Am I missing anything?

[ithacaartist]

The Harley mechanic I use squirts brake cleaner to clean off an area to check for oil seepage afterwards, but I've seen him use it as a general cleaner. A subsequent polishing with a clean rag leaves what I presume is a totally clean surface. But then again, he's not going to blue the part. So I'd be careful, as with the nail polish remover, to check that the proprietary formula does not contain any oily or silicon based ingredients. The acetone from Lowe's, etc, is cheap, in stock, and you're set to go without questions of purity.
I have some aerosol gun cleaner/blaster, which pretty much removes the lube, but it won't replace the toothbrush for the crud in the tight areas and corners. It smells like oranges, so there is probably an orange oil component to it; because of this and the slight haze of residue it leaves, I'd not use it as the final pre-blue prep--maybe use it first, then brush/scrub with hot water and Dawn, then the acetone bath. The advantage to pure acetone is that it evaporates completely. It is slightly hydrophyllic, which means that it mixes with any water left well enough that it takes the water with it when it dries, which is virtually instantaneously. This is how laboratory glassware is dried after it's washed clean. If you detect any residue after this point, re-clean; the residue will not be that of the acetone, but of contaminants you missed the first time.

DP