Kerosene is basically a light fuel oil. It is not a solvent per sea but will clean away other dried oils and residue rather quickly.
I used it to clean the 100 years of varnished oil off the bottom of my Minnesota A and to give my rusted up 99K his final flush out bath before reassembly.
Neither machine's finish was damaged. I did not leave the kerosene on the finish any longer than necessary and I didn't completely immerse the machine in it.
I have also used Hoppe's #9 gun cleaning solvent to clean really badly gunked up parts and there was no finish damage. Hoppe's #9 uses kerosene as a base with a few other ingredients added.
I suspect that long time immersion in kerosene would not be good for decals, shellack or some paints, but a light cleaning shouldn't hurt. After all, it's oil, just not as refined as sewing machine oil.
Joe