Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Both ethanol and 2-propanol are infinitely soluble in water. Both are polar which makes them really poor at dissolving oil and grease. If they are used after mineral spirits in chain cleaning schemes, it’s a waste of solvent. The mineral spirits will evaporate without chasing it with either denatured alcohol or rubbing alcohol.
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Thanks for the complete rundown. The OMS + Denatured Alcohol thing is part of the somewhat well known Molten Speedwax prep instructions. Googling, "do Mineral Spirits leave behind a residue" -- it seems to be split on hits that say yes vs no. Those that say 'yes' refer to an oily residue -- ostensibly it's this residue that the alcohol is used to get rid of.