Shop towels sustainability

[andyvh1959]

Over the years I've collected a good batch of traditional russet red shop towels, shop rags, whatever. I also have two rolls of brown shop paper. The brown roll shop paper is handy for bigger cleanup, but the shop rags are still better for all the rest. So I prefer the traditional shop rags, and like to clean them eventually for re-use, sustainability. I'm sure the commercial service companies for shop cloths have their industrial style cleaning systems to revive the soiled rags.

I have a 5-gallon pail full of soiled shop towels in a two step pre-soak to get most of the soil, oil, etc free. Then into the washing machine with typical cleaner like Gain or such. Perhaps I should pre-soak them in Dawn? Does anyone have a specific way to clean their own stock of shop towels? Especially in a way to not tick off the SO when she sees a load of shop rags in the washer?

 

[ericlar80]

You can still buy manual washboards... That, plus some detergent, elbow grease, and air drying would clean them well enough for shop use.

LA's Totally Awesome can be found at the dollar store and it works really well on cleaning anything with grease on it.
https://www.familydollar.com/las-totally-awesome-all-purpose-cleaner-64oz/FD1412660

 

[Nosferatu]

I gave up on those a long time ago and switched to Wypall X80 towels.

Amazon.com

Super strong and make good fire starters when you're done with them.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Can’t imagine washing rags, we go through about 50lbs a month, i buy shredded cotton clothes about 75 cents a pound.

 

[Showkey]

The nastiest thing I am allowed to put in wash wash machine is car drying towel.

So no on shop towel or coveralls……….after a real set of nasty jobs coverall get a double soak and hand wash only.

My wife said I wont cut lumber with nails on the table saw…….you don’t use the wash machine for nasty things.

I also have my own oven for powder coating

 

[slowtwitch73]

Yeah I would rethink your strategy.. likely not as sustainable as you think.

Cutting up old, preferably unusable clothes and bedding, and then throwing away when done is the best way imo.

 

[slow84lx]

Many years back I had quite a few of the non-dyed white rags that were used mostly for automotive work in the garage. I found out the hard way that putting them in the clothes washer makes a mess. For a few years I continued to buy them for the heavy cleanups and used paper towels for the light work. With ready availability of blue shop towels on a perforated roll that is my preferred method now. We do keep a stack of old towels & t-shirts to cut up for those times when cloth is better. They all go right in the trash after.

 

[Yankeefarmer]

I have come to prefer the white painters’ towels from the BORG. About $15 for 50 last time I bought them, and a bag of 50 will last me over a year. I use regular household paper towels for cleaning up messy stuff like grease ooze, and use the painters‘ towels to wipe my hands and final clean of parts before painting. Once soiled badly enough, they are demoted to wiping up spills on the floor before going in the trash. I once had noble intentions of washing for reuse, but that became another task too low on the priority list to ever justify the time it’d take.

 

[Bighead38]

Just bring them to a laundromat.

 

[MrPink]

If mine get too bad I throw 'em away, but for the ones I do wash I presoak them in the LA awesome stuff and then throw them in the washer.

 

[Skooterj]

Cintas....

 

[23ford]

Cintas and other services do not like one time customers they want a once a week customers

 

[Bucko]

I tend to have stages of "shop rags" and the ones with a little grease or other contaminates go in a metal trash/ash can with a lid. Once they are too greasy they go in the trash. We recently moved and the previous owner left a old washing machine my wife wouldn't use so I almost kept it for the shop but figured it was not worth the hassle. Most of my rags are my old socks because I hate walking barefoot and tend to wear socks thin rather quickly so I buy new ones often.

As others have said if you are dead set on washing them then take them to the laundromat and save the grief you will get from the wife.

 

[FredWanaker]

if you wash them in the washer they will leave an oil and grease ring. You can get to what is on the inner tub and agitator with solvent and wipe it off, but what gets on the outer tub you can't. When I have cleaned rags it is only the ones lightly soiled. The really oily ones you never get the all the oil out of and they become a fire hazard. Any rag that gets washed and saved ends up stored in a metal can for that reason - washed oily rags have been known to spontaneously ignite from the residual oil. Right now my strategy is to cut up old towels and use the pieces, then throw them away. We replace towels every year or two so I run out of room for storing rags I have so many new ones. I also use the denim based blue towels and regular paper towels.

 

[Renegade1LI]

I save all my detailing microfiber and reuse them as rags where you don’t need a super clean rag. For woodworking i pretty much only use either rags in a box and new microfiber. You kinda get spoiled with microfiber.

 

[Lassen Forge]

You really need your own washing machine - I had a gig going with my neighbor (who fixed washers) to find an old Maytag, sadly he croaked of the 'vid before he could hook me up, but you could put lye soap and boiling water in one and get your shop stuff actually clean like a professional laundry...

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Soiled with oil or grease I burn them (but on many jobs I usually use paper towels). Towels I used for washing cars etc I do similar to OP and often downgrade to dirtier jobs.

 

[FMB4]

Use once paper towels (blue, brown, or white) for light oil/grease clean up and 'hand me down' bar mop towels from our kitchen for less oily/greasy use. I sometimes soak and rinse said bar mop towels in hot water with Tide before I run them through the wash (with Tide and bleach). I use said towel until they start to fall apart. At that time they're used one last time and tossed.

