Caustic Soda
I agree with Jesse, although I call it caustic soda and don't bother heating the drum. I have a 44 gall drum of water, at room temp (no lower than 50F in winter), with about a 2 lb container of caustic soda dissolved in it. I leave the parts hanging from a support into the solution for about 4 to 5 days, then wash off in clean water rubbing with a scouring pad. When the paint removal gets sluggish time-wise, I add more caustic. The drum is clearly labelled 'DANGER CAUSTIC SODA', has a lid, and I use chemical handling gloves and eye protection when moving parts in or out of the drum. Most hardware stores stock caustic soda. I do not immerse parts that have internal spaces without access, like the side handles on a jeep: the caustic gets inside and is REALLY difficult to neutralise. When the handle heats up, the stuff bubbles out of the joints/pressed together ends: not good!
For parts caked in grease, I manually remove the excess with a scraper, then wash off in a tub with a small amount of thinners and a scrubbing brush - less volatile than petrol, but works almost as well. The used thinners goes into a plastic bottle. After a few days, all the crud has fallen to the bottom and you can de-cant the thinners from the top into another bottle to use again for cleaning. (I use a very small amount of petrol for any really difficult removal, and it gets discarded when finished.)
Then into the caustic bath to remove any paint.
Then, when dry, sand blast or wire brush ready for primer paint.
Mike
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