Best Lint Free Cloth - created 12-14-2003

Durr, Tom - 12/14/2003.08:46:04

OK all you hand finishers out there....what is the BEST lint free cloth you have come up with. Instead of the proverbial old T-shirt,I tried medical gauze....still left a few fuzzies. Anyway, please let me know what has been most sucessful for you. Oh...must be compatible with a TruOil type finish. Thanks.

Old t-shirts are very good because the loose fuzzy stuff has been removed by numerous washings. However, my favorite is old cotton bed sheets. Another material that is favored by some french polishers is old linen tablecloths.

Linen. It doesn't have to be old, unlike cotton. It's lint-free right from the get go. You needn't buy a whole tablecloth (these tend to be expensive even at flea markets). It's usually pretty easy to find linen napkins. Many are damasked with a woven pattern, don't know if this would create problems with TruOil, since I've never used it... but plain ones aren't that hard to find either.

I found the best cloth for lint-free application of Qualasol was the finest muslin I could buy at the fabric store.

A paint store near me sells bags of rags that are old, worn, repeatedly laundered cotton restaurant tablecloths. They are the best. Zero lint.

Thanks to all.....dug through the rags and found old linen (i think) napkin. Cut it up and have used it with nice results. Shortly will be able to post the final outcome. Stay tuned!

Since linen is pretty popular these days, I take all my wives old linen blouses. Only 2 so far, but it works very well.

Anyone ever used silk??

all my wives

And how many wives do you have?

Give it a try and report back. Could get expensive, tho.

Mowhawk sells cloth they call 'trace cloth' which, with a premptive washing, seems lint free and works well in french polishing.

Just one Deb, and she it fantastic.

Actually I tried silk, and it worked okay. The strange thing was the even though it has a very fine weave, it left larger streaks than more coarse cotton?!?

I'll have to try it again, I still have the silk.

The few articles of silk clothing I have are not particularly absorbent.

For the cover, I have tried linen, but prefer cotton white t-shirt material.

For the absorbent material inside, the best I have used is 3M Synthetic Cast Padding. It is a non woven dacron material. It does not mat down as quickly as cotton padding or cotton material. It can be shaped nicely. It holds a significant amount of material. This means you can load it with more shellac, and apply for a longer time without having to reload. As you polish longer, press a little more, and you find you have more shellac.

I use ends of rolls. Check with your local orthopedist.

Most of you know that I'm a complete novice at this, but for the record, I am having 'success' with an old t-shirt. The inside of the fad is the cutup felt liner from my old winter boots. It's nice and thick, and keeps its shape.

I used the silk only as a cover.

Inside the pad I use layers of an old wool sock. Wool has the properties that Steve and Henry just mentioned, it does not mat down and it holds shellac well.

The Klingspor woodworker site sells a "Bargain Box" of rags. It is some sort of t-shirt material, and I've used it applying Tried and True oil/varinish finish with good results. I've never tried a french polish so I don't know how it would work with that. Pretty reasonable price-wise if you ask me. While on that subject I've purchased a "Bargain Box" of end rolls (more for lathe work) and of PSA paper, and was quite pleased with both selections.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that has to buy rags. My frugal two-person household doesn't wear out clothing fast enough to supply my rag needs.

It's not terribly difficult nowadays to find boxes of pre-washed t-shirt quality cotton rags at paint stores and big-box hardware places.