how to clean ball bearings

[Army_of_One]

I've had great luck removing bearing retainers with a random needle I found in the sewing kit.  The orange 80/11 makes getting the bearing out of the cup the hardest thing now.

I went and got more because it was the best I've used.

[Tiddlerbasher]

I'm using dental picks (cheap and nasty from Ebay) to remove shields. Then a blast in solvent (in a small jar) in an ultrasonic bath. Then TSI321 for spool bearings (for casting reels) and marine grease for all other bearings.