How Do You De-Silicone Grease A Pen?

[F104]

This question comes to mind every time I open the little jar of silicone grease. How do I get it off places it shouldn't have been put in the first place? I've greased a few converter pistons and done an eyedropper conversion without incident, but still the question nags. So, in the event that, Heaven forbid, it should end up on a feed or a nib or some other catastrophic location, Is there a technique for effectively removing it?

 

Thanks for your attention.

[Ron Z]

In extreme cases, Xylene will remove it. I don't, but some have used it on celluloid. It's certainly safe for hard rubber. Naphtha works, though it isn't as effective, and a good washing with a good surfactant (detergent) and water will do it to some extent as well.

[tmenyc]

Naptha definitely works, neither instantly nor always completely, he said from experience of an ED conversion attempted far too late one night for anything requiring the hands and eyes to be coordinated.

 

I'm curious about xylene, though. Isn't it a derivative of the solvent toluene? I do know that xylene is used in art restoration, but believe as a safer alternative to benzine. So in this case its power as a solvent works with celluloid but doesn't harm the celluloid? And no, I don't even play a chemist on television.

 

Tim

[Oslowe]

In the infamous attack of 1856, if Senator Charles Sumner had had some, he could have melted Representative Preston Brooks cane and escaped a beating -- and maybe prevented the civil war.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Oslowe