Washing the shop rags

[PWL216 1,175]

Shop rags can get expensive and I don’t like to put them in my washing machine. I’ve had this cement mixer around for a while now and figured I’d put it to good use

[WHX?? 55,988]

18 minutes ago, PWL216 said:

I don’t like to put them in my washing machine

Just do when she ain't lookin... 

[Achto 31,507]

Excellent idea!!  

 

I had once thought about picking up a gas powered Maytag for washing shop rags.

[WHX?? 55,988]

24 minutes ago, Achto said:

picking up a gas powered Maytag

Now that would be cool... 

[8ntruck 8,748]

 keep your fingers out of the ringer rollers!

[kpinnc 17,743]

I buy $5 packs of microfiber towels at Horror Fright, and wash them when I get a big pile dirty. 

 

If they get really nasty they go in the trash. They're cheap enough to be semi- reusable. 

[squonk 46,057]

Yup Horror fright has the towels in Micro and your std. cotton white and red variety. Almost not worth washing them.

[kpinnc 17,743]

8 minutes ago, squonk said:

Yup Horror fright has the towels in Micro and your std. cotton white and red variety. Almost not worth washing them.

 

Literally as cheap as the paper shop towels. Just without the lint.

 

If they are just dirty, I wash them. 

 

But if they are greasy that doesn't go in the washer. That is one thing my wife might actually hurt me over... 

Edited yesterday at 10:02 AM by kpinnc

[ebinmaine 78,171]

9 hours ago, PWL216 said:

cement mixer

 

FANTASTIC! 

[adsm08 4,352]

I just take them into work and dump them in the dirty bin, then "borrow" a similar number. I let the uniform company worry about washing them.

[wallfish 19,693]

I mostly use these. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/TOOLBOX-Professional-White-Rags-200-Sheets-10-in-W-x-11-in-L-Sheet-Size-Disposable-Painter-s-Rags-Natural-Fibers-5820208/203776822

 

The cheaper HDX brand aren't very absorbent and just smear crap around. 

 

I don't like leaving ANY gas soaked rags around because there's always sparks flying. Grinding welding torches etc.  I use old Tshirts too as more permanent type rags but just toss those when there isn't anymore clean spots on them.

Edited yesterday at 01:14 PM by wallfish

[Ed Kennell 45,654]

When my work clothes reach the correct level, they become shop rags for a while, then go to the burn barrel.      No grease in Mrs. Ks house or washing machine.

[SylvanLakeWH 31,025]

I soak my coveralls in a Home Depot bucket with dawn soap... then squish them around a bit... rinse and dry... degreases enough for my needs...

 

Old tshirts etc. for rags. When life expectancy reached (dirty beyond continued use) they get tossed... 

[Wayne0 1,557]

1 hour ago, adsm08 said:

I just take them into work and dump them in the dirty bin, then "borrow" a similar number. I let the uniform company worry about washing them.

I did that for years!

[Pullstart 69,589]

I kept our old wash machine when we upgraded.  It likes to spill the bleach over a few loads, but I don’t use bleach.  It’s in the basement to do my dirty laundry out of sight, out of mind.

[Wishin4a416 2,558]

Great idea. Looks like it works great.When I had race horses back in the 70's washing the leg wraps was an issue. They got very dirty and stinky. We picked up an old maytag washer with the ringer and kept it at the track.

 

[rmaynard 17,092]

I used to have storage space in a building that was shared with a truck repair center. They had the red wiping rags delivered in bundles. The bin for new ones was next to my door, and the used ones had a bin as well. The manager always made the rags available to me as long as I returned them to the used bin.  Then, when I moved out of the building, he gave me enough rags to last a lifetime, but I had no way to clean them. So I went to the local laundromat and threw them in one of their commercial machines.  

[ebinmaine 78,171]

6 hours ago, wallfish said:

I mostly use these. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/TOOLBOX-Professional-White-Rags-200-Sheets-10-in-W-x-11-in-L-Sheet-Size-Disposable-Painter-s-Rags-Natural-Fibers-5820208/203776822

 

 

 

 

Ordered. I'll try em too. 

 

[Ed Kennell 45,654]

7 hours ago, adsm08 said:

I just take them into work and dump them in the dirty bin, then "borrow" a similar number. I let the uniform company worry about washing them.

I took advantage of this fringe benefit for 40 years, but that and all my other benefits ended about 20 years ago when I retired.

[953 nut 65,094]

17 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

fringe benefit

While working at the power plant it seemed like every emploee (myself included) had a clean rag in their hip pocket as they left work. After twenty years that little fringe benefit gave me quite an accumulation of ragas but I retired twenty years ago so now I have to buy them.    

[Handy Don 16,232]

At my Dad’s plant, it was flashlights. They’d go home in a hip pocket and “forget” to come back to work in the morning. Eventually, after “losing” more than 2 per year, you had to buy a new one--suddenly losses stopped. Also, to get fresh batteries, you had to turn in the old ones (which had been stamped with the company logo when issued) -- another supply line item cost trimmed.

 

My fave is the apocryphal story of the guy who left the construction site every Friday with a wheelbarrow load of gravel. After a couple of months, the gate guard, now curious, wanted to know what the fellow was doing with all the gravel. The reply? “Gravel, heck, I’ve been stealing wheelbarrows.” 

Edited 4 hours ago by Handy Don