Ok the links stuffed up. The whats in the Windex shows a very similar chemical composition although it is not as strong. 2-Hexoxyethanol, Butoxypropanol and Propylene Glycol along with some wetting agents and a little acid. In some ways it may have a more rounded chemical composition. The Vinegar version not one I have used has the acid and the Original has some ammonia in it.
So this made me think about Hope’s 9. Had a look at the data sheet… Seems like it can be DIY’ed. Mmmm need to find proportions…
Looks like some pretty common chemicals Ethenol (methlated spirits now Ethanol for safety) , Kerosene, Oleic Acid Diggers Rust cleaner? Amyl Acetate (Acetone) and some Ammonium hydroxide (cloudy ammonia)
What is in cloudy ammonia?
It is also used to produce fertilisers, plastics, synthetic fibres, dyes and pharmaceuticals. Household ammonia , bought in the cleaning section of the supermarket, is really a solution of water with 5-10% ammonium hydroxide. Cloudy ammonia is the same thing with a little soap added.
Based on the price of some of those products you could make killing mixing up your own brew and maketing it.
“Justcleaning”
“Cleanstarting”
“Uncle JS’s milsurp soap”
“Battle wash”
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Funny, I’ve often thought that too. Most of them are made of pretty common & cheap solvents. Kero, turps, acetone, petrol, diesel. List just goes on & on.
PS, Ed’s Red does a reasonable job. I use it all the time.
Ed’s Red is bloody handy for a lot of other things too. Sometimes I have to take things apart that were built in the 19th century, soaking threads in Ed’s Red for a couple of days works wonders.
I wonder how CRC BRAKLEEN Brake and Parts Cleaner would go?
I use it for cleaning car parts etc and it works well.
So here are the safety data sheets for Hopes products:
https://www.hoppes.com/global/customer-service/sds-information
The specific one I am talking about, is Hope’s #9 - PDF download.
| # | Ingredient | % weight |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ethyl Alcohol | 15 - 40 |
| 2 | Kerosene | 15 - 40 |
| 3 | Oleic Acid | unknown |
| 4 | Amyl Acetate | 5 - 10 |
| 5 | Ammonium Hydroxide | 1 - 5 |
oh yes, you can totally do tables in this forum 
Going to pick my friends brain about it a little more later, some are obviously for cleaning, others are little trickier, but certainly something I can play with. I also think that Ed’s Red mixing ratios are very helpful to reverse engineer this.
After I asked the question (he’s a biologist, not organic chemist, but I know one too 
So I will ask there as well). For now, some preliminary thoughts:
yeah biology and organic chemistry are very different beasts. So your oleic acid is likely to act as an emulsifier or a lubricant probably emulsifier, so that you can mix kerosine with water (though ethanol should also help). nfi about amyl acetate except for what i just read on wiki and that its a solvent (which i guessed) and is a flavouring agent. My guess would be that the kerosine and ethanol dissolve the grease like substances and ammonia dissolves all the other gunk, oleic acid keeps it all together. Kinda like egg yolk in mayo.
Where did water comes from? This is the unknown. If everything is mixed at maximum and Oleic Acid is at 5%, then it’s probably a lubricant. However, if there is water (also a good solvent, to make up the remaining percentage), then it could act as an emulsifier. And so can ammonia I am told. While Kerosine and Oleic Acid would displace water. That said, I don’t see water separate to the top, so my poorly educated guess is that it’s not an ingredient, in which case, Ethyl could act as an emulsifier and Oleic Acid is rust inhibitor.
So…
- Ethyl Alcohol - cleaning (and potentially emulsifier).
- Kerosene - cleaning.
- Ammonium Hydroxide - (ammonia) cleaning; and/or emulsifier. However, I suspect it’s at the very minimum for cleaning to act as a mild coper solvent.
- Oleic Acid - most likely rust inhibitor (oily feel in Hopes), I suspect; but friend tells me it could be an emulsifier or both. Now that I think about it, I think it is both, similarly to Ed’s Red transmission fluid, that acts as both.
- Amyl Acetate - my guess, this is used to give the solution its distinct’ smell.
I think an experiment will be to:
Remove Oleic Acid and Amyl Acetate from the solution, to test above hypothesis.
Mix the rest at various ratios, maybe mix some similarly to Ed’s Red…
#1 Burn some powder on steel and clean. See what does a better job.
#2 Rub a copper bullet on steel plate and see what dissolves it.
#3 As above, swap copper for plastic to simulate shotgun wads.
Passing thought:
Do some research on what dissolves lead and is harmless to gun, then either mix this in and test again or use it and then displace with the above solvent. Maybe Kerosine or alcohol would be doing the displacement, hopefully, unless it doesn’t but that’s the test.
Note: terms ‘lubricant’ and ‘rust inhibitor’ is used interchangeably here.
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P.s.
Example of when emulsifier is required. Obviously something in his new ATF had the ingredient to act as an emulsifier, while his original ATF didn’t.
Oh, hello…
Ammonium hydroxide has water that is why the other terms for it is ammonia with water, ammonia liquor etc. This means ammonium hydroxide is an ammonia solution with water content. It only has a small amount of ammonia.
This probably means that there is no additional water. Interesting.
The Ammonium hydroxide I think could be pretty easily replaced by the cloudy Ammonia available in supermarkets. From Google Cloudy ammonia is the same thing with a little soap added. Can only be a little bonus 
I was saving that for my next brain dump, lol. Yes, cloudy ammonia is just ammonia with soap and ammonium hydroxide is ammonia and water.
Exploring another ingredient now, to beef up kerosine and at the same time keep it, well, less harmful to humans and furniture.
Ultimately I’ll need to mix it up and keep metal in it for a week or so, to see any potential damage. Seriously doubt it, but we’ll test it.
I kind of liked seeing the Kerosine as an ingredient. Easy to source, cheap and I thought it had a pretty good track record as being one of the safer petrochemicals? Been used for decades in kerosine lamps, heaters, stoves known and used as a greaser and cleaner and yet probably has enough oil in it to prevent rust.
Not to mention for washing old people!
I went through all this some time ago. My conclusions were;
Windex for fresh carbon.
Ed’s Red for general cleaning.
Sweets for copper, lead, heavy carbon.
If you think about it, just how much do you use?. Is it worth the effort?
Kero removes all oil, as does petrol. Therefore will not leave a protective coating on the steel to prevent rust.
Diesel is a light oil and leaves a protective coating.
It maybe so, OB, but you don’t have scientists with PhDs in Biomed and Organic Chemistry to help you 
I’ll get there…