Sorta OT - How do I get grease out of clothes?

[belfert]

This kinda off topic, but here goes:

I have a pile of about a half dozen tshirts covered in grease from working on my bus.  These are from when I was working on/under the engine/tranny area.

Any ideas how I can get the majority of the grease out of these?  I normally use a cleaner called Lestoil on oil/grease spots, but these shirts are covered in oil/grease.  I have one tshirt that is so bad I won't bother washing it.  It will get used for super greasy jobs and eventually thrown away.

Brian Elfert

[Beatenbo]

If it,s bus grease usually kerosene and a match is about the only thbing that will work ! 

[TomC]

Use either Simple Green or at Costco Oil Eater. Soak and wash 3 or 4 times without drying in between.  Did that with a pair of dress pants that I got Diesel fuel all over.  Good Luck, TomC

[busnut104]

WD-40 I use it all the time on carpet and such, A car dealer put me on to this.

[Dallas]

Brian,

All of these have been excellent tips for oil and grease removal.

I'll add my wifes favorite here too:

Rub GOjo orage hand cleaner on the greaiest part and let it soak in for a while, then wash as per normal.

If it were just me, I wouldn't care, but Cat seems to frown on taking me places covered in grease. She says it drops real estate values!

Good luck!

Dallas

[FloridaCliff]

Brian,

I may be wrong, But I get the feeling your not married.

If you were married you would probably have lots of shirts from distant relatives who had NO idea of your real tastes at Christmas.

You let them age for about a year (just in case they visit) in the closet and then when needed, put one on to do a nasty job in the shop.

Dispose of immediatley after use.

You could double its useful life by soaking in diesel when done to start a burn pile (not for you city guys)

Best of Luck,

Cliff

[gumpy]

Well, I guess I don't get what all the fuss is about.  The great thing about laundry detergent is it's designed to cut through this grease and grime and pull it right off the clothes.

I have two types of clothes. Work clothes, which I wear to the job that pays me money to show up, and "REAL WORK CLOTHES", which I wear around the house. The great thing is they all start out as work clothes, and as they wear and fade, they become REAL WORK clothes! There's a fine line between the two, and sometimes I find I've grabbed a pair of work jeans instead of REAL WORK jeans and now they're covered in greasy grime. That's called early promotion and usually results in me buying a new pair of work jeans.

Eventually, they all become shop rags.

My wife washes everything in either Tide or Cheer. Not sure which. She's never had a problem getting the grime out, but of course there will always be a stain or two that remains. So what?  I don't get too uptight about my looks and going out in public wearing ragged and stained jeans and shirt has never really bothered me. I figure if someone don't like the way I look, they can take pity on me and buy me a meal 

Only suggestion I have is to not wash your REAL WORK clothes together with your work clothes. If your REAL WORK clothes get real greasy, consider taking them to a laundraumat where they typically have a machine reserved for these types of clothes.

[belfert]

Brian,

I may be wrong, But I get the feeling your not married.

If you were married you would probably have lots of shirts from distant relatives who had NO idea of your real tastes at Christmas.

Nope, not married.  But, I do have tons of tshirts from working at the Minnesota State Fair every year for 19 fairs.  I have somewhere between 20 and 30 MSF shirts.  I don't have any real need for the dirty shirts.  It would just be nice to have them half way clean.

There are one or two people who gave me stupid Christmas gifts every year and I finally asked them to stop since they were spending money on junk that was worthless to me.

Brian Elfert

[DrivingMissLazy]

I recommend you do not wash them in your home washer. It tends to leave little grease rings around all the drain holes in the tub that then leaves little rings on other clothes you wash.

At least in this part of the country there are always a couple of Laundromat machines that are set aside for oil field clothes. And woe be to those who get caught putting oil field clothes in a regular washer. The manager will banish you from the Laundromat or charge a very hefty cleaning fee.
Richard

[HighTechRedneck]

A couple of the laundromat's here also have a couple machines set aside for greasy loads.  (also strongly enforces)

I always have good luck with liquid Tide.  If there is a particularly saturated spot, I rub straight Tide into the stain and let them sit for a day.  Then I do the load with a double dose of liquid Tide in warm water on the heavy duty cycle.  As Gumpy stated, there is usually a few minor stains remaining but they are fine for "real work clothes".

[Dale MC8]

Add a little Pine-Sol type cleaner to the washer. Makes REAL WORK CLOTHES smell better too.

HTH

Dale

[Hartley]

Another one to use is any lanolin based hand cleaners ( white jell like ) rub it into the soiled area and let it sit for a few days.

I also use Fast-Orange ( creamy version ) not the pumice version which seems to work fairly well.

I also have used the mineral oil based parts washer/cleaner fluid, It does work pretty good on grease then I do the other stuff
to finish the soaking/cleaning.

[brojcol]

Brian,

Since you're not married, I give you this advice.  My wife made me invest in a pair of coveralls, which were not allowed in the house.  Believe me, after about a week of use in the hot Mississippi summer, they would literally stand on their own.  When they became unbearable, I washed them (alone).  You will save many a T-shirt (and headache) with a good pair of coveralls. 

Jimmy

[Hartley]

Tyvek jump suits, get them dirty and throw them away...

Even available with hoods to protect your hair...

Now to remember to put them on when doing stuff. That's another problem that I haven't solved..

Dave...

[brojcol]

Oh yeah, I forgot, a little battery acid will take those grease spots right out!

Jimmy