PCBONEZ, some response to your comments:
I suppose I could have used old motor oil from my diesel, but it still flows too readily. I wanted something that would stick to the surface of my glazed corelle dish. Red bearing grease is a bit gummy, true, but I can visualise it well. If something disloves an extreme example like bearing grease, it would probably do well on other types of organic residues, provided it doesn't damage PCBs.
I was unable to get the oil out of my cans of compressed air. I do not have a shop compressor.
To be honest, what really started this for me was hoping to prove my old professors wrong. When they point out dumb stuff students do, it sticks in the mind for decades. When I was doing some research work with surface plasmon generation via nano-hole arrays, we could not use any type of physical contact to remove oils from our gold-on-glass chips. I remember finger prints and residues being incredibly difficult to remove to the tolerance we needed. Ultimately the piranah etch ended up being the preferred course as various washings with ethonal, IPA, acetone, and DI water still left visible residue. On the down side, the piranah etch is extremely dangerous. From some recent readings online, it does point to acetone being better at removing oils than IPA, however my simple grease test did not confirm this. Like you pointed out, this is probably due to the grease type, or maybe the concentration of acetone.
Yes, we have Mean Green in Canada. I buy it at Canadian Tyre and leave it in the garage for when I do automotive work. It works well for a quick clean up fix. I find with my engine-specific degreaser, that I don't have the paitence to wait it out. Or maybe I'm buying the wrong product. What is the longest you've let Mean Green (not Simple Green) sit on your PCB surfaces without damage? As it showed some promise with my bearing grease test, I would like to consider using it on some motherboards.
I am not surprised by your question though. It seems getting "new" chemicals or new anything into Canada takes at least a decade after the Americans get it. We only got the store-shelved pain killer Aleve and Melatonin a few years ago!
I try to stay away from skin contact with any chemical. I know of some mechanics who died after chemicals entered their blood stream through hand contact. I probably look like a sissy using latex gloves with Windex, but I don't care.
Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.