tiger1964 

Well, I do not think a general Google search tells me what I want to know. Doing a few projects, and I am going through microfiber cloths like nobody's business. Now, unlike the "how to clean shop rags" on the internet, I am not talking about grease. But, instead, I am cleaning up and preparing components via Simple Green, and Blue Magic metal polish, and Wofgang's Metal sealant. Nonetheless, the cloths do not look good and at some point I cannot use them on further parts. So -- now what? I can soak in a bucket of (insert cleanser here), or, I am inclined to do but risky, use the household washing machine but two cycles and hot water. Perhaps a pre-soak in bucket of hot water and Tide first?

Yeah, I just bought another dozen microfiber cloths, but that just defers a reckoning until later.

A few more ibuprofen and a few glasses of wine, and my hands might stop aching. Or... maybe not.

iab

I just use the washing machine, once. The rags come out clean enough for me. That said, there are levels of "clean" and one rag may get relegated to bottom bracket work while another would be good for polishing, and so on.

merziac

@tiger1964

I do a spectrum, sometimes wash in the machine before they get too nasty, yes hot, hot water and very serious pre soak.

Often start out with clean rag and simple cleaning, as they get dirty, they move on to nastier tasks, in the end they do the worst, black, greasy nasty, very dirty chains, oil leaks and the like on cars, etc.

Then they end up in a drain pan that doubles as a soaking bin for nasty parts, saturated rags in the bottom, throw the parts in and spray with carb clean, PB, brake clean, etc and let sit/soak for however long.

Eventually, not often, they get too nasty and I toss them after they have hung out and dried out almost completely.

obrentharris 

I clean the ones that are reasonable in the washing machine,hot setting. I throw away the rags that have grease on them. When I run low I go to the local thrift store where they are happy to give me a bag of old cotton tee shirts for free. People "donate" some pretty ratty shirts, but nice enough for my use.
Brent

gugie 

Mrs. Gee has a "no shop towels" in the washing machine rule, so I take them down to the local laundromat when I go through my Harbor Freight 50 towel set. I do run an extra no-load, hot water with detergent run after I desecrate their machines.

SurferRosa

It's old concert t's for me. Maybe not the best choice, but free.

And then toss of course. Come on, I'm not putting that **** in the wash.

plumberroy

I actually have a 5 gallon bucket system that I made up to wash stuff camping. One bucket with holes drilled to drain plunger with holes to agitate bottom bucket either soapy water or clean to rinse.. but if greasy they go in the fire pit

Andy_K 

I don't use microfiber cloths. It's all box o' rags for me (bulk recycled cotton t-shirts). I'm kind of a slob, so my typical practice is if I need a genuinely clean rag, I grab a fresh one out of the box and then toss it in a pile near my workspace. When I don't need a pristine rag, I grab one off the pile that's relatively cleaner than what I'm wiping off. For really grimy stuff like cleaning a greasy chain, I look for a rag that has a relatively clean patch that I can use. Eventually, the rag gets sufficiently covered in grease that I throw it away. This method achieves a decent amount of reuse without my actually having to wash the rags.

I did once try soaking a bunch of greasy rags in Oxy Clean and then running them through the washing machine. The amount of time I spent cleaning the washing machine afterwards guaranteed that I will never try that again.

WaveyGravey

But bulk quantity orange shop towels at NAPA and just toss them out when they get really dirty.

Classtime 

Torn 10k t-shirts last a long time before they get tossed because I use paper towels for the nasty stuff. I recall using and washing shop rags a long time ago but now with paper towels, I don’t get in trouble. And I have the Blue shop towels handy if our regular biodegrade-in-your-hand towels are not up to the task.

jdawginsc 

Toss rather than grease up the washer. I have been known to soak in bleach and detergent in a bucket but that’s little bang for the buck.

tiger1964 

Thanks, all. Sounds like a wide range of responses. I am still unsure. Again, none of this is grease -- all cleansers, polishes, etc.

Hmm...

