Shop Rags

[Jagmandave]

I just about can't work without a red shop rag in my back pocket, and over the years have accumulated a fairly good stack of them, usually from coming home from work with one tucked into said back pocket!

Working in jobs that provided shop rags I usually just took a bag of dirty ones in and swapped them for clean ones....

Since I'm now "retired" (not my choice) I still have that stack and I will keep them till they shred and are threadbare and beyond use. If they're not too greasy I just wash them in the washing machine, then do a load of my jeans after to make sure there's no remaining smell or whatever.

So, what do you use?

Is there a better /more cost effective / more ecological alternative?

Here's my stack, yes I fold them up - it's easier to store them that way.

View media item 13690

 

[DodgeZ]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200-INDUSTR...161?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b844ec51

 

[z28snksknr]

Advance Auto sells them 25 for like $10. Just wash them by themselves once or twice to get the bleeding color dye off.

I use these:

Super tough, absorbant, and I don't have to worry about greasing up my washing machine at home.

 

[Gary S]

My rags are all free. Why throw away old clothes and buy rags when the old clothes work just as well?
And, you never have to wash a rag.

 

[eldirector]

I get the blue paper towels by the "case" at Sams Club. They get used for about anything really messy, since they can just be tossed.

I have a stack of the red shop rags as well. My wife doesn't particularly care for those. I need to get my own washing machine for the garage, I guess!

 

[kv501]

--Pain in the *** washing rags.

--Hard on washing machine if you use your own.

--I would feel bad when the guy after me got his clothes ruined if I took them to the laundromat.

--No fire hazard of oily rags in my garage.

--Convenient having a roll on the wall right above my bench.

Just my opinion, though.

 

[bad_idea]

another vote for old clothes. we get them by the bale at work, so that is what i am use to. my conscious keeps me from swiping a bale so i just use old clothes. cut them into useable sizes with a good pair of scissors. throw them away when dirty.

 

[Jagmandave]

Just to answer the fire hazard question.....I do have the appropriate container.

View media item 13692
Just asking, for information's sake.......

But aren't those paper towels more of an ecological cost than rewashing shop rags? After harvesting the wood, the energy needed to make, package, transport and sell them, then they simply go into the landfill, grease and oil included.

Whereas if I wash my shop rags, the resulting dirty water goes to the sewage treatment plant....

I don't have anything against the Scott Towels, I've used them too, and in fact I use regular paper towels to clean up the worst gobs of grease and schmutz so my shop rags don't get too nasty, so I'm not preaching here.

How much do those Scott towels cost at Costco, just for information's sake?

 

[wornoutoldman]

http://www.harborfreight.com/50-piece-13-x-14-mechanics-shop-towels-68442.html

 

[Zeke]

I have a couple dozen red and blue shop rags. Not as good as an old tee shirt or towel.

 

[Ray-CA]

I soak mine for a day or two in a solution of Simple Green and water (50/50) that I stir around a few times. Then they are either laid in the driveway to dry or hung on a line. Once dry they are no worse than a dirty so off the the laundry mat for a once through the washer.

Ray

 

[Jagmandave]

If I have some shop rags that get really nasty, I wash them out in my solvent tank, then do as you, soak them in a bucket of simple green to get rid of the solvent, then into the washing machine.

But I always do a load of my jeans after that to make sure there's no lingering smell in the machine when the bride goes to do her wash.

I don't know if it's just a long standing habit or what, but I really need a shop rag in my back pocket when I work!

One of my friends once introduced me as "the only guy I know who can overhaul an engine in a white T-Shirt and it's still clean and white when he's done", must be in part because I have a shop rag handy to wipe my hands on....

 

[BigAl62]

I soak mine for a day or two in a solution of Simple Green and water (50/50) that I stir around a few times. Then they are either laid in the driveway to dry or hung on a line. Once dry they are no worse than a dirty so off the the laundry mat for a once through the washer.

Ray

This is what I do with my dirty cloth rags. I also use the Scott paper rags, I buy the big box at Autozone. (200 to a box)

 

[Kevin54]

I use the blue Shop towels like shown above but buying rolls of paper towels can get costly over time. I have some shop rags from work that I mainly use.

