Thursday, August 15, 2013

Shop Rags

There are very few things as valuable as a shop rag.  It's used for a variety of purposes, but the whole idea is that when it's done, you throw it away without a second thought.  Sure, shop rags can be washed, but eventually they're done.  Throw it away .

I make mine from old tee shirts.  I can get 10 shop rags from a single shirt.  When a tee-shirt has reached the end of it's service life, it goes under the scissors.  First I cut off the sleeves, which make two small rags.  Then I cut the shirt across the top and sides, which gives me two big pieces of cloth.  Cut each of those into quarters, and that's a total of 10.  Four quarters, plus the sleeves.  One of those rags has a pocket, because I use pocket tee-shirts.

I make heavy-duty shop rags from the legs of old blue-jeans.  Sometimes, a piece of good, blue denim is just the ticket for a particular project.  Gun-cleaning, refinishing furniture, light mechanic work, there's nothing like a good shop rag, and while blue denim is durable, there's some times when you just want a piece of nice tee-shirt.  Just a few minutes ago, I looked down at an old tee-shirt I was wearing and decided that it should never again be seen in polite company.  I took out my scissors and converted it into shop rage.  Now it's got a new life and a new reason for existence.

You're welcome.

2 comments:

Rivrdog said...

Old Tee shirts make gun patches and small gun rags, but the old jeans and pants get sewn into long-gun socks. Shorts have the pockets removed, inner and outer, and make into small pistol pockets.

For shop rags, I'm a traditionalist, I actually BUY those red rags. I've done a fair amount of wrenching for pay, from about age 20 to about 45 or so, and I just got used to red rags.

Gerry Nygaard said...

When our first baby arrived we were given six months of diaper service. I got to talking with the delivey man woho brought clean diapers and asked what happened to diapers that were mustered out. I still have at least one unopened case of used diapers that is the same age as my baby girl, 40. Best damn shop rags I ever saw and cheap to boot.