I might start with a bucket of hot water and some Oxy-Clean, and see what happens.

smd4

If your rags are getting nasty enough to mess up your washing machine, you’re doing something wrong.

rccardr 

I buy microfiber and terry cloth towels in bulk every couple of years, then feed them into my three-step process:
Relatively clean micro fibers that are used to wipe down the bikes after use or other non-invasive cleaning/polishing tasks.
Semi-dirty micros or terrys that we used for individual component cleaning (aka the lowerpart of the bike).
Very dirty, greasy micros and terrys that are best for wiping down chains and rebuilding wheel hubs (aka surgical glove rags-if using one of them better wear ‘em).
There is no fourth category cuz they go in the trash.

Mrs. Doc is pleased that rags no longer go in the washer, as it means she does not have to monitor its condition.

albrt 

I use t-shirts and other cotton rags. I degrease by agitating them in a 5 gallon bucket or small trash can with very hot water and a mix of detergent, borax, and bleach. That gets them clean enough to run through the washer. They don't look fabulous but they're functional as rags for several cycles before they start falling apart.

This system allows me to use my own old clothes as I discard them without going to thrift stores. The thrift stores here have gotten too expensive to use for rags, and I don't know of any that give unsold stuff to the public cheap any more.

iab

As I tried to communicate and utterly failed, grease rags get cleaned and are designated grease rags, bottom bracket kind of stuff. Yes, they look greasy, but aren't greasy after cleaning and are good for removing more grease. Polish rags stay polish rags (making shiny metal, not nationality ).

It is easy to know which are which. I do clean them all at once. Mostly because I am lazy. I use Tide.

Doug Fattic 

As a bicycle frame painter, I use Bounty paper towels. I need quite a few in the painting process (mostly when sanding but also when cleaning my paint guns) and then they are convenient for bike cleaning tasks when I change jobs to do that. I get the select-a-size version. Paper towels have a quality range depending on brands and cheaper ones don't hold up as well.

By the way, bounty paper towels from Walmart are not necessarily less expensive. They have fewer sheets or volume than those I buy at my local grocery store. I discovered this using my camera phone checking where would be the best place to buy them since I use a lot.

Chuck M 

I ran a load of rags through the washer once. Fortunately I was able to get the smell of grease out before my wife had to use it. I think rags with cleaners and polishes would have been OK, but grease just has an awful smell that clings.

But some time back, I realized I have an entire section of closet with 5k, 6k and half marathon shirts that I don't wear. After using them for cleaning and polishing, they become grease rags and when too greasy, they go in the trash. I don't run any longer, but I'm sitting on enough shirts that I'll be good for some time. Another source of rags I use are dish rags that my wife feels have reached end of life.

nlerner

My rag pile mostly consists of underwear and socks my kids grew out of (plus mine that develop holes). I use 'em until they seem to get my hands dirty rather than clean. Then, I toss 'em.

CroMo Mike 

I use old t-shirts or bundled rags from Harbor Fright, or Bounty. Never wash 'em, just toss the dirty ones. I've always heard that oily rags can spontaneously combust, so I avoid storing greasy rags indoors.

RustyJames 

For oil and/or grease cleaning I like the heavy duty blue paper towels like you get at hardware stores.

Polishing towels/rags get machine washed with other nasty, similar things. Hot water soak with Tide and 20 mule team followed by a heavy duty wash with water temp set to kill.

Russ Roth

I buy the bag of 50 white cloths at the harbor freight and make sure I only clean grease with one cloth at a time. Ones used to clean the bike or wipe things down just get tossed in the dirty laundry with the rest of the clothes. 2-3 dirty cloths doesn't seem to cause any harm to the other clothes which may be experiencing similar levels of dirt between MTB and CX clothes or just having kids that are allowed to be kids. If the cloth is looking a little worse for wear, it'll be the next grabbed for anything grease or oil. My experience is that grease or oil in small quantities isn't an issue in the washer, its when it gets tossed in the drier and the heat helps to activate the residue smell which it then transfers. Since I don't always remember to grab them out and a rag is .20 and has already been used its just better to toss it.

Reynolds 

I use old t-shirts, sheets, towels, jeans, etc. for rags. First time used to clean the bikes and such. As they get dirtier, for greasy stuff like chains. When no longer usable, either toss them or soak in some diesel to start fires.