Keep an eye out at WallyWorld when towels and washcloths go on sale and oick some up. The Dollar stores usually have towels and washcloths that can be bought cheap. The large bundles of red shop rags can be bought at the auto stores but those things will bleed for quite a long while. Also check out some diaper companies and see what you can purchase cloth diapers for. They make great shop rags.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Blue Scott paper towels used here. Any of them get real oily/greasy get tossed into the woodburner, that's my fire proof container.

I do have some red shop rags and some blue lint free hospital OR towels too.

 

[mossyboy6]

I use both, paper towels for the super greasy stuff, and shop towels (old cut up house towels) for general use.

A roll of paper towels lasts me a lot longer this way.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Earlier thread on cleaning shop rags

These two container are most but not all of my shop rags.

A "lets see your shop rag" thread.

Charles

 

[Steevo]

Let me make sure I understand your dilemma:
You stole shop rags one by one from prior employers, until you had a sufficient supply at home.
Then, you would actually bring the dirty stolen rags in in large batches, to swap for the clean ones your employer paid to have on hand.
Now, you are flummoxed by the situation you are in because you have no employer to a) steal rags from, and b) swap out your dirty ones.

Does that about sum it up?
I gotta admit, you got some stones, dave.

 

[wraptor]

Pour the battery acid on them, throw in the washer and your problem will be gone.

 

[Twiggss]

Let me make sure I understand your dilemma:
You stole shop rags one by one from prior employers, until you had a sufficient supply at home.
Then, you would actually bring the dirty stolen rags in in large batches, to swap for the clean ones your employer paid to have on hand.
Now, you are flummoxed by the situation you are in because you have no employer to a) steal rags from, and b) swap out your dirty ones.

Does that about sum it up?
I gotta admit, you got some stones, dave.

seems like you need to change your "rag"

 

[brslk]

seems like you need to change your "rag"

Seems to me like Steve summed it up as a business owner.

 

[Agent1320]

I have maybe 30 or so of the red shop rags. Accumulated by either leaving them in the pocket when leaving work, or buying the little 10-packs at the parts store every now & then. I have about 30 of the larger green towels used by hospitals. A surgeon gave me a handful of brand new towels. They work great. When the reds or greens get too nasty, I'll toss them in the dumpster. But for the salvageable ones I soak them in a 5-gallon bucket of Oxyclean & water for a few days, then rinse & wring them out and hang them to dry.

I also use old clothes. Socks are great. I slice up shirts and stuff and toss them in a container. I also have a few large bath towels that I use for soaking up spills and stuff. I wash all the old clothes and towels just like the rags, just a double scoop of Oxy and water, let it soak for a few days, rinse, wring out, and air dry.

I buy the rolls of blue shop towels maybe once every few months, and they are only used when I'm doing clean work, like rebuilding a carburetor, or really nasty stuff like differential work or transmission work. You cant hardly get the smell of gear oil or ATF out of a rag, no matter how many times you wash it. The blue towels are just too expensive to justify using them for everything, and they don't do the same jobs as a good ol red shop rag anyhow.

 

[Steven67fr]

I use both the red cloth rags... At the auto shop and the blue scott towls at the CNC shop. Though I also work at in n out burger (the west coasters on here, and texans now) will know what I am talking about. Part of our uniform is a red apron... They only last so long before they start to fade... the coamy proceedes to toss them, so I gather them up for shop towl duty... Each apron makes around 10 towls. Works for me

 

[TireTracks]

We use Old cloths and paper towels.
When I have my own Shop i'm going to have a wood stove in it.
The procedure- Wear cloths untill ruined.
Used as shop rags, untill ruined
Burn for heat.
Yep i'm cheap.

 

[Norcal]

I have maybe 30 or so of the red shop rags. Accumulated by either leaving them in the pocket when leaving work, or buying the little 10-packs at the parts store every now & then. I have about 30 of the larger green towels used by hospitals. A surgeon gave me a handful of brand new towels. They work great. When the reds or greens get too nasty, I'll toss them in the dumpster. But for the salvageable ones I soak them in a 5-gallon bucket of Oxyclean & water for a few days, then rinse & wring them out and hang them to dry.