 

[Boilerhouse]

My wife would be very unhappy with the thought of me washing shops rags. Instead, I use any rags to first wipe up spills of water or some innocuous liquid, then dry, wipe up dirt or light grime, set aside, than finally wipe up oil or grease, then burn in the wood stove. A bag of rags can last a long time.

 

[m6z]

There's no way I'd put shop rags in my washer.

I use those blue shop paper towels instead.

 

[FMB4]

In '87 I washed my old machine shop 'apron' with some of my then wife's jeans and such. She tossed the jeans, etc, away because she could not wash the smell out.

 

[kelpaso1]

As others have said if you are dead set on washing them then take them to the laundromat and save the grief you will get from the wife.

And let the next person to use that machine ruin their clothes? I don't think so.

 

[jrevans]

I use the red rags from Harbor Freight.

The rags that are caked with grease or otherwise not viable are tossed.

The remaining rags get soaked in Simple Green and water, to remove the majority of grease/oil, then off to the laundromat.

Use the machines designated for heavily soiled work clothes.

 

[Steve in UT]

Paper towels all the way. "Sustain" the timber industry by using renewable resources.

 

[rd65]

I would never throw my oil or greasy rags in my wash as I am on septic. Dont need that **** screwing up my drain field. I have a stack of shop rags from a former employer that I swap out at my current employer. Rag companies charge rent on towels, not for cleaning, so I figure I am not really costing them anything.

 

[gorilla]

The shop towel guy told me that the red rags are dry cleaned not washed. Then they are died to cover the stains that can't be removed.
No way am I ever going to put dirty shop rags in my washer that's like pooping in the bathtub! I've used the blue paper towels for the last ten years and have found time that a cloth towel would be better.

 

[tdkkart]

Blue paper "shop towels", have 3-4 rolls of them hanging around the shop at any time. I tell my wife I need some more, a couple 6 or 8 packs magically arrive, doesn't cost my toy money account anything, and saves the grief I get from washing them in the washer.

 

[nadogail]

Dirty Shop towels are an indicator that productive work is being done

 

[Aaron_W]

Get 3 or 4 5 gallon buckets one for pre soak, one for still nasty, one for getting clean and a final rinse. Maybe a couple of toilet plungers for agitation. Add additional buckets as needed. Hang them to dry.

This system works well for pretty much dirty anything, muddy clothes, dishes, parts etc

 

[Sumboodie]

The nastiest thing I am allowed to put in wash wash machine is car drying towel.

So no on shop towel or coveralls……….after a real set of nasty jobs coverall get a double soak and hand wash only.

My wife said I wont cut lumber with nails on the table saw…….you don’t use the wash machine for nasty things.

I also have my own oven for powder coating

You must not work many dirty jobs!

I'd be clothless if I "couldn't" wash my work clothes.

My Dad worked as a millwright for nearly 40 years. His clothes never killed the washer. Some days it was bad enough that he came home in sweatpants and a T shirt and his Dickies in a trash bag.

I toss the nasty rags and wash the ones that just have a bit of oil or grease. Also have white and blue paper towels to use

 

[Sumboodie]

I would never throw my oil or greasy rags in my wash as I am on septic. Dont need that **** screwing up my drain field. I have a stack of shop rags from a former employer that I swap out at my current employer. Rag companies charge rent on towels, not for cleaning, so I figure I am not really costing them anything.

10 gallons of wash water with some grease isn't going to kill your septic.

 

[u2slow]

I buy very few rolls of shop towel or soaker pads. I use a lot old/worn-out clothing items as rags.

All get incinerated for disposal - often for starting up a bonfire or burn pile.

 

[andyvh1959]

Interesting. Never thought the subject of shop rags would get so much response. Thanks all of us who actually messy enough things to need a system to clean up. Hands getting dirty are hands getting things done.

 

[Copymutt]

Just bring them to a laundromat.

Laundromat owner s gonna love that.

 

[mikegt4]

Cintas and other services do not like one time customers they want a once a week customers

This for sure. My dad worked there one summer while in college. It was known then as Cincinnati Tailoring And Supply and at the time was located about a block or two from the GM plant in Norwood Ohio, part of the Cincinnati metro.

 

[toyotadriver]

I primarily use the heavy duty shop paper towels for most things. I do have red towels to use as well and I store the used ones in a bin. I need to get some of that Dollar Store cleaner and try washing my dirty rags myself. I might try a soak in the awesome cleaner, a rinse in clear water, a soak in Simple Green, and one more rinse and see if that’s enough. I use paper towels for really dirty stuff.

 

[WisJim]

I had a few Maytag wringer washing machines that I sold to someone who wore them out regularly washing shop rags at his body shop.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Washing shop rags.. no thanks. Not worth the time, or the money spent on water and power not to mention fouling up the washing machine.

 

[65ranchero]

I'm in the use them until they are full of grease then throw them out .
You know that they are done when your hands are dirtier after using the shop rag!

 

[isb cornbinder]

I have used to soak my dirty shop towels in my ultrasonic cleaner. I used hot water and SIMPLE GREEN for first stage. The next step was a turn in the washing machine. I have hundreds of cloth shop towels but I use WYPALL paper towels. I get mine on AMAZON.