Which chemical in dettol makes it good for stripping acrylic paint?

Question

I am a tabletop wargamer, and it's a well known piece of hobbyist folklore that if you want to strip paint from a plastic, resin or metal miniature, dettol is a great choice.

However I am interested in which ingredient in dettol is actually doing the stripping. Wikipedia gives the ingredients as: chloroxylenol (the active ingredient), pine oil, isopropanol, castor oil soap, caramel, and water.

It seems to me that it could just as easily be the IPA that's doing the stripping. Could that be the case? If so, what other household products could also be used to strip miniatures?

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

Isopropanol does not dissolve acrylics. It requires the action of a hydrocarbon like toluene or xylene, so the chloroxylenol (= chloroxylene) is the active ingredient.

Answer 2

Stripping Acrylic Paint

Source(s): https://shrinkurl.im/a905q