I also use old clothes. Socks are great. I slice up shirts and stuff and toss them in a container. I also have a few large bath towels that I use for soaking up spills and stuff. I wash all the old clothes and towels just like the rags, just a double scoop of Oxy and water, let it soak for a few days, rinse, wring out, and air dry.

I buy the rolls of blue shop towels maybe once every few months, and they are only used when I'm doing clean work, like rebuilding a carburetor, or really nasty stuff like differential work or transmission work. You cant hardly get the smell of gear oil or ATF out of a rag, no matter how many times you wash it. The blue towels are just too expensive to justify using them for everything, and they don't do the same jobs as a good ol red shop rag anyhow.

The Oxyclean does wonders to old greasy rags, some rags that I never expected to amount to much came out pretty decent. At a estate sale last month found a big bundle of shop rags in the corner of of a unfinished garage* & I do mean unfinished, no lights, receptacles other then one under the panel, a rollup door dumped in the center of the door opening on the floor. A cat had crapped on them but shook that off before I left & washed em w/ bleach, now to get the musty odor out......

The lender was supposed to take the property at the end of November, they have a mess to clean up.

 

[Jagmandave]

My collection of shop rags has been accumulated over a 30 year career working at various shops all around the country, it would be pretty hard to return them at this point as most of those places are not only no longer in business, some of the buildings don't even exist.

If I have 100 rags, that would mean I purloined about 3 a year from my various employers......hardly a crime wave, is it?

And who's to say I wasn't the employer in some cases?

My point in starting this thread was to ask for alternatives that are used by the membership here, perhaps looking for a potentially more ecological solution than just throwing greasy paper towels into the landfill.

But thanks for your input there, Steevo, glad to see the morality police are on the job.....

 

[fromnwmt]

I just about can't work without a red shop rag in my back pocket, and over the years have accumulated a fairly good stack of them, usually from coming home from work with one tucked into said back pocket!

Working in jobs that provided shop rags I usually just took a bag of dirty ones in and swapped them for clean ones....

Since I'm now "retired" (not my choice) I still have that stack and I will keep them till they shred and are threadbare and beyond use. If they're not too greasy I just wash them in the washing machine, then do a load of my jeans after to make sure there's no remaining smell or whatever.

So, what do you use?

Is there a better /more cost effective / more ecological alternative?

Here's my stack, yes I fold them up - it's easier to store them that way.

View media item 13690

If you befriend or know someone who works for a motel they can hook you up with piles of wash rags and towels that may have a tear or small stain.. Oxyclean in tub before putting in the washing machine...

 

[exjeeper]

I'm just like JagManDave, I have about 100 red ones folded on my bench now.

I wash them at the local laundromat. They have a couple of machines set
aside for greasy clothes.

I buy the red rags at Sam's Club. (like Costco's)

 

[AmickRacing]

I use blue rags most of the time. The HVAC supply house has a box of them for around $15-20 from time to time. I bought a box a while back, most are still in use today. Once they are super nasty I just toss em, or at work they get used until they are junk then tossed. At Dad's shop he'll save em and wash em up. More power to him, but considering a box lasts a couple years, I kinda don't think I'd prolly be washing them very often.

Oh, I'll join the crew of stealing rags from work, methodically, one at a time also. Not many, but I generally have one in my pocket also. I've stolen markers, pens, and quite possibly even a paper clip or 2. Course there's plenty of my stuff that makes it's way into the van and stays there too... I call it a fair trade.

On a side note... I have a bad habit of having a rag hanging out of my left rear pocket any time I'm working on almost anything. Quite often when I go to lunch I forget it's there, and find myself walking into the eatery with that rag still in my pocket... I really need to quit doing that!

 

[sc3013]

Well I have quite a number of shop towels. Where I worked when we replaced bearing seals each box came with a new shop towel, they are yellow and have GARLOCK on them, and I just threw them in my tool box. Over a 35 year time period I have a couple of 55 gal barrels full. About twice a year I get out the OLD Maytag wringer washer and tubs and have a wash day.

