I've been to a two-day loctite design/usage "school." They guy there told me not to bother "cleaning," but just to blow off the big pieces. His reasoning was that the powder/specks/pieces left on there is the same strength as the new stuff and will become part of the matrix (like gravel in cement mix to make concrete?). And how would you clean the detritus out of the female thread?

Again, YMMV.

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James Marriott
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