What is "swarfega"

Swarfega is a brand of heavy-duty hand cleaner made by Deb Limited, a British company based in Denby, Derbyshire, and is used in engineering, construction and other manual trades, such as printing.

It is a dark green, gelatinous, thixotropic substance used to clean grease, oil, printer's ink, or general persistent, hydrophobic dirt from the skin. Swarfega is used by working a small amount into dry skin, then wiping or rinsing off. As with other such cleaners, it can be more effective than soap or other common cleansing products at removing such dirt; Swarfega became virtually ubiquitous in environments where this kind of dirt is common, such as garages and machine shops.