Rags

I don't care what you think about paper rags. This is for the folks that use them, like me. This set-up allows me to get a paper rag with one hand. After it was completed, I realized that I could have just bent the end of the shelf bracket rather than screw on the block of wood. Hind sight is 20-20.

An oily mitt doesn't mind. Besides the block proves you're not lazy. I tend to overthink also sometimes which may be better than not thinking at all. A better mousetrap?

I just grab it near the towels perforation, hand on the box, roll my wrist, and it’s torn off sideways. One hand operation. Use em all day every day.

old tshirts and my wife's discarded 100% cotton drawers are my 'go to' for polishing and blue paper ones for greasy stuff

I’m with Alan , got several years worth of bagged cotton rags from old clothes , towels , face clothes etc. , for the fussy polishing I use micro fibre cloths bought when they on sale at Canadian Tire , yup I launder them and reuse ‘em too

My rag box is in constant flux with old, greasy ones tossed as new stuff (old clothes, socks and towels) come in. Also use white paper towels and the blue lint-free paper towels and if not goobered up or toxic, they go in a box for 'disaster rags' sopping up whatever gets on the floor or cleaning really nasty stuff.

The life of a loved tee-shirt in my house goes something like this:
1.) Worn constantly until too stained for anything but automotive work
2.) It goes into the rag box so that I can cut it up
3.) It comes back out of the rag box because I can't stand to cut it up
4.) It eventually becomes unrecognizable as anything but a rag but gets worn anyway
5.) It gets thrown out because it is too worn out to make a decent rag!

I like the wood blocks on the brackets.

Cotton is King!

I have to rescue rags from the trash bin.

Thirty + years married and she still throws out perfectly good rags!

I've got rags that are 30 yrs old, because I'm saving them for a special need. Some rags are just too good to use.
Jaydee

Got to love a “thread” bout rags .....

Yeah, my dad saved bent nails and then straightened them for use when he needed a nail, despite having new nails on the shelf. Child of the Depression.

So . . . Yeah I save stuff - pop rivet stubs, tag ends of zip ties, card board boxes, and yes - rags, even those made of polyester. Maybe someday there will be some substance that polyester will absorb

xbacksideslider said:

Yeah, my dad saved bent nails and then straightened them for use when he needed a nail, despite having new nails on the shelf. Child of the Depression

Click to expand...

Same here, “waste not, want not” was a favourite saying.

Lots of old cloth of various configurations ends up in my shops rag bucket. I would rather find a new use for the old stuff than pay for a box of recycled paper. Those Scotts ain’t cheap.
Don’t use paper on any painted surfaces like your tank or side covers.

Not knocking on xtinct, we all perceive it and do it differently. Good idea on the bracketry.

Coming from U.S. Naval Aviation, rags used to be issued by the bail. A burlap bail compromised of cut up old clothes. You would go down to the bottom of "the boat" get a bail, then lug it back up to your shop, somewhere near the flight deck. In addition to wiping up oil and hyd. fluids and scrubbing down / cleaning the aircraft during and after wash jobs, they would be used in tons of other ways. Twisted or braided into rope small ropes to tie off whatever. Wrapped around the old canvas firehoses that we'd use for those wash jobs, to stop leaks or stem the flow from a crappy brass union Etc... Etc... Etc... These were unaccounted for, or just thrown away when we were finished with them. Years later, after an engine or two had been F. O. D'd out from someone inadvertently leaving an unaccounted rag in or near the intake, the Navy stopped this and began issuing rags from the tool room, which would need to be turned back in before you were allowed turn over the shop to the next shift. Anyway after transferring to a new squadron that was stationed on a small island out in the Pacific, they ran out of red rags. Supply ordered replacements, but what came in where the best tan cotton rags I'd ever seen. They were being thrown away by the tool room out there. Some after barely being used. I was able to get a bunch of them that I still have to this day. That being said, I still get and use old towels and t-shirts etc.. When my wife throws them out. Old toothbrushes and kitchen sink scrubbing sponges too for that matter. Cj

Now it seems microfiber and not cotton, is the only thing you want to use on your painted surfaces these days.

Rags, I am still wearing them, well until they are so worn out then the cotton ones become polishing rages and the crappy ones wipe and soak up any oil spills or grease, I have two bins one for the good rages and the other for the crappy ones.

Ashley