I use mineral spirits, a couple of different size old paint brushes and an air compressor.

I just use 125 psi air pressure w/ a blow gun.
Mike

Loger: Don't know about links for info , it's pretty well comon sence . You could use a power washer for routine cleaning if you ensure not to direct the nozzle towards the carburator intake or electrical switch or electronics. I suppose a plastic bag could be utilized along with some electrical tape . I usually just diassemble and clean with a brush and clean rag soaked with WD-40 which is excellent at displacing moisture but will degrease very well and leave a fine coat of oil. On lighter sawdust fouling issues compressed air will suffice . As for the chain carb cleaner and light brushing is all I do annually . I'am pretty good at selecting trees for cutting normally avoiding blowdowns which may be contaminated with dirt , gravel within the bark . If absolutely necessary I use a broom to brush off as much debris as possible prior to bucking up such wood.

Another vote for shop air and blow gun. And to get sap and goop off chains, Easy Off oven cleaner followed by water rinse works good.

I find the fastest way to get dirt and impacted saw dust out of bar is run it in bucket of water. The chain pulls the water much like pump and will empty the bucket very fast along with cleaning the bar. I Usually use just house water pressure on hose with noaale when I remove the bar. I also run wire down the bar groove and oiler holes to get any caked on dirt. I use compressed are when I take the covers off around the engine.

"Common Sense", I feel is the key and I have mixed most of these methods.

1. Just compressed air if that will do the job.
2. Spirits, brushes and compressed air and engine cleaning att that will pull solvent with air in direct areas.
3. Hot soapy water rinse on removed case parts.
4. Only solvent, compressed air and wipe-down on Eng., air, brush and wipe electronics.

It can be a good time consuming "frustrating process" if you wait too long. The wear and tear from wood that has been dozed and rolled is not worth the damage if you have a choice. My favorite dozer operators laid the trees in rows w/o rolling them (with only tops and trunks touching the ground. I also went to laser tip bars, making up my own chains (from flea market stock) and waited until after a few rains on a few choice jobs. I Have Had Some Saving Options! loger

I had some realistic work and experimenting today. Splitting and stacking my 2012 harvest of green Live Oak (hauled in 3 loads, in 2 days from 3 blocks away thanks to a tree trimmer). The final cutting/splitting/stacking led to work with the approx 2 face cords as follows. The use of my Poulan S25 that I just cleaned and added a new clutch sprocket. A log splitter just rebuilt/etc and added hydro fluid filter. A young body and my body completed the last half of all splitting/stacking after my needed cutting in 1.5 hr. The cutting/splitting/stacking went great but the saw was a mess. Such a mess, I'll plan to use a small engine cleaner/solvent/attachment with compressed air or a pump de-greaser and compressed air (after finding the possible cause first).

The manuel oiling was working but I detected the automatic was not and feeding wire to clear it d/n help. My question w/o searching, will the automatic oiling cause bar oil to come out at joints/etc? I was seeing excessive ext bar oil and the same old unusual mess I just cleaned. I'll take a break and go for the filter of the automatic oil as years ago that was full of sawdust. Back then it d/n cause this mess. Shared experiences/ info is appreciated! Loger

Automatic Oiler should eventually throw oil off the chain by holding the bar close to tree or something you can see the oil slinging off. IMO automatic oiler don't provide enough oil to effective oil the chain. Constant cleaning the bar and bar plate to get any oil flow imo is usually the case. Some saws husky 350 and above have oil flow adjustments which usually works well due to the fact you can adjust the oil flow to the wood your cutting, dry hard wood needs more oil on the chain. soft wood can be cut with butter knife dull chain IMO.