Suggestions for cleaning cylinder head

[Mosquito13]

Take it to a transmission or engine shop and have them hot dip it for you. Cheap and you do not have to deal with the caustic chems. . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU8WT-vO144

[hannibal]

I used simple green pro. I think it's supposed to be environmentally safe. With that said, my engine was no where near as clean as one that's been blasted. I wasn't going for looks, just trying to minimize the amount of crud that could find its way into the crankcase.

[Burque73]

My God... That. Is. Freaking. Cool.

Lots of good news -
1) The mole hill is not a mountain - the cylinder head doesn't look quite as bad as I remembered it.
2) I have access to the 'Fab Lab' at work, and even have my training coming up for the blast cabinet.

I can't bring the kinds of chemicals I'd use to clean this thing into the fab lab, but I'm thinking I'll do OK with a 5-gal bucket and a stiff brush and a gentle cleaner.

What's a 'decent' gentle (or biodegradable) cleaner? Obviously nothing is as good as the stuff that makes your skin fall off....

I bought a jug of the purple degreaser from Lowe's.

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Zep-Commercial-Industrial-Purple-Cleaner-5-Gallon-Degreaser/3621248

Then used a rubbermaid tub to soak it in. It took the carbon off the pistons and cylinder head in no time. Harsh stuff though.

[Joe Garfield]

Take it to a transmission or engine shop and have them hot dip it for you. Cheap and you do not have to deal with the caustic chems. . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU8WT-vO144

I love this idea. I was wondering what kind of shop would be willing to do this - ie, have the capacity such that it's little to no work for them. I had brought the head to another small shop, but the guy had a lot going on and my 35 year old, dirty cylinder head was not his top priority. I certainly don't blame him.

[Joe Garfield]

I left a few messages with a couple of local engine rebuilding shops.

Someone just told me there's a place to bring hazardous waste, and it's basically 'free' - or paid for in tax dollars; I'll look into that as well.