washing shop rags

CWL · Nov 23, 2009

I did a little experiment this weekend. I washed some of my greasy and oily shop rags in a concrete mixer. I filled the mixer with hot water from the house added some laundry detergent and a little bit of dawn dish soap. Tossed in the rags a let it spin for an hour or so. Then I dumped the soapy water and add fresh water to rinse them a couple of times. Hung them up on a line to dry and they didn’t come out too bad. A few of them still smell like 90 weight though.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 23, 2009

(quoted from post at 06:38:46 11/23/09)A few of them still smell like 90 weight though.

That's cause ya didn't use New Blue Cheer..........

greygoat · Nov 23, 2009

A cup or two of ammonia will take oiley dirt
and most of the oil smell away.

ScottyHOMeY · Nov 23, 2009

I've been doing mine in Dawn, just more of it and sooner. I'll mix some up strong and let them soak in a mop pail for a couple of days before washing them. Then run them through the washer (though I DO like the cement mixer idea!), with more detergent and an extra rinse. I susually follow that up with a load of work clothes and dungarees to remove any last traces of the oily smell. The little lady don't suspect a thing.

CWL · Nov 23, 2009

Greygoat, thanks for the tip. I will add some in next time.

showcrop · Nov 23, 2009

Just like in cleaning up the tractors nothing works on grease like oven cleaner. The only thing is you don't want to get a significant amount in the wife's washer. So what you do is prewash in bucket or cement mixer or whatever you have in oven cleaner/laundy detergent solution, then wash in laundry washer with some extra detergent. This is essentially how they do it at the commercial laundries.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 23, 2009

Just don't add clorox at the same time if it is indoors.

relaurain · Nov 23, 2009

Don't use the house washing machine like I did, the wife didn't like that and I was in the dog house for a while! Left a real good oil ring around the top. Took weeks for it to go away.
Cement mixer is a great idea. How about if you had a couple of round rocks in there too to beat the rags up a little?

hay · Nov 23, 2009

I use an old timey wringer washer and homemade soap made with naptha soap and borax and other ingredients(secret formula). Wash first and then rub on rub board and then rinse well and run through the wringer and line dry. Get's them about as clean as they can be. Extra greasy,oily rags are for the burning pile, but everyday use can be washed without too much trouble.

C.R. · Nov 23, 2009

my buddie uses the coin op washers hate to be the next person to use that machine!

Mike (WA) · Nov 23, 2009

Or better yet, you could lay them out while still wet, and run over them with a bulldozer.

"But seriously, folks", I think the pre-wash (either cement mixer or bucket) and a good rinse should get them good enough to come within the wife's sense of humor for finishing in the washer, with your dirty farm clothes.

BCnT · Nov 23, 2009

i soak em in diesel for a couple hours...then agitate by hand awhile and wring out...then into a bucket of MeanGreen from the dollar store...agitate some more and then into washing machine...the Mean Green takes care of any rings left in washer too after i'm done with rags...no woman here to gripe but i like my clothes clean after washing too.

CWL · Nov 23, 2009

I have a spray bottle of that mean green and it's not a bad degreaser. Reading you're post made me think of another option. Adding some simple green might do well.

CWL · Nov 23, 2009

I thought about the coin operated washers, but I would hate to ruin someone elses clothes with a big grease stain.

BDT in Minnesota · Nov 23, 2009

Neighbors outdoor wood stove works great for when I am done with the free clothing scraps that I use for grease rags.. You will never catch me dumping rags in a washing machine that I value. Soap and hot water are not free, either.. the give-away clothing is free.

Billy Shafer · Nov 23, 2009

I lost my laundry license by doing that. Wife pulled them after she found out what I had done. Slept on the couch for awhile. Then I had to retake my laundry test.

Anonymous-0 · Nov 23, 2009

Some coin laundries have 1 machine dedicated for coveralls and other oily laundry like rags. Dave

730 virgil · Nov 23, 2009

i got into deep do-do by washing my shop rags in washing machine.
talk about SWMBO being peod i won't do that again.
i think maybe it had something to do with her washing her undies after wards

CENTAUR · Nov 23, 2009

I have used TSP as a additive to the reg detergent.It is quite aggressive. CENTAUR

Old Roy · Nov 23, 2009

Guess she never did the thing of washing fiberglass curtains and then do your underwear like mine did in my early years of first marriage ??

Like Gus the second most famous groundhog in Pa says "Keep on scratchin"

Anonymous-0 · Nov 23, 2009

Speaking as a long time firefighter I don't care where you guys wash your shop rags, but please don't put them in the dryer. Several years ago we had a dryer expolde and kill a man and start a house on fire. He was using gasoline for a solvent and his wife thought he washed the rags first. We don't know, he was not in any condition to answer questions when we got there. Hang them on the line.

730 virgil · Nov 23, 2009

holy cats or is that scratch? that's the scratch keeps on giving.

JMOR · Nov 24, 2009

When I was a kid, my hard working Mother, bless her soul, used to lay my Dad's greasy clothes out on the sidewalk and gas them down, roll them up, stack like cord wood & let sit/soak for most of the day. By this time you couldn't really detect any liquid, just a lot of stink. Then into the washing machine. All worked fine for probably 10 years or more, then one day she opened the washer lid before cycle was finished & we assume the door switch arced & a ball of fire singed her hair, eye brows, etc., and luckily no worse damage. That was the end of that washing operation.

washing shop rags

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