as at least an ingredient in many nostrums/elixirs.

Reply to
Duane Bozarth

I used it for soaking an old carborundum stone I'd bought which was covered in some sort of paste grease, it thouroghly cleaned it. Because of the fumes I let it sit outside on newspaper for a week, which also worked fine.

Reply to
AAvK

Reply to
Sweet Sawdust

It won't be a solution. At best it would be an emulsion, but, the real reason for my post...

Clarify where you're putting that oil. Do NOT apply it to the teeth of the gears. At most apply it to the bearings of the gears. Putting it on the teeth assures a gathering of dust and subsequent grinding, er, uh, of teeth.

Reply to
LRod

You are not going to believe this one..

Back on the mid 60's my mother had to go into the hospital to have eye surgery. She remained in the hospital for a couple of weeks and had an elderly lady as a room mate for about 1 week. While visiting my mother a nurse came into the room to prep the elderly lady for her eye surgery and wanted to collect her jewelry and false teeth. The lady looked to be about

102 to me but was probably in her 70's. Any way the lady responded that the had no false teeth and had never lost any teeth. The nurse being very surprised inquired how she could possibly have never lost any teeth for as long as she had lived. The elderly lady's reply was that every day she rinsed her mouth out with kerosene.

Reply to
Leon

kerosene, jet fuel and diesel fuel are *more or less* the same thing. reasonal substitutes for shop tasks like degreasing parts are paint thinner and turpentine. and WD40. the same stuffs are sold as lamp oil, parts degreaser and prolly under a bunch of other labels.

all of the above are fairly oily solvents and can be loosely interchanged. I wouldn't put turpentine in my jet engine or thin paint with WD40, but they will all work fine for unsticking rusty bolts.

Reply to
bridger

Lamps, as you suggest, and for heat: A portable kerosene stove stopped us from freezing during one viscious winter storm. I also happen to have an old Coleman lantern that will work of either white gas or kerosene.

Reason? Cost = Cheap.

Reply to
Guess who

Kerosene has so many "uses" because folks used to have it around. It is very similar to mineral spirrits (paint thinner) and can be used in a similar manner. Since mineral spirits is usually cheaper if you don't have a place that sells it in bulk I use that. One not mentioned is mixing it with straight 30w oil as a cleaner preservative for metal. It works better than either one alone.

Reply to
gfretwell

I am allergic to kerosene. Can not be in a house heated with it.

-Dan V.

Reply to
Dan Valleskey

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