Fixing tacky/sticky rubber coating on tools

I think I’ve asked this before over the years and gotten various suggestions, after pulling a couple older tools out of storage looking to revisit this.

Looking for simple process to de-tacky-fi tools where the rubber around it gets gross. Pulled out a heat gun and battery powered drill from storage for some work and my usual method of fixing this issue is to rub the tacky/sticky areas with methyl hydrate, which works about 50% of the time. For both these working older tools, it basically does nothing and I’ve taken to wearing nitrile gloves while using them, but I’d prefer to just use them without any gloves.

My next thought was to just brush them with talcum powder, but not sure how well that’ll work.

Other suggestions? I don’t want to scrape/buff off the old rubber stuff and re-coat, seems like too much work.

Have you tried ammonia/windex or IPA? Pretty sure either would do the job.

IPA? What’s that?

I’ve wrapped the handle on the heat gun using this

for now.

Just tried some ammonia, don’t have any Windex handy. The ammonia was no better than Methyl Hydrate. :frowning:

isopropyl alcohol

i`ve had limited success using it…

denatured might be better…although that sounds like what you’ve tried already.

Depending on the handle shape you might try encapsulating it with some heat shrink tube?

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I’ve rubbed things with rubbing alcohol until the top tacky layer comes off. This works best with a rough bartender cleaning cloth. And so far things have stayed good for years