What are you guys using for shop towels ?

[skyking]

Rags,washable ,disposable? Any thing new and cheap. Looked at HF red rags today and they are ****.

 

[jim1987]

Old t shirts, blue shop towels on a paper towel roll, and the "crappy" HF towels that are 50for $10.

Seriously, crappy? Its a piece of matiel to get some **** off your hands/arms/whatever. 50 for $10, good enough for me

 

[JVB]

I have the blue shop towels but am also good for using old t-shirts.

 

[Hogger]

When ever I am by a thrift type store I buy all the terry cloth towels. Usually get a big bag for one to two bucks, best rags ever.

 

[spoonsports86]

blue shop towel roll,

and the what you call "crappy" HF towels that are 20¢ each yea i like them.

 

[78Bird]

the HF ones are better if you can wash them first, it flushes lots of the nasty dye out and they are lots softer... spare or junk washer is best really though.

downside is you have pink rags.

 

[jim1987]

blue shop towel roll,

and the what you call "crappy" HF towels that are 20¢ each yea i like them.

 

[polexican23]

If only I could remember where my old company "TVH" bought their red towels for. Employees got stuff at cost. A 50 pc bag of HF crappy towels were about $3. I have a decent collection of them.
Also tshirts. I can shrink ANYTHING, not on purpose. but when they get too small. To the garage they go.

 

[82SC]

if you got a nurse or hospital worker friend that works in the OR's ask them to put aside the blue surgical towels before they get dirty (that is if they don't plan to use them)

they are tough, very low lint.

lap pads are great for polishing and detailing. They can get those too

It's wasteful to see all that stuff dumped in the trashcan after a case...
But with litigious medicine all this stuff is sterile and pre packed and opened whether it's used or not...

 

[lotsoftools]

I mostly use the blue towels on a roll. I have been known to take a towel directly from the linen closet once or twice though.

 

[Exceller8]

I use the blue shop towels and the red ones from HF. I agree with washing them first.

 

[skyking]

The red rags in the old days were soft and absorbant . The new ones are like fish net . maybe you guys are too young to have had used the old ones . I like the thrift shop idea.

 

[PCA4208]

I got a 100 pack from Sam's Club. Best thing of having a lot is that once one gets too dirty to clean anymore, just throw it away and grab a new one. Yes I do wash most of them, but sometimes when working on old cars, the 30 year old dirt and grease just won't come out.

 

[JimVonBaden]

 

[skyking]

Yea Jim, I am going to try these .There is no good place to wash the cloth ones. And by the time I am done with them ,they are not worth keeping.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Scott paper blue shop towels. I get over a year out of a ten roll pack from Costco.

Tommy

 

[JimVonBaden]

Scott paper blue shop towels. I get over a year out of a ten roll pack from Costco.

Tommy

That is where I get mine too, and at a very reasonable price.

 

[mechan]

I use Wypall's $/sq. ft. is pretty good through Amazon, especially if you do subscribe and save.

 

[Letsgobowhunting]

Kimberly Clark wipers. X60 or x50 most of the time.

 

[Scud67]

Another vote for the blue shop towels on the roll - BJ's bulk pack, and old t-shirts for a "cloth" when needed. I keep the t-shirts in a bag near the sink, and the blue towels are on a roll above the sink.

 

[absolutelybillsmood]

Worn out house towels etc cut up

 

[JonnyMac]

My kids clothes. They grow out of them so quick its an endless source.
As someone mentioned earlier, thrift shops generally all have large bags of rags available for next to no money and I top up this way when I get low. We buy them this way for work too. A bag the size of a kitchen cabinet is $10...

 

[stage20]

I bought a cse of microfibers fro hd n clearance for 3 bucks each. I got. Couple left. I use them for clean stuff then when they re dirty I use them as grease rag. I use old t shirtss mostly. Inside of old sweat shirt and pnts work great. Anything I can pick up for free

 

[sberry]

I should use more rags and do have a couple rolls of the blue around but my choice is a simple paper towel like the POM or house brand at Costco, 30 rolls to a box and are good on glass, fair on grease and super convenient. Where they are not sopping wet from hand rinsing we sometimes toss them in a box and grab them up for grease work.

In the same vane is coffee cups. I buy the box of 1000 12 oz and have a box of lids. 5 boxes of cups a year, maybe a hundred bucks for cups and a couple hundred for paper towels.

