# Ed's RED CLP



## Clarke123 (Oct 10, 2009)

Ok,

No laughs (Snickers are OK ... Great Candy Bar too).

Has anyone got anything on Ed's Red CLP?

http://drop.io/unclenick

I, like many of you, use a lot of CLP ... and it does get expensive ... Is this something that one should seriously consider?


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## Clarke123 (Oct 10, 2009)

*Revised Notification*

Revised Notification to get responses immediately


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## Twenty five ought six (Oct 10, 2009)

Ed's Red has been around about forever.  There is a revised formula floating around which does not have acetone in it.  Acetone tends to do strange things to your brain cells, and liver.  The author of the article cited urges that it be left out.

Many many years ago, I made up some Ed's Red --this was pre-internet, pre-computer.  It works, but I'm not sure that there are more common, more accessible off the shelf products.  If you note the date of the quoted article, it's 1995.

Case in point is Kroil, which many benchresters use for the purpose Ed's Red was intended.  


Also, if you ma'ke Ed's formula exactly as published, I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of components didn't rival CLP, Kroil, or generic brake cleaner, all of which do a good job.

If you are a confirmed DYI'er, Ed's Red will certainly do the job.  You just have to decide if it's worth the trouble to round up and store the various components.


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## Clarke123 (Oct 11, 2009)

*Ed's Red*

I appreciate the information. 

I really don't want to become a backyard chemist! 

Acetone isn't something that is enjoyable to use, but it does appear in many of the Choke & Brake Cleaners that many seem to use as a quick clean ... especially in hard-to-get-to areas like trigger groups and AR Lowers.  While it "works" it also strips away any and all protective or lubricating oils, which then need to be replaced.  Which, again must be appled in hard-to-get-to areas.  I guess that's why WD-40 keeps getting mentioned.  As I understand, it has its problems as well. 

Interestingly, a good submersion in a bucket of denatured mineral spirits will do pretty much the same thing as Brake Cleaner!  

I am currently using Brownell's Friction Defense, Gun Butter and FP-10.  They all seem "OK", but they also seem somewhat expensive for general use.  I only use the Gun Butter specifically on wear points ... which it seems to address better than the others. 

Also, while the idea of teflon and moly additives is appealing, I'm not convinced that they really work that well.  

Perhaps I should look at the KROIL that you mentioned. 

Thanks Again - for your enlightened response


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## jglenn (Oct 11, 2009)

just remember that Kroil is deisgned to be a penetrating oil not a general purpose lube. Not used like Friction defense or Gun butter 

It's used in cleaning a barrel as it will get underneath darn near anything such as fouling..


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## jglenn (Oct 11, 2009)

while I use Kroil almost exclusively

here is a very nice study of penetraing oil... 


The April/May 2007 edition of Machinist's Workshop did a test of penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen rusty test devices. Buy the issue if you want to see how they did the test. The results reported were interesting. The lower the number of pounds the better. Mighty interesting results for simple acetone and tranny fluid!

Penetrating oil . Average load .. Price per fluid ounce
None ................. 516 pounds .
WD-40 .............. 238 pounds .. $0.25
PB Blaster ......... 214 pounds .. $0.35
Liquid Wrench ... 127 pounds .. $0.21
Kano Kroil ........ 106 pounds .. $0.75
ATF-Acetone mix.. 53 pounds .. $0.10

The ATF-Acetone mix was a 50/50 mix (1 to 1 ratio)."


http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=27429&highlight=penetrating+fluid+test


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## Twenty five ought six (Oct 11, 2009)

> The ATF-Acetone mix was a 50/50 mix (1 to 1 ratio)."



Did they factor in the cost of a liver transplant?


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## Clarke123 (Oct 11, 2009)

*Kroil / Acetone / Motown Tranny Fluid*

I understand the purpose of Kroil as it is much like Liquid Wrench, Mystery Oil, Loose-Nut, Penetrol, etc.  It's a kind-of Hoppe's #9 assist / substitute.

