Like most of us - I work on my own rig. I cannot get the black strains out of the cracks in my skin on my hands. I have tried all the orange cleaner. Scrubbed with scotch bright pads, used brushes. I even used laquar thinner - that usually works but really dries my skin out.

I even tried soaking in :beer:, but did not work :rolleyes: did not taste good after either. :barf:

This might sound like a pansy post, but hey - I would like to not look out of place in formal events. It makes me look lazy, and the people who know me realize I'm not lazy, just not smarter than the grease.

So what do you do?
:flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

Ritch

I sand mine down. I use one of the those plastic foot sanders that chicks use on there feet. It has this black oxide that will remove the cracked skin . I take a long hot shower and the skin sands way very easily. You can get them in the Dr Scholl (SP?) rack in your supermarket.
http://a1468.g.akamai.net/f/1468/580/1d/pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/14232/200.jpg

Don't touch your rig for a month, and the stains will go away :D....LOL, I used to work in a print shop running a press. Wearing gloves was too much of a pain, so my hands were always ink stained....Got used to it, but like you said, during formal things I was kind of self conscious about it....

After I quit, it took a couple weeks for the stains to finally come out. :p

Gloves.

I wear Mechanix gloves. Not only do you not get grease encased fingers, it reduces the amount of bloodshed while wrenching.

Originally posted by Mo
Gloves.

I wear Mechanix gloves. Not only do you not get grease encased fingers, it reduces the amount of bloodshed while wrenching.

Or glove in a bottle. This stuff works.
http://www.zepmfg.com/ProductCatalog/ProductImages/0962.gif

Cant stop working, on it....
Must get it built so I can go wheeling with my wife. Humm... maybe I can get her to put it all together :eek: Actually she does pretty good with a wrench. But this is my problem, and I will deal with it.

Dr Sholls huh? I have used SOS pads that works ok but gets a little tender after a few days in a row.

Keep the good ideas coming.

Ritch :D

Go down to Costco and get a dual 100 pack of laytex gloves. I wear them all the time and I don't have a problem. I can't stand having stains on my hands. Nothing like repacking some bearings and taking off the gooey gloves and having some clean hands to answer the phone (note - white phones are not a good idea in the garage, get a black one).

Some think they are a pain in the butt to wear or work with all the time, but you get used to it. Since I work in semiconductor clean rooms all the time, we usually have to wear 3 pairs of gloves. This makes wearing only one pair of gloves seem like nothing at all. The only down side to laytex gloves is that your hands sweat and become water logged after an hour or so. Much better than having grease stained hands IMHO.

ditto on what Eric said i bought a huge box of them at harbor freight for like 7 or 8 bucks ... very nice to just peal them off and throw the grease away and go in the house with clean hands

keeps ya from getting 'stuff' on the hootus ya know :D

- jack

I have worked on cars for a living for almost 20 years, and a good 'ol scrub brush has always worked for me. not those pansey nail brushes, but go to the house cleaning dept. at the grocery store and get a good stiff plastic bristle brush and a bottle of Dawn dish soap. scrub with the grain of your skin. Dawn also gets grease and motor oil out of your hair really well.
I wear latex gloves when I am working around wheel bearing grease and used oil. another hard one to get out is brake or clutch dust. Mechanix gloves are o.k. as long as you dont handle alot of oily, greasy stuff. They just soak it up.

Another tip. To clean oil stains in your garage, use Tide with bleach and a stiff brush. If it is dark used oil, let it soak for a couple of hours and scrub again. works great.

latex or nitrile gloves are good(nitrile is more chemical resistant but not as good for feel). also when its too late, zep makes a couple of hand cleaners called "reach" and "cherry bomb". we use these at the shop and they work better than anything else i have tried. arent too hard on the skin either.

Wire grill brush and castrol super clean

not nice but works in a pinch when they have to be clean.

Also helps to use barrier cream before hand.

Gojo cream is my hand cleaner of choice normally. Find it better than the orange crap on grease.

Ron

used lacquer thinner to wash your hands? Damn, you got balls. That stuff will fawk you up in the long run. The isocyanates in that stuff goes straight through the skin, into the blood stream, and it does not play friendly with your liver. Get a good cleaner, scrub brush, whatever, but don't come in contact with lacquer thinner if possible, and try not to breathe the fumes either. Some baaad shiat!

I bought a 5 gallon bucket of parts cleaner. Works good. I keep a brass brush in it. It's harder than the plastic ones but does not hurt to much. I have a shirt-n-tie job so I have to look presentable the next day. The only complaint I have it dirt under the nails. I just keep em real short. :D

Try using ATF.. there is a lot of detergent in that stuff, then wash using any soap to remive the film.

I usuall use the mechanix gloves when I can, those work great. when i don't use them and get that shiat in my hands I use the girlfriends finger nail polish remover, that stuff can take off about anything

I've used the latex gloves when I use to work for an OTR lube shop, and they usually work o.k. till ya tear em to shreds. I use a set of mechanix gloves for heavy wrenching, but not too great for threading nuts and bolts together. But the liquid glove was the best stuff I ever used. Sure helps out on clean up.

I work on the same floor as all our executive staff.
My hands are all greasy and fawked up all the time.
It is to the point now that the exec staff wonders if every thing is OK if my hands aren't grease stained.

If you know someone that goes to mexico, have them get you a few bars of "Don Maximo" soap...This shit is lye soap, use a scrub brush or washcloth, awesome ...Don't get it in your eyes, if you get it in a cut, it will "clean" it good...Bondo, paint, epoxy, these are no match for Don Maximo....And it has a cool name.

Wash the dishes by hand,should turn them titty pink:D

Just a tip for y-al...hwile those Gojo type cleaners with pumice and stuff in em clean pretty well, the PUMICE creates micro fissures (scratches) in your skin, and these collect even more dirt, and grime than the skin normally would.

I wear two pairs of latex gloves normally.

Nitrile are really good too, but I get latex ones for the bubble so its all good.

Those hand sealers, like the one above, and stuff like "Corn Huskers" lotion work well too, but if you are constantly washing your hands, and then applying it, your hands get messed up real quick.

I use 3m scrub pads, and stiff plastic bristle brushes to clean the nasty stuff.

Also the best thing I have found to clean grease and oil is CITRUS SOLVENT.
I have gallon containers of it for work, and you need to dilute it for normal stuff.
Real nasty straight up though.

MJ