Rags in the shop.

[Tin Falcon]

Thinking on the topic of gloves got me thinking about Rags. Rags, like like gloves, properly used in the shop can be a help and a good friend . Improperly used your worst enemy. Rags like gloves should not be used or stored near running machinery. I Use paper shop towels near the machines for polishing or wiping.
Paper will tear cloth may not.
I had a buddy that freaked if he saw a cloth rag anywhere in the machine shop. He would not allow there use even for cleaning off a work bench. He had a scary experience where a rag almost pulled him into a machine.So be wise learn from others mistakes.
Tin
Safety First - Safety Always

 

[gilessim]

Good point there Tin, I only use paper towels in the shop, on the wood lathe though I use small squares of t-shirt cotton, about 4" square for polishing, after having learnt the hard way!, even when the small ones catch, as they often do, you get a fright when they start flailing round at 2000rpm!. Recently, on the news here in Italy, was a story of a guy, a very experienced machinist, whilst using a lathe he had at home, had a piece of loose clothing he was wearing catch in the chuck and wound him in ,he was strangled to death!, YOU CAN'T BE TOO CAREFUL!...Giles

 

[Rog02]

OK, I'll go along with the "No Rags" policy when it comes to spinning metal and rotating tools, but your choice of paper products is important as well.

My shop is primarily a custom fabrication facility, so there "red rags" everywhere. The lathe and mill however each have a "paper towel" roll holder mounted within a short reach. A sales rep once supplied me with "Shop Towel on A Roll" that is the same size as the regular kitchen wipe. First thing I noticed was how stout the towels were! They required a lot of force to tear, about the same as the "red rags". The point is, they were as dangerous as cloth towels when used on machine tools. They worked fine for mechanical work however.

A friend of mine goes one step further and uses toilet paper around his machines.

I purchase regular old paper towels at the local discount store when they are on sale. I recently mounted a second towel dispenser next to the machines so that I could save that aggravation of running out of towels in the middle of a job.

 

[tattoomike68]

I use plain old paper towels most of the time. my problem with the red rags have been that iv killed dozens of them by fire in the welding area. I will be welding along and smell something burning...

 

[Rog02]

I use plain old paper towels most of the time. my problem with the red rags have been that iv killed dozens of them by fire in the welding area. I will be welding along and smell something burning...

LOL! Better a shop towel than your shirt! :'(

 

[tattoomike68]

Iv lost the crotch of a few pairs of jeans, no fun cooking your meat.

 

[Tin Falcon]

the other problem with using rags in the shop is the temptation to wipe the oil off your hands ... with the same rag that was used to wipe chips off the whatever then you wonder were that red stuff came from !!!! Ouch !!!
I use the Scott blue shop towels on a roll from the local shop mart. they tear easily but are a bit heavier and absorbent than the stander kitchen variety white ones.
Safety First!!Injuries last!!
Tin