Towel cleaning question

[rondre]

My garage is a part time workshop and after detailing my wife's car I was taking the towels in to was and tripped over something and had to drop all the towels on the floor which was covered in sawdust and planer shavings.  The shavings are sticking to the towels like Velcro, is there a way to save them or am I screwed?

[red94chev]

I know your pain.  My garage also houses a little woodworking and metal fabrication.  I personally would downgrade them to dirty area towels or or use them around the house or something.

Edited December 3, 2018 by red94chev

[cwp2016nd]

That happened to me as well in my apartment when we were working down here. It happened with a ton of microfiber applicator pads I had lying around. 

 

Unfortunately there is no way to remove 100% of the shavings, even using a 100psi air compressor. It's best to pick most of the shavings out of the towels and downgrade them to exhaust/engine bay/interior duty. 

[GXPaycheck]

And vacuum that floor more often!

[rondre]

Bummer, some good towels in there, thanks for the info guys

[falcaineer]

PM me, @rondre. I may have a towel or two I can send to help restock.

[pirahnah3]

Hate to say they are right, but it also sounds like your wood shop could use a dust collection upgrade. Should ask santa for a simple shop vac add on one, makes cleanup so much easier! 

[Rich]

Don't let them touch your car's paint now. Best thing to do is keep a laundry basket or hamper in the garage for those things to carry them.  And if they're in an open container in the garage while you're sawing, that dust is still getting on your towels. Closed containers from the dollar store can be your best friend. 

[rondre]

I have some dedicated lidded containers for them - what happened was after using the rinseless and some detail spray i was stupidly hanging them on my daughters scooter to take in and wash after.  Ended up knocking them off on the ground - will just make them interior ones oh well - i have some extras. 

 

I do have a follow up question tho - I'm no professional - just enthusiast trying to keep stuff clean and do it well - but i don't polish often and honestly don't even use much detail spray lately as garage has been cluttered so less opportunity with nothing sitting there.  If I do a maintenance wash I usually only have a few towels used which doesn't even cover the bottom of my washing machine.  Is there any issue with spritzing some of the microfiber reviatlizer and tossing them in a lidded 5 gallon bucket until full enough for a wash?  I know mold might be a factor but if they're allowed to dry first w/ the revitalizer then stored is there an issue or dmg or is it better to just do a small wash? 

[rondre]

19 hours ago, pirahnah3 said:

Hate to say they are right, but it also sounds like your wood shop could use a dust collection upgrade. Should ask santa for a simple shop vac add on one, makes cleanup so much easier! 

 

I already turned into santa and bought a harbor freight dust collector which is surprisingly awesome.  Going forward it will always be used and looking into a regular shop filtration unit or just making a box fan variety.  At this point I'm just very happy that one of my drying towels wasn't one that bit the dust.

[pirahnah3]

There are some great videos out there of turning that HF unit into a two stage unit for very little cost which will improve things and prolong filter life. Im looking at some different setups to be able to best use dust collection on my shop. 

[rondre]

Just now, pirahnah3 said:

There are some great videos out there of turning that HF unit into a two stage unit for very little cost which will improve things and prolong filter life. Im looking at some different setups to be able to best use dust collection on my shop. 

 

I've probably seen all of them but I'm probably just going to bite the bullet and setup a super dust deputy.  I have the regular one i've used with my shop vac and it works fantastic - pretty much nothing gets into the main unit.  My garage is like 2.25 size so not enough room to really worry about running piping and the way I have it planned on being laid out a mobile unit will be best so the current single stage works for now - probably in spring (birthday) i'll use the nice weather for stuff but in the meantime i'm either just not going to use stuff in the garage without the dust collector or i'll move to the driveway if not raining.  Don't have much extra $$ for stuff anyways as big trip to ireland next summer so paying off parts of that already purchased

 

[rondre]

6 minutes ago, pirahnah3 said:

There are some great videos out there of turning that HF unit into a two stage unit for very little cost which will improve things and prolong filter life. Im looking at some different setups to be able to best use dust collection on my shop. 

 

Also - here is a great article on box fan cheap filtration (courtesy of izzy swan sharing in one of his videos also shared)

http://www.americanallergysupply.com/box-fan-air-cleaner.htm

 

Izzy video: 

 

 

I'll probably still do the wen model for the remote and ease of not building so i can use that time towards other projects but in future might do the box fan as well on a mobile cart for area specific.

[mc2hill]

1 hour ago, rondre said:

I have some dedicated lidded containers for them - what happened was after using the rinseless and some detail spray i was stupidly hanging them on my daughters scooter to take in and wash after.  Ended up knocking them off on the ground - will just make them interior ones oh well - i have some extras. 

 

I do have a follow up question tho - I'm no professional - just enthusiast trying to keep stuff clean and do it well - but i don't polish often and honestly don't even use much detail spray lately as garage has been cluttered so less opportunity with nothing sitting there.  If I do a maintenance wash I usually only have a few towels used which doesn't even cover the bottom of my washing machine.  Is there any issue with spritzing some of the microfiber reviatlizer and tossing them in a lidded 5 gallon bucket until full enough for a wash?  I know mold might be a factor but if they're allowed to dry first w/ the revitalizer then stored is there an issue or dmg or is it better to just do a small wash? 

