Cleaning Station: Chemical Reactions? Spontaneous Combustion?

[kentucky_Dave]

I have some concerns regarding my methods and nature of my cleaning station supplies.

I assume that there is the possibility of chemical reactions between the various cleaning supplies used for lead, copper, carbon etc.
I have never seen any issues, nor have I ever heard of any problems, but I’d like to know what you all think.
Is this assumption justified or paranoia?

Second, the oily rag and spontaneous combustion theory:
When I was involved with woodworking, we were always very cautions to not leave piles of oil soaked stain rags lying about because they were said to catch fire.
We erred on the side of caution.

Does this theory apply to the patches, rags and associated items used to clean our guns? (relatively low quantity of material)
I have been keeping a plastic shopping bag near, and depositing all the dirty patches and blue paper towels inside…later placing that bag in the outside trash containers.
Paranoid?
Maybe.
Justified concern?
I just don’t know.

Lastly…bore snakes.
Surprisingly, everyone I have asked does not know…
Do any of you use chemicals on your bore snakes?
If so, what?
Solvent, oil only, or dry.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ieszu]

With regard to bore snakes, I put a few drops of gun oil about 3 inches from the end of the bore snake (near the handle, not the metal end)... and just run it through... seems to do a good job at cleaning the barrel.

 

[Chawbaccer]

I think the danger is with linseed oil and other items that produce a chemical reaction with heat, such as linseed oil does while drying. At work we use lots of mineral spirits to clean equipment and just throw the rags in a steel bucket for the laundry service to pick up. What you are doing is probably a good idea as it gets the fumes out of your work place.

 

[Grizfire]

A few thoughts I have....

Like you said, better to error on the side of caution. I usually put mine in a sealed zip lock sandwich bag, and have never had a problem.

I figure there is not enough, nor a sufficiently sustained supply of O2 to cause combustion.

This all depends on the substrate and the fuel, and its chemical and physical properties. The composition of cleaning materials is proprietary, so its hard to know what their thermodynamic properties are, including flash points and autoignition temperatures. I'd guess you will need at least 200 C (most likely much more) to achieve autoignition.

Say, you could stick a thermometer in your bag-o-oily-patches and see if your situation is dangerous from an empirical point of view.

 

[kentucky_Dave]

Say, you could stick a thermometer in your bag-o-oily-patches and see if your situation is dangerous from an empirical point of view.

Good idea.

Thanks all for the input!

 

[mrmeval]

Here are various safety cans from dispensers to disposal cans. You can contact your local fire department for information and your waste management company for instructions on any chemicals that need special handling.

http://www.lithcoproducts.com/prods/justrite.htm

The red cans are nice even if they're a bit pricey. If something does ignite all I've seen them do is burn the paint off a little.

BTW if that can is smoking let it but keep an eye on it. If you open it you'll have a full blown fire.

 

[Sunray]

"...Does this theory apply to..." No.