 

[saabman]

In the past I used the red shop rags but they are a pain to wash (I would take them to the local laundromat). But in recent time I use the blue Scott towels. Availble in both rolls and boxes.

 

[PCO6]

On a side note... I have a bad habit of having a rag hanging out of my left rear pocket any time I'm working on almost anything.

I do that too. My wife asks me why and I just smile and say "don't worry I'll wash it separately"..

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I use liquid Tide to soak the towels in, and later I rinse them and wash in the liquid tide and TSP. Real TSP is found in the paint section of Home Depot. Tri Sodium Phosphate, its a powder. Was used as a laundry booster, but with the anti phosphate campaigns by the green folks, its no longer marketed as a laundry booster, but rather as a cleaner for cleaning siding and such before you paint.

I originally looked at ACE hardware for the TSP since someone on this board said they had found it there. What they had were three different products that has TSP in real large letters on the container, and underneath that, "Subsutitute". It was actually Sodium Metasilicate (white wall tire cleaner). I just stumbled into the TSP at HD when I was buying a gallon of mineral sprits.

The TSP and Tide got the shop towels cleaner than they had been in a long time.

Charles

 

[formek]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200-INDUSTR...161?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b844ec51

About $ .23 apice with shipping

http://www.harborfreight.com/50-piece-13-x-14-mechanics-shop-towels-68442.html

About $ .26 apice without shipping

 

[formek]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200-INDUSTR...161?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b844ec51

I just bought some. Mery X mas to me

 

[Tom_20m]

I use the red rags that I bought from Harborfreight, back when they 50 for 8 buxs but have gone up in price. I also use old towels, shirts and socks. If you keep your eyes peeled in the free section of Craigslist, you might be lucky to find someone giving away a bag of wash clothes. I have a 30 gallon trash bag full of wash clothes that I picked up for free.

 

[Brad54]

I know a guy that reportedly got a U-Haul truck full of them, in big garbage bags.
They came from a friend of his who had a service, and most of these rags came from a printing plant--they had printer's ink on them that had dried and gotten crusty on a lot of them.
I knew him from the HAMB, and stopped by his shop one day to help him move some stuff. I ended up leaving with two or three garbage bags... my two other friends had left with the same amount previously, and just laughed.
Got home, pulled out and pitched all the crusty ones, and folded the others and stacked them in bins.
I have two tote bins stuffed with neatly-folded shop rags, and the overflow of 20 or 30 rags is in my supply cabinet.
I think I'll burn through the first bin in about 5 or 10 years, and then I'll start worrying about washing my rags in OxyClean or Simple Green! (as it is, i think I've thrown away five in the last year. Only after they were so far gone they left their own ring on the table)

-Brad

 

[Flathead Johnny]

HF sells 50 pack bags for 12.99 with the 20% coupon $10.80, i just wait for the sale and buy the 50 pack for $5.99, it seems some are going out of the way to clean and keep disposable rags. I use my rags one or twice and toss then, rather not have the fire hazard or the clutter. But to each their own.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Good shop "towels" are worth keeping, they will last for many years. The cheap one feel cheap, are thin, and shrink and get thinner if you clean them, and well, are a waste of money if you don't clean them. If I'm going to throw something away, it's going to be old t shirts, cotton socks and the like that I use for grunge rags.

Charles

 

[Falcon67]

I buy blue no-lint rags by the huge bag for $5 a giant bag. Here's the secret boys and girls - got to your local hospital and find out where they send the surgical rags for cleaning. It's a bio-hazard issue and the rags can only be used once. They have to be cleaned and sanitized, then they can be sold but not back to the hospital. The local cleaner here sells them when they have them by the big bag. If you hit on the right day, buy a bunch because you can get the cash back from your buds in about 2 minutes when they see the bags. These are top quality rags too - color won't bleed even sitting in lacquer thinner. Every car guy and pro painter around here knows about it, so you have to be right guy at right time to get your stash!