What do you do with your rags???

[Don Stephenson]

Random question. I'm aware of the potential for stain rags to spontaneously combust under the right circumstances, so I'm plenty paranoid every time I go to toss something into the trash can. What is the Sawmill Creek collective wisdom for disposing of your stain (and other chemical-soaked) rags in a safe-yet-feasible manner?

Thanks ya'll!

[Kevin Jenness]

I hang them over an unused arm of the drying rack or the lip of a trash can so the heat given off by polymerization can dissipate safely. When they feel dry and crusty I trash them. The danger is when they are wadded up and soaked. Conventional wisdom is to use a water-filled covered can, but I don't hold with wasting the water.

[John Lanciani]

Solvents- put them out to dry then throw them in the weekly trash
Oils - burn them

[Neil Gaskin]

At our shop we soak them in water then spread them over the edge of a trash can outside to dry. Once dry we either put them in a safety can until we through away. The safety can is about 50 bucks or so.

[Jim Becker]

The only oil based product I use is BLO and the lint-free paper towels I use to apply get stuck to a nail out in the breeze away from the shop until they get hard over a few days.

[Stan Calow]

I never have a lot at one time. Wife hates it, but I soak them in water then throw into the backyard to dry. Pick up on trash day.

[Andy Giddings]

Put anything combustible to dry outside (even if its raining) and then in a metal can outside with a tight fitting lid until trash day.

[Bruce Page]

I drape them flat over the edge of the trash can for a day or two then out with the weekly trash.

[glenn bradley]

I do the safety bucket with water routine. I go through a lot of rags and or paper towels when I'm doing a large piece. I just lift the lid and toss them in and put the lid back on. I generally finish over a period of days. When I'm completely done I set the bucket outside. At some point I take a stick and fish the rags out and lay them flat or hang them over a wire. When they're fully cured I throw them in the trash.

[Mark Blatter]

My understanding is that spontaneous combustion only happens in a few oils, like BOL or cottonseed oil. I wanted to double check so in searching found this link:

http://www.firehouse.com/article/105...ous-combustion

that gives a pretty good description of the process and which materials can do it.

[Cliff Polubinsky]

I put a section one of those short wire garden fences outside the shop. Clip rags to it with spring clothes pins until they dry then toss them.

Cliff

[Prashun Patel]

I let them dry individually draped over an old laundry rack in my basement. Then at the end of the week I put them directly in the curbside trash for pickup.

[Don Stephenson]

Good info there, thanks much. And thanks to everyone else. I've been doing largely the same thing, although I didn't have a line up outside to dry them on, I was simply laying them on the gravel and spreading them out to dry. Then once they were crunchy I'd haul them to the curb in a can. Just wanted to be sure I wasn't being overly paranoid by refusing to dispose of them in the shop...

My understanding is that spontaneous combustion only happens in a few oils, like BOL or cottonseed oil. I wanted to double check so in searching found this link:

http://www.firehouse.com/article/105...ous-combustion

that gives a pretty good description of the process and which materials can do it.

[Stew Hagerty]

I rinse them in the utility sink, hang them over the edge for a couple of days, then toss them in my safety can until trash day.

Safety Can.jpg

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I hang mine on a chain-link gate until dry and then put them in the trash.