Should have used my head earlier. Kerosene is at Walmart in the camping supplies for those of us who like building fires and such.

Yeah, here in Florida it's pretty common to find it on the shelves next to the kerosene lamps especially during hurricane season. Yep, it's that time again. Time to stock up on supplies. O_o

Cheers!

I get mine at the local Shell station. They have a pump.

That was what frustrated me. Wal-mart, gas stations, those are all the places I use to get it myself. I went or called to every walmart, camping store and local stations and no one had it. Camping seems to be going more toward a self contained canister or a "safer fuel" mixture. I stayed away from the camping fuel mix because it said not to use in kerosene lamps. I finally found it in one and five gallons at Lowes; Home Depot said they carry it in winter.

Once you get the chain fairly clean, you might want to consider Mineral Spirits in the future. Not as powerful a crud fighter as kerosene but does a reasonable job and doesn't smell up the place as bad. Always available in the paint thinner section of your local hardware of big-box store.

What does mineral spirits do to the orings?

Well you got me there :??:

I don't really know but I'm ASSuming that it won't hurt them. Guess I'll find out for sure in a year or so. :cry:

I used to work in a telephone switching office and we used the stuff to clean things like the old rotary step switches, partly because it would leave behing a minute amount of lubrication. Don't remember if we used it on anything rubber (neoprene?) or not.

Chain cleaning
 

I recently tackled this task but didn't want to spend a day hunting for kerosene. I had a can of pneumatic tool oil someone had given me and I figured I probably wouldn't use it for anything else so I decided, why not try, won't be any worse off than before. It worked great. I see no reason why any super lightweight oil, like 3 in 1 or sewing machine oil wouldn't be good. It cleans the crud and lubes at the same time. Finish with a proper chain oil and your done in fine order. The terry towel idea is super, I whole heartedly recommend it for cleaning and oiling.
Ron

You can just clean the chain with the oil you lube it with. I don't use the kerosene unless the chain is really dirty. A piece of towel and some oil.

I agree, but I live very near a beach. An oily chain is a sand magnet.