Sweeping compound

[K4luf]

What exactly is it. I mean I know it's used to help get a better sweep and to control dust, but after a quick google search it appears to me to be nothing more than an oil-dry or kitty litter type substance impregnated with oils. So why wouldn't old oil-dry thats already been used to soak up oil work instead?

 

[RonRock]

I don't have an answer to your question, but I will say that I tried sweeping compound once. It was expensive (compared to oil dry) and did not work as well. I had to try it once. That was enough. Maybe I did not get the good stuff.

 

[rlitman]

Kitty-litter is usually clay (there are many other kinds though). That's pretty good at adsorbing oil (when spread onto a spot, and ground in a bit with your shoe).

Sweeping compound is usually mostly sawdust, with either an oil, or water based liquid added (and usually a green dye). This won't pick up oil spots. Where it excels, is in picking up dust. Sprinkle it all around (just a little bit, all over), and as you sweep, it sticks to the dust, letting you pick up more dust with a broom, and keeping the dust out of the air. By the time you've pushed the green compound in front of your broom all around the shop, it won't be green any more as you pick it up in the dust pan.
It's the shape of the sawdust (it's kind of "fluffy", with a large external surface area) that allows it to stick to the fine dust. Clay has a fine internal surface area that allows it to wick oil. You can't interchange the two.

The oil based ones don't dry out, but are flammable.
A 50lb bag shouldn't be more than $10 at a real hardware store (my local Ace carries the water based one, so I keep it in a sealed bag).

 

[sberry]

Moist pine sawdust.

 

[koditten]

Pine sawdust and parafin. It really help if you have dust allergies.

 

[jimbbski]

I have used a sweeping compound that uses sand as part of the mix. I have used the sawdust type compounds in the past but you have to really look for them if that's what you want. It does pick up the dust that you can miss just using a broom.

 

[Rixter58]

Floor dry that has absorbed about 80% of its capacity has a good second life as sweeping compound. 2 problems with that....
1. You dont often have it that point
2. Its usually more work than its worth

 

[brianh]

Another vote on moist pine sawdust.

 

[LennyTheLizard]

rlitman did a good job describing above.

We use sweeping compound quite a bit at work to clean up. It's more to pick up dust and keep it down instead of stirring up in the air. It seems to help create a little shine on the concrete. But, it is usually used in more wide open areas where there are not oil spills or leaks. Not near machinery where oil dry / absorbent would be used more.

 

[The Lazy Destroyer]

I may have to try this, my concrete floor is really bad at dusting. If I try and sweep it up probably half of whats on the floor just gets kicked up into the air and gets everywhere

 

[Northstar]

I wondered too, then I kept a pile of used oil-dri in a can for later use. It works great as a dust collecting sweeping compound in my garage. I now have a 5 gallon bucket of new oil-dri and a 5 gallon bucket for used oil-dri that doubles as sweeping compound.

 

[Printer Mike]

I believe the stuff I used in the 70's(Zep), to sweep a print shop, had some sand in it...

 

[trainer]

Dustbane is the original brand name. It's particularly good for sweeping up stuff like drywall dust and in places where you dont want to put a bunch of dust into the air while sweeping

 

[gmwelder86]

It's used in big construction jobs seems like moist saw dust. It works great when having to layout on dusty concrete floors.