[adixon]

What is the best way to take care of these cloths at the moment i put them in the washer with no detergent enough soapy water in them from the days work its just that one w/c said to me "you put them in the washer?" started me thinking 

[windows_chepstow]

I've washed these without a problem with my scrims with normal washing powder/tablets.

Once Wor Lass washed them with a fabric softener (force of habit she said) and they didn't seem as absorbent.

A short wash, on a low tempreture with just your normal washing powder will suffice. 

I prefer my scrims/microfibre natrually dried outside on the washing line or on a radiator; but tumble-dried is okay too.

I hope this helps.

[steve k]

no fabric conditioner to be used and they are supposed to last 500 wash cycles according to the packaging.

[stuart howes]

HI YOU LOT
I WASH MINE AT 90 TEMP SHORT WASH WITH 2 OF THE WIFES TABS
(SHE MOANS AT ME USING ALL OF THEM)
GREAT IN THE COOLER MONTHS CRAP IN THE SUMMER ,SEEM TO SMEAR MORE IN THE HOT MONTHS
DONT KNOW WHY? :

[rosskesava]

What is the best way to take care of these cloths at the moment i put them in the washer with no detergent enough soapy water in them from the days work its just that one w/c said to me "you put them in the washer?" started me thinking

I only wash them at the weekend and I add nothing. They seem to come up just as clean as with adding soap powder and I wash them on a normal wash which is D on our machine. I don't know if that's hot or not but it's the same setting as for most clothes.

During the week I simply tumble dry the wet cloths (both microfibre and scrim).

Cheers

[Sir Squeaky]

HI YOU LOT
I WASH MINE AT 90 TEMP SHORT WASH WITH 2 OF THE WIFES TABS
(SHE MOANS AT ME USING ALL OF THEM)
GREAT IN THE COOLER MONTHS CRAP IN THE SUMMER ,SEEM TO SMEAR MORE IN THE HOT MONTHS
DONT KNOW WHY? :

Not another Gaza with a broken caps-lock... : 

[gaza]

been repaired squeky clean, windey uperty merchant.

 met someone who looked like you the other night
spoke like you
walked like you





DIDNT LIKE HIM EITHER

 GAZA

[Andrew McCann]

Something I learned from an "old hand"

Never use anything in the water. Especially micros. Hot wash as well.

In fact I only wash my scrims if they get any of the black stuff from old seals on them. I dip them into a bucket of clean cold pure water and give them a real good wring out then let them dry either on the line or over a radiator. They always seem to work better that way than one coming out of a washer and they work better just very slightly damp.

Andrew

[gaza]

ANDY:In the summer I do the same but hang them on my van wing mirrors to dry,got a contant supply of dry clean cloths.

  gaza

[Andrew McCann]

   Gaza.

YUP.. same here mate.  It's a great way to lose em if you forget and drive off  LOL  :

In the winter I use more scrims but still at the end of the day dip em.. wring em and stick em on the radiators

Andrew

[rosskesava]

I don't have radiators. 

Just a lovely lovely log fire that warms the whole house but being serious, do you never ever wash scrim because during the summer I spoke to a old w/c around here said the same and his scrims were almost black but the windows he'd cleaned were spotless?

Cheers

ps by washing I mean in a washing machine.

[brett walker]

We wash them at the end of each day on a a normal wash we occasionally add wash powder then dry them on a clothes rack at the side of a radiator to dry for morning

Brett

[Andrew McCann]

Hiya Ross

Didnt make it clear enough I think. The only time I ever put a scrim into a washing machine is if it gets that black stuff off old black UPVC seals.


All I do is dip it in a bucket of clean water.  swill it aoround a bit to soosen any dirt them give it a real good wring out. How I wring it out is like this.

Take 2 opposing corners. You should then have it in a trianguler shape. Then spin it round one way until it resemles a long sausage shape. Fold it in half then half again. Then wring it out REAL tight. Its pretty dry by then but then I run my hand down it to remove any water left on the surface. Give it a quick snap downwards. Now... it will be a tight lil ole sausage so then I unfold the sausage out straight a again. Take hold of the corner I can get hold of.. then..  Holding that corner..  SNAP it out..  kinda like the old wet teatowel snap.  Hey presto..  a just damp ready to use scrim  Great for the old ragging as well. I actually find a completely dry scrim harder to use and far less effective.

My thanks have to go out to a certain Mr Ian Lancaster for this. He is a real old hand and is to be seen on a certain other forum..


Cheers

Andrew

[rosskesava]

Cheers Andrew

Thanks for the well written decription. I'll try that tomorrow.

I have always been a 'dry cloth' person in terms of w/c'ing. When we are working dry cloths become a serious problem towards the end of the day no matter how many scrims/microfibre cloths we have.

I was just so curious about this old bloke who had been w/c'ing for 40 odd years who swore that washing scrims in a machine ruins them. His scrim (just the one) was not dry'ish at all and I couldn't work out how he did such a good job with just one scrim (and so quickly).

Maybe that was his secret?

Cheers

Ross

[chris@c.m.s]

Thought that looked familiar Andrew I read the same and  do the same I think its one of the best tip's i've picked up so far, I also only dampen that cloth in ro water works even better then especially on leaded  

[Andrew McCann]

Yup Chris.

Its amazing what you pick up on forums like these. Who on earth would have thought that a dirty looking piece of cloth would do such a good job.

And yes..  Its so much nicer and easier using pure water for trad work as well.

Before i read that from Ian I used to go though NO END of scrims in a day. Then wash them out and dry them at night etc etc. Dont rag leaded any more though. I does it all wiff me WFP.. even better results

Andrew

[dai]

That's the way we used scrims in the old days, We only had one each and they had to be washed a good  few times a day. We only ever used clean water, the only time they were ever soap washed was in a product called sturgene. A liquid soap for the first wash after they had been boiled. Yes you had to boil them before you used them then.
Clean damp scrim is the best polishing cloth ever invented. We had calouses on our hands from wringing them out. A spray bottle of pure water will dampen them very nicely if they go dry. The old guy's scim may have been black, but they do have to be clean. A damp dirty scrim will leave streakes all over the glass.
Glass had to be washed with a leather before scrimming. You could get away with just scrimming on fairly clean glass. You moulded it into a pad and changed it round frequently, so that a clean bit was on the glass. You could only do a couple of houses between washes though. That was in 1958 when I was sweet 16. Dai

[chris@c.m.s]

Yep I was going through no end of cloths too I now use 3 cloths one damp scrim for georgian and detailing, a dry for final light polish, small blade jumps and splashes and my unger microwipe for the sills, that for some is too many but I never need more than one dry cloth

[Pole2pole]

I was putting my scrims on a boil wash(1 1/2 hours) EVERY night for years when i got come advice from a friend of mine who said "just rinse and spin them". Takes ten minutes and the result is just as good, and probably £100 a year cheaper on the electricity bill. I'm sure they last twice as long too. Happy Days

[Morph]

I thought this was called "Unger microwipes"

For the uninitiated....

Ignore all previous posts referring to Scrim.  Yes, used scrim, impregnated with dirty water and soap needs nothing more than a good rinse in warm, pure water(ie purified water), or a wash and rinse cycle in your machine/ water only.  Warm wash, no soap.

Microwipes.....Similar treatment.  Unless you've been using gg3 or gg4.
Then you need a little soap in machine or much longer in warm pure water soak.

Hummpppphh.
Some of these blokes are making money and thinking they are experts.

Profit is not necessarily the measure of experience.

Pj