This is my first post so please bear with me. In fact I'm not sure this will ever make it to the list but here goes.
By default I'm the mechanic to a group of a dozen or so family and friends, a few of whom have more than one bike. I have a few of my own including vintage Italian and American steel bikes. So I end up doing a lot of maintenance, the most frequent of which is chain cleaning.
The product I use is orange oil (Google d-limonene) which I purchase in bulk from a Florida company. The method I use is a relatively inexpensive chain cleaning plastic contraption (spin doctor and others) for normail maintenance and a pan full of orange oil with a toothbrush for completely grimy chains which I break for this purpose.
After thoroughly drying the chain I follow up with Prolink chain lube, a "dry" lubricant that I buy only when it's on sale at Performance. Contrary to recommendations, I also use the orange oil on grimy painted surfaces to remove grease stains, but I follow up with soap and water.
Hope this helps.
Carlos Ovalle
Long Beach, California