Making ed's red, store had this instead of kerosene

[anothernewb]

went to get kerosene for making some bulk ed's red. and what they had was this:



The SDS sheet says it's 100% Hydrotreated light distillate (petroleum)

I'm no chemical engineer. can anyone shed some light on this and their thoughts on using it as the kerosene component?

 

[WestKentucky]

My understanding of eds red is that the ATF is the main active ingredient. I have been curious about Ed’s red, and I will be watching this thread for information.

 

[troy fairweather]

Looks like white kerosene and not yellow. White burns hotter and cleaner. Ed's red works good, I have not used any in years tho. My dad made his own mix, I should see if he remembers what's in it.

 

[JJFitch]

Before there was an "Ed's Red" (40 years ago!) I began mixing and using 45% Kerosene, 45% Mineral spirits and 10% ATF. This is mixed in a 1 qt. spray bottle. This is used like a "pressure washer" to flush out all the "smutz"! The excess is caught in a tin pan lined with paper towel. I've been using "odorless" kero and M/S, makes the Boss happy!

Because of the mineral spirits don't get this on delicate wood finishes!

For excessive copper fouling use your favorite copper remover!

Smiles,

 

[Cemetery21]

I use odorless lamp oil for the kerosene part.
I don't use acetone like some formulas. Just equal parts ATF, mineral spirits and kerosene (odorless for the mineral spirits and kerosene). A quart or so of each - close is good enough for my use in cleaning the worst stuff.

 

[Mike 56]

I use odorless lamp oil for the kerosene part.
I don't use acetone like some formulas. Just equal parts ATF, mineral spirits and kerosene (odorless for the mineral spirits and kerosene). A quart or so of each - close is good enough for my use in cleaning the worst stuff.

I leave out the acetone as well but do add Anhydrous Lanolin to the mix.

 

[DocRock]

Good to know about that. Hard to find white kerosene anymore, so good to know there's a good smokeless alternative. The red stuff is hell on lamp chimneys and wicks.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I just stop at the local service station and pump a quart of kerosene in a jug for my Ed's Red mix.

 

[rdnktrkr]

I use Eds Red but have always taken a qt out of the 5gal jug, I like to us it in an ultrasonic cleaner, disassemble pistol and put it in the cleaner for 4 cycles with heat then wipe everything down, I clean the Barrel during the first couple of cycles then insert barrel, I use the same microfiber rag and keep it sealed up so I always have an oil rag to wipe things down.
I just made a new batch and left the acetone out, I read it was to remove plastic from shotguns and I kinda thought it was evaporating from the cleaner.
A very good penetrating oil is 1qt ATF and 1qt Acetone.

 

[anothernewb]

Well, I made up a batch of it with this as the kerosene component a few weeks ago. having never used eds red before - I don't have a comparison as to whether or not it's as effective or not. but I had a couple revolvers that were pretty darn dirty and had lots of lead in the throats. I let the cylinders soak for about 4 hours. they came clean with some scrubbing, but not as much as I was dreading. so I think it's at least moderately successful.

 

[jaguarxk120]

If you go to where Ed's Red is listed you will find that the stuff works because
of FOUR different solvents working together each in it's own way.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

As a Chemical Engineer my take is that's a more highly refined version of kerosene that also probably meets avation turbine fuel requirements in addition to use as a heating fuel. I've worked at multiple refineries where it wasn't economical to keep two seperate tank storage and pump delivery systems for two different grades so it all got highly refined and it was up to the marketing group to do their best job selling the volume that was produced of the highly refined grade for everything. That became even more of an issue with both motor gasoline and on-road diesel sulfur specifications being drastically reduced from the early 2000's forward as just a little cross-contamination in pipelines from even a small amount of less refined material using the same pipeline is now a really big deal, called Traceback" not just from the material at the interface between two "slugs" of liquid traveling in the same pipeline but little eddy current residues from close to the inner pipeline walls.

As use as a solvent goes, it should be similar with two minor differences. Lower smoke tendency during combustion means less aromatic molecules that have good solvent properties are present but it's all really relative and not only lower overall sulfur content but less potentially reactive sulfur content should reduce corrosive potential to metal surfaces vs less highly refined material.