 

[juiced10]

I ask local hotels for the towels they throw away. I have about 10 garbage bags of wash cloths,hand towels,bath mats and full size towels. They also give me sheets and blankets. They wash twice and if stain doesn't come out they toss. I use the sheets to cover cars when painting and blankets for our dog house. It was tough in the beginning to throw away the towels when dirty but I have so many it doesn't matter.

 

[Mike Miller]

I use three different kinds, for just sopping up a mess I use the blue paper towels, I buy a bundle of terry cloth towels once a year from COSTCO for hand wiping and other clean up with soap and water and I get a bundle of micro fiber towels from the same place for plastic and clear coat paint.

 

[coljar]

When I had my repair shop back in the '80's, I bought the blue "C" fold towels, like they used at the service stations, by the case. Now, I mainly use paper towels on the roll.

 

[JimVonBaden]

I ask local hotels for the towels they throw away. I have about 10 garbage bags of wash cloths,hand towels,bath mats and full size towels. They also give me sheets and blankets. They wash twice and if stain doesn't come out they toss. I use the sheets to cover cars when painting and blankets for our dog house. It was tough in the beginning to throw away the towels when dirty but I have so many it doesn't matter.

Great advice!

 

[bparksntx]

I use the blue shop towels for general purpose cleaning and hand towels. There's a guy that sells them at all of the local swap meets. 25 towels for $5

 

[big dump]

When I used to travel a lot for work I'd take the hand towels from hotels.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149989

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97815

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84694

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35178

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62273

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35198

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2424

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55571

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127645

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=889

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62112

 

[Fastblack67]

Whatever the crazy neighbor lady has hangin on the line! Lmao

 

[82SC]

Lol. Those blue towels look an awful lot like the blue OR towels I mentioned. I wonder if that guy is a scrub tech or knows one and gets them for free and then sells them at the swap meets....

 

[skyking]

I use the blue shop towels for general purpose cleaning and hand towels. There's a guy that sells them at all of the local swap meets. 25 towels for $5

Mckinney flea market? I need to come down there .What weekend?


Charles .....you are the best search engine on the forum. Strange to go back several years and see so many members that are gone now.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Charles .....you are the best search engine on the forum. Strange to go back several years and see so many members that are gone now.

Google is your friend..............

Enter the following in the Google search box.

shop towel site:garagejournal.com

Charles

 

[nicksnothereman]

Rags,washable ,disposable? Any thing new and cheap. Looked at HF red rags today and they are ****.

All red rags are ****.

I cut up old towels and shirts and use that at home (neither of which is new). Otherwise terry towels and (shop) paper towels. For your requirements maybe a "bag of rags" but sometimes they cut up sweat shirt/pants in those bags and they **** for absorption.

I wouldn't throw my towels in the washing machine though, I wash them by hand in ammonia/dish soap and hang them from a line in the backyard. I have enough scrap towels that I can do it once every couple of months before they start to stink like a dead animal.

 

[ZRX61]

Lol. Those blue towels look an awful lot like the blue OR towels I mentioned. I wonder if that guy is a scrub tech or knows one and gets them for free and then sells them at the swap meets....

Those are called Huck Towels.

I use Huck towels, white terry towels from Costco & the blue paper Scott towels.

 

[jvitez]

Paper towels from the dollar store are my number one choice. If I need something more sturdy then the Scott blue paper towels are next. The Mrs. gives me old T-shirts, towels, etc when she wants to get rid of old stuff.

I tried the red rags from Princess Auto (Canuck Harbor Freight), and I agree they're complete junk. They only START to absorb anything after 1-2 washes, and by them they're a ghastly pink, not red. I remember the old red towels my dad got from a friend: they lasted years after multiple washings, were soft and really absorbent. I wonder what these Chinese/Indian copies are actually made from?

 

[Streetbu]

When I used to work at the dealership I would grab a bundle and bring my used ones in every week. Now I just use cheap paper towels and old bath towels or shirts.

 

[gungatim]

I use HF and Menards red shop towels when on sale, occasionally trade the dirty ones in for clean to my BIL at Chevy dealership...for day to day stuff, I have a couple old stock Kimberly clark C-fold towel dispensers I picked up and fill with C-folds from Sam's club. I go through about 1 case a year, so it is pretty reasonable. I don't like roll towels because it's too hard to grab one without making a mess of the roll. C-folds can be grabbed one at a time without griming everything up, then toss in the woodburner...