Some people mix Kroil 50/50 with Hoppe's #9 and claim even better / faster results with a better aroma!

As for Acetone, I grew up with a Step-Father who was a Union Paint Contractor here in the Atlanta Area ... I was told that it's one of the reasons that painters have such a bad reputation to drink ... They don't want to loose the "high" that they got from a day working!

All kidding aside, Acetone can cause serious, life-threatening problems through long term exposure, even those of us that use precautions (well venilated areas, compressed air blasting of treated parts, etc).  Unfortunately, there are a whole lot of people out there that continue to use and promote the use of compressed Carburator / Brake Cleaning Fluids that contain a lot of Acetone ... I'm not certain, but don't some of the name brand compressed gun cleaners contain some of it too?

As for lubrication afterwards, we are still so plagued with so many "Snake Oil" salesmen that it is difficult to get a true read on things like Nano-Lube, Gun Butter and ....?

Then we have NP3 / Ceracote treatments / KG Coatings ... !

Thanks guys,  Your advice is appreciated.  I know that you probably tire of having to repeat it to the "ignorant, unwashed" such as the likes of me ... 

My vote is for a dedicated thread on maintenance products, with heavy emphasis on accurate sourcing, testing, and performance reporting ... all summarized on a Sticky, with the "crap" and "static" professionally culled on a regular basis ..

Oh well ... dreaming again!

I would like to see a lot of the information on the site summarized in the same manner so as to allow everyone to use it and not have a constant re-invention of the wheel or re-discovery of "Tribal Knowledge"!

Earl Clark - Cumming, Georgia


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## Cknerr (Oct 11, 2009)

I would think so.  The acetone will not do a re-finished stock any good as a few folks pointed out. It will likely eat it since a few drips are hard to keep away. I have us a bit of ATF mixed with Kroil in the past - it does work. Use ATF as a lubricant in place of conventianl oil for a long time. It seems to "like" metal and slowly creeps along to coat places I can't reach. Also use ATF when I lap a barrel, works great.

Never tried this mixture, but looks pretty good. 

Thanks
Chris


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## jglenn (Oct 11, 2009)

jesss let's see we have all these things that are kiling us and yet we are living longer...Hmmm


No, if you sit there and soak your hands in Acetone for weeks on end you probably will have bad things happen to you...heck motor oil is bad for you...


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## SmokyMtnSmoke (Oct 12, 2009)

Ed's Red

I made a small batch (approx 16 oz) this summer. I didn't use/add the lanolin as it's hard to find (for rm anyway). It works well and doesn't cost an arm and a leg to mix up such a small amount. 

I did make mine with Acetone and I do keep it in an empty Sea Foam metal can as it will eat 99% of most plastics so having some for a "travel kit" is dang near impossible. It will remove dang near anything from the gun metal and is a very effective cleaner but the issues that come with acetone keeps it at my shop for open door cleaning sessions. 

In my experiences ole Marvel Mystery Oil makes a descent general purpose gun cleaner. It gets the job done pretty well and is cheaper per oz that most of the marketed gun cleaners.


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## Oldstick (Oct 13, 2009)

Just 50/50 of ATF and mineral spirits does fine also.  Pretty cheap for a half gallon of good cleaner.  I've never bothered with the acetone or the lanolin.  Don't see the need for those.

For a good grease, go get a tube of the high temperature synthetic brake caliper grease from NAPA.  $5 for a very large sized tube.


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## leoparddog (Oct 13, 2009)

I made my own version called Leoparddog's Red.
ATF+Marvel Mystery Oil+Kroil+Mineral Spirits.  I might have put a couple of ounces of Acetone in there too.  It was a long time back, but I have found it to be a good cleaner and general metal protectant.  I didn't spend any extra money on making it as I had all this stuff in the garage.  I keep most of it in a glass jar and some in a trigger pump oil container.

I keep plenty of other cleaners and use them too, but I use LD's Red for powder fouling and general cleaning


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