Doug Miller said:

In article , "mark" wrote:
A while back I asked here what is best to use and someone mentioned easy off
oven cleaner which contains Sodium Hydroxide. I went to the grocery store
and bought pure sodium hydroxide (Lye) used for making homemade soap and
clearing drains. Put a few table spoons in a few cups of water and immersed
my blades and router bits. Almost instantly the solution turned amber due to
the pitch disolving . I swirled it around for a minute or so and then rinsed
everything. It completely cleaned everything off with no scrubbing and this
pitch was on very hard. I then dried everything and then coated with light
oil to prevent rust.


Washing soda works just as well, but is cheaper and *much* safer to use.

I use Simple Green myself.
It's a little slower, but works fine for my needs. It's fairly cheap.
Has a pleasant scent as well, as opposed to lye and oven cleaners.
Even removes sappy, burnt pine pitch from my blades fairly easily.

FWIW,

Greg G.