How should I clean soot from tools?

Our family business burned back in January and we aren't rebuilding. We have basically finished the salvage process and now I have some of the tools. The good news is most of the tools were ok, because they were in a fire resistant vault. They are just coated with a layer of black soot since they were in so much smoke.
What's the best way to remove soot from the tools? I got mostly ratchets/sockets/wrenches but there are also a few power tools. Is Kerosene best? What would do a better job? I haven't tried anything yet.

 

when this happen to me i used wd40 and let them set in motor oil
good luck

 

brake cleaner

 

I let all my sockets soak in WD40 overnight, then hit them with some old rags, and the cleaned right up. It wasn't soot, just caked on dirt and grime. I filtered the WD40 through a coffee filter and kept the container to use for the same thing. Seemed to work well for me. YMMV.

 

sounds like several votes for brake cleaner. I'll give that a shot first. I tried WD40 on a few things and it worked ok. I want to see how brake cleaner compares.

 

I soak my tools in varsol, Or diesel for a few days. Take em' out and wipe them off and put them away.