oily rags

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I've tried. Boy have I tried. Danish oil. Linseed oil, raw and boiled. Tung oil. Finishing oil. Osmo PolyX. I've tried them all, and I'm damned if I could any of them to spontaneously combust, no matter how I arranged them, or whatever the air temperature was. I'm seriously disappointed.
 
MikeG.":2y7jbwam said:
I've tried. Boy have I tried. Danish oil. Linseed oil, raw and boiled. Tung oil. Finishing oil. Osmo PolyX. I've tried them all, and I'm damned if I could any of them to spontaneously combust, no matter how I arranged them, or whatever the air temperature was. I'm seriously disappointed.

It only works when you are not watching.
 
The thing the Notts fire officer omitted to say was that if said restaurants wash up properly, their dishcloths shouldn't get so greasy in the first place. Next step: salmonella.

Round here we rinse properly after the washing up water before drying up - everything stays cleaner, sink & drainer, plates and utensils, and tea-towels especially.

IMHO, it's a good argument for finding somewhere else to go for a Saturday curry, or whatever.

I've come close to having a fire with solvent-soaked paper towel, and others on here have actually had it happen. I've a feeling cotton rags are more combustible than the paper towels tho, and I don't use them as often. Call me messy, but soaked rags and paper towels now get thrown out of the workshop door, and left outside until there's no danger of anything interesting happening. I've got an old cast iron saucepan that's a good safe place to put them (with chicken wire on top to prevent them going airborne).
 
That place is just down the road from me!

I worked in a laundry one summer (1976) and we used to have to run a cooling cycle on the dryers before emptying them in case of fires, some of the bins we empted them out into had scorch marks!

Pete
 
I have the answer to rags that might self ignite - I burn them. :D

Any EHO will tell you the filthiest things in any home are dishcloths followed by teatowels and face flannels.
Decades ago we had a washing maching and a tumble drier in our (commercial) kitchen. Brilliant - as soon as there was a mark on a teatowel or oven cloth it got thrown at the washing machine, when the washing machine was finished the dishwasher would unload it into the drier and refill the washing machine. It worked brilliantly until the EHOs decreed it was unhygenic to have the machines in a kitchen, so they were moved ............. then people would persist in using dirty stuff because no one could be bothered to take the dirty stuff for washing or pick the clean stuff up. Unforeseen consequences?
 
MikeG.":3upcs3u2 said:
I've tried. Boy have I tried. Danish oil. Linseed oil, raw and boiled. Tung oil. Finishing oil. Osmo PolyX. I've tried them all, and I'm damned if I could any of them to spontaneously combust, no matter how I arranged them, or whatever the air temperature was. I'm seriously disappointed.

Trust me it can happen. I made some outdoor scientific equipment for a lab some years ago. I left them with instructions to oil occasionally and to be careful of the rag disposal. They forgot the later part and chucked some oily rags in a black bin in the sun. They had to take a fire extinguisher to the bin a while later!
 
I don't know why people use dish clothes. Yuck! .. Damp kitchen roll or those chunky wire wool doodahs for me
 
MikeG.":2uwbfzhg said:
I've tried. Boy have I tried. Danish oil. Linseed oil, raw and boiled. Tung oil. Finishing oil. Osmo PolyX. I've tried them all, and I'm damned if I could any of them to spontaneously combust, no matter how I arranged them, or whatever the air temperature was. I'm seriously disappointed.

A surefire (hoho) method is to use lead patination oil - which is predominantly linseed oil I think. W2S
 
Don't get that problem in the Greek restaurants, not only does the smashing of plates relieve stress but it's fun as well. :?
 

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