 

[Mark Mahler]

I've been making and using Ed's Red for about ten years now, and I use equal amounts of ATF fluid, Acetone, Mineral spirits, and instead of Kerosene, I use Jet fuel (which is basically highly refined kerosene). I work for a helicopter service, and the mechanic has to regularly drain out a small amount of fuel to check for contaminants. This gets dumped into a barrel for eventual disposal, so I'm allowed to take some home for this purpose. It has done an excellent job on my weapons, and I don't use anything else.

 

[earlthegoat2]

For an application like this, I would not lose sleep at night interchanging the kerosene for diesel fuel.

 

[Elkins45]

If you go to where Ed's Red is listed you will find that the stuff works because
of FOUR different solvents working together each in it's own way.

I read Ed’s description of his formula and he explained the acetone was just there to remove plastic fouling from shotgun wads, and that it could be omitted if you weren’t cleaning shotguns.

 

[jaguarxk120]

If it works for you, the way you mix it, then great.
But I use the acetone in my mix, it allows the other solvents to work their way through
the fouling.

 

[Elkins45]

If it works for you, the way you mix it, then great.
But I use the acetone in my mix, it allows the other solvents to work their way through
the fouling.

What do you store it in? Mine lost most of the acetone thru the walls of the container over a couple of months.

 

[troy fairweather]

A old mason jar works good.

 

[jaguarxk120]

I use a old Winchester powder can, it holds one quart.
If you look at Home Depot or Lowes, they carry new empty paint cans
in various sizes.

 

[rdnktrkr]

I store mine in a gallon vinegar jug, I use it in an ultrasonic cleaner then pour it back into the jug using a funnel and cone coffee filters, it is a little slow but i just do a little at a time.

 

[Mark Mahler]

For an application like this, I would not lose sleep at night interchanging the kerosene for diesel fuel.

From what I've been told, Jet fuel is basically high grade diesel fuel - in fact, one of our pilots used to have a Volkswagon Rabbit diesel and would help the mechanic get rid of the waste fuel by dumping it in the fuel tank.

 

[earlthegoat2]

From what I've been told, Jet fuel is basically high grade diesel fuel - in fact, one of our pilots used to have a Volkswagon Rabbit diesel and would help the mechanic get rid of the waste fuel by dumping it in the fuel tank.

That is my understanding as well. You can use diesel to run torpedo type heaters that call for kerosene as the fuel. Not just temporarily either. I have one at work that has only ever used diesel for 15+ years.

I really do t have experience with jet fuel other than smelling it while in the AF.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Jet fuels have more stringent specifications than kerosene used for heating, and diesel fuels in general. Pour Point, distillation range, and so on. Most diesel is Number 2, a diesel fuel with high kerosene content is Number 1.

Common jet fuels in the lower 48 are Jet-A1 for typical US commercial use and JP-8 for general USAF use. JP-5 is for USN use and has a much higher minimum flash point specification than diesel. Jet-A1 is very similar to JP-8 and is widely used in Europe and the Caribbean. There are significantly additive specifications for military use jet fuels than civilian use jet fuels as another general point of distinction.

In colder climates, typical jet fuels have significant naphtha content, and that naphtha is similar to natural gasoline, a low octane material but significantly more flammable than kerosene.

For anyone really curious, the Colonial Pipeline specifications for the different products shipped, mostly as fungible materials, through the Colonial pipeline and terminals system has an appropriate level of detail of the different specifications for many such commodities. There's significant jargon involved.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://colpipe.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/media/Tariffs/Archived/cpc-product-specifications-june-2018_190703_055857.pdf?mtime=20190702225857&focal=none&ved=2ahUKEwjDu__B3svrAhUDIKwKHQkXBzsQFjAAegQIDBAC&usg=AOvVaw3N69QykLVD4MflowP6xahh

Link to other info regarding Colonial Pipeline.

https://www.colpipe.com

 

[Average Joe]

They don't sell kerosene in my neck of the woods either, so like you I bought the Klean- Heat stuffl at Home Depot , works just fine.