mooklekloon

Anyone have any suggestions for cleaning the black crud off your hands after you are done working on your bike? Also, any suggestions for getting grease / oil / black crud out of clothing?

el twe

Lava Soap!

DCCommuter

Wear disposable latex gloves. A box of a hundred is six bucks.

Failing that, I would advise against Lava or anything with pumice -- it scratches up your skin so it holds more dirt next time, and hand cleaners do a fine job without it. I like the Gojo original formula you can get at auto parts stores, although the new pumice-laden version is squeezing it off the shelves.

I've also had good results with the Phil Wood hand cleaner that's sold in bike shops, at bike shop prices.

Louis

Waterless Hand Cleaner works for me. It gets hands clean and also removes grease from clothes. If you let the grease age on clothing it doesn't work too well, (don't ask me how I know), but quick action will render good results.

Auto parts stores have a good collection to choose from, just read the instructions.

metal_cowboy

Latex gloves work great. You might also try rubbing your hands with liquid soap and lettng it dry before you start working on your bike. When it comes time to wash your hands, the grease has attatched itself to the soap and easily washes off.

gudel

I use the blue/white hand cleaner from permatex. works great.

duckliondog

Gasoline works great, and evaporates quickly. It's also great for the environment.
Actually, I've given up on getting the grease out. It's all over 90% of my clothes and my intervals between getting grease on my hands are relatively short. I also find that blackened hands make it easy to bring up bikes during a conversation. This is good because it's really all I ever want to talk about.

gudel

there are other effective, safe non-flammable and non-carcinogenic cleaners than gasoline.

Jed19

Natural Orange Hand Cleaner manufactured by the same people who make Awesome Orange works fantastically well. Gojo works well too.

240GL

Loctite Hand Cleaner is by far the best (and also the most expensive) hand cleaner I have ever used. I'll never buy anything else. Also, scratching a bar of soap before you start working is an old trick, to get soap instead of dirt under your fingernails. I always start out using latex gloves, but they tend to get torn.
Erling.

Bobby20

Baby oil ,then use what ever hand cleaner you want. we all know water and oil do not mix . baby oil will cut the oil and grease.Give it a try.

supcom

Gojo, or equivalent hand cleaner sold in every auto parts store and automotive department of xmart stores. Serious grease cutter that will do the job. Follow the instructions and your girlfriend will let you touch her again.

For grease stains in clothing, you can spray with 409, Simple Green, Shout, or equivalent. saturate the stain, then wash as usual. If that doesn't get it, you can try a solvent based product like Goof Off, naptha, acetone, etc. But give the detergent based products a try first.

duane041

I agree with the latex glove idea. I wear them everyday at work, and have hands like a sissy they really do work.

As for removing grease, it's nasty stuff, but Brake Kleen works perfectly, as one of it's main ingredients is the same stuff found in dry cleaning fluid (stinks like holy he*#, but gets out grease right now). wash immediately after using it. Plus, it may discolor some clothing.

gurana

I am highly skeptical of this method, but it sounds crazy enough to work. I'm going to have to try it out. I'm always looking for an excuse to rub baby oil on myself.

BryE

This may sound a bit strange, but the best way I've found to get grease off my hands (short of something extreme like gasoline or expensive, heavy-duty cleaners) is Foam Blaster Kids Soap. It shoots pre-lathered soap foam onto your hands, and it works surprisingly well. Plus, your hands get to smell like Radical Apple and Jazzy Raspberry. However, you may have some explaining to do to your friends if you don't have kids.

Jonathan1987

i just got a free tube of simple green waterless hand gel and that works very well.

DCCommuter

Have you thought about the humanitarian aspects? Do you have any idea how many babies it takes to make one bottle of baby oil?

gurana

It is a popular misconception that baby oil comes from human babies. It is a clinicaly proven fact that they come from baby seals, so all you 'baby huggers' can take a chill pill.

DannoXYZ 

That's why you club the seals, so that you don't contaminate the oil. Shooting them would just be the oil all bloody and worthless...