Originally Posted by utopia

I use paraffin for cleaning greasy stuff like that....Cheap as chips, works a treat, no need to wash it off afterwards.
Coupled with a half-inch paintbrush with the bristles cut down to half length and with tape or shrinkwrap around the metal ferrule to avoid scratching.
A cheap oven tray to catch the drips if I'm being particularly messy, otherwise just newspaper.
And an ordinary roll of kitchen paper towels for wiping up, at £1 for 4. One of these lives full time on a holder on the shed wall.
Once the worst of the gunge is removed I swap the paraffin for a can of GT85 (my favourite WD40-type magic spray) and a rag.