 

I don't have any woodworking tools in my garage, but I keep my towels in a net laundry bag until I am ready to do a load (about every 2-4 months).  Not sure long you would store them in the bucket, but would expect if would be OK for a week or two.  I sometimes leave pads soaking for 4-5 days will no ill effects.

[falcaineer]

2 hours ago, rondre said:

I have some dedicated lidded containers for them - what happened was after using the rinseless and some detail spray i was stupidly hanging them on my daughters scooter to take in and wash after.  Ended up knocking them off on the ground - will just make them interior ones oh well - i have some extras. 

 

I do have a follow up question tho - I'm no professional - just enthusiast trying to keep stuff clean and do it well - but i don't polish often and honestly don't even use much detail spray lately as garage has been cluttered so less opportunity with nothing sitting there.  If I do a maintenance wash I usually only have a few towels used which doesn't even cover the bottom of my washing machine.  Is there any issue with spritzing some of the microfiber reviatlizer and tossing them in a lidded 5 gallon bucket until full enough for a wash?  I know mold might be a factor but if they're allowed to dry first w/ the revitalizer then stored is there an issue or dmg or is it better to just do a small wash? 

 

I tend to wash right after use, but there shouldn't be any I'll effects from leaving them in a bin for a future wash so long as they're dry. The only exceptions i can think of would be HGG towels...don't let them dry, and instead wash right away. I'd also lean towards washing any towels with Ceramic Boost and or Ceramic Paste Wax immediately, as well, but can't speak directly to the former since I don't use it or the latter since I wash right away.

[rondre]

Wonder if it would be more effective to do a soak and wash by hand over washing machine for so few - my particular washer doesn't do much agitation.  Anyone else hand wash their towels?

 

[RayS]

4 hours ago, falcaineer said:

 

I tend to wash right after use, but there shouldn't be any I'll effects from leaving them in a bin for a future wash so long as they're dry. The only exceptions i can think of would be HGG towels...don't let them dry, and instead wash right away. I'd also lean towards washing any towels with Ceramic Boost and or Ceramic Paste Wax immediately, as well, but can't speak directly to the former since I don't use it or the latter since I wash right away.

I do a heavy rinse on my HGG and CB towels right away and then let them air dry and I have not had any problems so far.  The heavy rinse needs to be thorough and I also have separate towels for each product since I am not sure how the two chemicals will react with each other.  Since I only do vehicles on the weekend, I was everything at the end of the weekend.  However, I will have a test going this weekend since I used a plethora of towels in Florida the week of Thanksgiving and they have not been washed yet.   I'm hoping they will be ok, but I didn't take my best towels with me knowing they would have to sit a bit.

[pirahnah3]

17 hours ago, rondre said:

 

I've probably seen all of them but I'm probably just going to bite the bullet and setup a super dust deputy.  I have the regular one i've used with my shop vac and it works fantastic - pretty much nothing gets into the main unit.  My garage is like 2.25 size so not enough room to really worry about running piping and the way I have it planned on being laid out a mobile unit will be best so the current single stage works for now - probably in spring (birthday) i'll use the nice weather for stuff but in the meantime i'm either just not going to use stuff in the garage without the dust collector or i'll move to the driveway if not raining.  Don't have much extra $$ for stuff anyways as big trip to ireland next summer so paying off parts of that already purchased

 

 

I would disagree that you dont have a need or space for a full system, as most of the wood workers out there are in small shops like that and have full systems. See bellow for more. 

 

17 hours ago, rondre said:

 

Also - here is a great article on box fan cheap filtration (courtesy of izzy swan sharing in one of his videos also shared)

http://www.americanallergysupply.com/box-fan-air-cleaner.htm

 

Izzy video: *snip*

 

I'll probably still do the wen model for the remote and ease of not building so i can use that time towards other projects but in future might do the box fan as well on a mobile cart for area specific.

 

That was a great video that I actually watched a while back (Been a sub of his for years, he makes awesome stuff esspecially the big wheel). There are a ton of great woodworkers on youtube operating basically out of 2 car garages, Izzy is a bit bigger and more low budget, Kind of like a Steve Ramsey can be. I would say check out the likes of April Wilkerson before she build her huge shop, she worked out of a "shed" at one point that was probably smaller than a 2 car garage and had a full setup (link to the video on Harbor Freight dust collector modifications). Some may not like him but he has made great points on dust collection and the importance of protecting your lungs, and that would be Mark Spagnuolo. Yes he uses more expensive tools and equipment, but the points are still valid. He recently did a video comparing 3 dust collection systems (and yes one was that F brand....) you might be surprised at the results. 

 

I am definately doing box fans, as my new wood working space is rather large, and box fans are cheap, but I will also have a full setup for all my stationary tools (Including a few that will be on carts like my planer) just for ease of use. Feel free to drop a PM if you want to keep talking shop, Im more than happy to, as I am currently designing my new wood shop.