Removing Old Pipe Dope

[Bartman]

Would anyone happen to have a solution for removing old pipe dope from parts and fittings that doesn't involve razors or other forms of brute strength? Is there anything that dissolves it? The part in the photo can be cleaned up with a razor but for fittings and where the stuff is embedded in threads, something that dissolves it would be awesome. Thanks!

 

[Bruce]

My go to solvent is lacquer thinner, as it does not seem to bother my hands and dissolves most things I put it on. Will this work on pipe dope I don’t know pick a small spot try and see what it does and good luck. I think the hardest part any job is getting it clean before you start

 

[Bartman]

in reading about it it seems solvents don't cut it.

it has the consistency of dry tar and high heat softens it allowing it to be scraped off or removed with a wire brush. would rather not damage things trying to clean them so will probably mostly live with it unless a better option comes along.

 

[Bartman]

Well, I stand corrected! I've got an RC plane on my bench, it's an old pattern plane that I'm rebuilding in my spare time. Not much to do while waiting for glue to dry so I figured I'd try a few solvents for the heck of it. First up, lacquer thinner and it worked! It was quick to melt the dry pipe dope but the effect didn't last long so you have to keep wetting it with more solvent but it did work and the fitting that previously had a big goober of dry dope around it now looks tidy and clean.

Thanks for the suggestion @Bruce !

 

[Bruce]

Cool beans happy it worked so well, I used it to get all the old glue off my plane using cotton soaking about 6 inches at a time then let it sit for a couple of minutes and the glue rolled up like rubber cement used to. Tried mek as well didn’t work as well best I could tell.