Shop rag washer--what do you do?

JPhil

JPhil

Huh?
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
1,361
Location
Loveland, Colorado, USA
I have a motley collection of shop rags---old t-shirts, old towels & scraps of bedsheets, old genuine shop rags, etc. (I do keep them in closed metal containers, labeled "clean" & "dirty".)
But washing the dirty ones has always been a problem. I don't have a professional shop service of course. In the past, I have used a 5-gallon bucket with lots of detergent and a piece of plastic pipe with a hose connection and holes drilled up and down the sides and I soak & slosh & rinse & wash & pour it out in the alley, an all day affair---but that's a pain in the ass. I typically just take the particularly soaked filthy ones and put them in the trash. For someone else to deal with. And of course I will not put them in my household clotheswasher, nor will I do that to a laundromat anymore (I admit, I have in the past. I've been a bad bad boy).
I've even thought about buying a used clotheswasher to put in or more realistically outside the garage and run with the garden hose & extension cord, but I don't want to take up the space for such an infrequently used appliance (put flower pots on it? Shit and then I gotta water the flowers..) and besides it would freeze and burst in the winter here. And where would I drain it to anyway? Not in my yard--I got pears & apples & roses & shit... plus dog & kitties & squirrels & for more shit (!)

Any ideas?
 
I save them up and run them through the clothes washer, with a double dose of detergents, maybe some dishwasher detergent, and then do a load of my old dark greazy assed farty holey oldies....:hissyfit::hissyfit:

Much to my wife's lament....:clobbered::rolleyes:
 
turtlevette said:
use paper towels like i do.
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You know, on that score, we switched to buying the paper towels with the narrow sheets, about 1/2 size of the old more square variety....cuts the expense in about 1/2 too, I use them for say cleaning a window, let it dry then reuse for other more filthy things....I"m a cheep bastard, and honestly, lazy too, just pick one off the pile instead of reach for the roll....several piles around makes it within easy reach....:nuts:
 
I like that laundromat idea :D

ok, seriously.... I use paper towels, I buy them when Walgreens has their "special" ... 8 rolls for $5 is really not all that bad... last me quiet a while :1st:
 
I did the used washer thing- worked great. It died and I never replaced it. If your rags are really nasty, I'd go to the laundromat at night. The dude that owns the place will probably attempt to cause you bodily harm for leaving a greasy ring.

Look at the RV (camper) shops- they make a small tabletop washer that might be the thing- and I don't recall them being very expensive.
 
TimAT said:
The dude that owns the place will probably attempt to cause you bodily harm for leaving a greasy ring.
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In another life... I've used laundromats and I remember beeing really pissed when the clothes were smeared with grease.
It's one thing to say
"well it's not my home machine so who cares?"
It's also other people's clothings.
 
I've been looking for an old ringer washer. Matag as I remember had a stainless drum. My wife will probably want in in the barn to do horse blankets and towels (will have to get two...LOL).
 
mrvette said:
I save them up and run them through the clothes washer, with a double dose of detergents, maybe some dishwasher detergent, and then do a load of my old dark greazy assed farty holey oldies....:hissyfit::hissyfit:

Much to my wife's lament....:clobbered::rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Some detergent, a good dollop of Dawn dish soap...never had a problem. I think I had to wipe out the drum on my washer once after doing that. Usually washing the stuff a second time with the same treatment takes care of any such issues.
 
Sam Cogley said:
mrvette said:
I save them up and run them through the clothes washer, with a double dose of detergents, maybe some dishwasher detergent, and then do a load of my old dark greazy assed farty holey oldies....:hissyfit::hissyfit:

Much to my wife's lament....:clobbered::rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Some detergent, a good dollop of Dawn dish soap...never had a problem. I think I had to wipe out the drum on my washer once after doing that. Usually washing the stuff a second time with the same treatment takes care of any such issues.
Click to expand...

UMM humm...untill the smaller/shorter one notices with her keen eyes and cops a 'tude'.....

then it's hill time dude....

:beer::p
 
Never even thought of shop rags and washing them. Why not just use paper towels? My 68 was coated, underneath on the frame up by the engine, by about 1/4 to 3/8 inch of grease and sand. Due to heat and age, the grease had often turned to something with a consistency of varnish. I used a putty knife and a rotating wire brush (on an electric drill motor) to remove it and cleaned it with many applications of paper towels and lacquer thinner. Go the frame down to pretty much pure clean steel and then painted it. All paper towels.
 
I frequently have to wipe the lens on my glasses, and because they are real glass, not plastic, I use paper towels, we buy the ones with the smaller sheets to keep waste down, and then I use those glasses wipers for shop use...

;):rain:
 
i started using left over unmatched socks as rags.....they are great...no guilt in tossing them when they are dirty either. mostly i toss old rags if they are really greasy, other dirty towels/rags and carwashing towels i wash at home when Momma isnt looking than follow up with my blue jeans and then loads of towels.
 
Last year, a uniform shop in the neighbor closed/moved and literally left a little mountain of scrap fabric on the street. Guess where it went.
I'm fine tossing it when it's dirty, and the stock hasn't dried up yet.
 
MYBAD79 said:
Sam Cogley said:
I do like the blue "shop towel on a roll" paper towels for a lot of jobs. Regular paper towels tear too easily.
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I like those too but I don't like the price tag..... $2 a roll.... ouch....
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Used to be able to get them in bulk at Sam's Club. Don't think they carry them anymore. I still have some stocked up for appropriate jobs.
 
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