Getting stink out of clothes

We used our domestic washing machines for the cleaning of my real cotton overalls and my polyester cotton overalls as follows :-

Make the water wetter so it penetrates down the fibres under the grease /oils by using a hand full of common washing soda & a half handful of borax powder and a high temp detergent to soak them in a bucket of just over hand hot water , push them down into the mixture with a stick , put a brick onto to keep them submerged .
Let them soak for a couple of hours, agitate them with the stick several times during the soak to help loosen the crud , . let the water cool enough so you can pour the dirty water off and pick up the clothing with your bare hands . Now wash them on a high temp ( at least 160 oF ) with a real detergent wash powder . Not one of these low temp eco friendly things as they don't work . Once washed get them dried ASAP , outside if you can rather than a dryer as the cooler fresher oxygen helps remove any lasting taints .

I say this from bitter experience gained from when I was an electro mechanical engineer ( for almost 50 years ... gosh how time flies )
On some of the more " exciting " jobs it was not unusual for me to have to have four sets of clean zip up coverall's /boiler suits a day , when the heavy engineering greases & treacle thick oils were inches thick & had to be scraped off with a small " onion hand hoe " , before we could even think of using a high pressure steam generator & a hot water pressure cleaner with a washing soda add mix /feed to blast the engines , casings & chassis clean enough to inspect & repair them..
 
Mister Ed said:
One of my passions in the fall is running a trapline. And I certainly get a few skunks per year. I have a recipe that I soak the skunks in before bringing them home (until this year I trapped out of a Ford Explorer, and the stinkers would be inside). This might work for this issue as well:
1 quart Hydrogen Peroxide (3% drug store variety)
1/4 cup baking soda
1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap.
Mix together and soak tainted articles (or entire skunk, lol) in a bucket. Mixture will foam up and mix only immediately prior to use.

The peroxide is an oxidizer, baking soda is good at removing odors and it gets the peroxide going. The dish soap is a surfactant to help with the oils. Double the recipe if you need to, maybe ad a little more dish soap.
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I had a German Shepard that had a pension for chasing the local skunks under the house. litterally coated the whole house one time. I was out of tomato juice and a family friend said "just use some dirt" I tell you what dirt did the trick within seconds. I rubbed it into the siding and the smell was instantly gone. I then got the shovel and buried the dog, he thought it was hilarious apparently. He was rolling around and had a grand ol time. Then I just hosed the house and him down. All was right in the world after.
 
The new energy efficient washing machines don't let the water get hot enough to get shop clothing clean even on the hot setting they mix cold water into the tub. Try adding 1/4 cup of Simple Green to the load.
 
I throw a couple of tbsp. worth of " Worx " hand cleaner powder in the washer with my machine shop clothes as well as my paying job clothes. You know how it goes, even with the coveralls and being carefull a fella can still wind up with a hydraulic oil bath! The Worx takes it all right out.
 
Supper Clean in the blue jug works for me just be sure to mix with water. Straight it will open clogged drains.I get mine from wallmart but have seen it in my local auto parts stores.
***************Just Saying******************Gator*****************
 
I use oxiclean or some of the orange oil degreaser or some of both mixed in with tide and hot water. Occasionally a tiny bit of bleach
 
Shadowdog500 said:
Odd question, but I noticed that the clothes that I wear while machining sometimes eventually get a stinky stale smell like a harbor freight store a day or two after coming out of the washing machine. I replaced my shop apron last summer because of the smell. And I tossed all of my blue shop pocket Tshirts for the same reason last summer. My wife would repedadly wash them, but the next day they would smell like walking into a Harbor freight when I take them out of the drawer. The other day my old shop pants had the same problem. My wife washed them several times and switched from armor hammer non scented detergent to heavy duty wisk yesterday so at least it would have a deodorant smell to cover the HF type of smell. She uses a HE machine and we do keep it fresh inside (that is a whole different story.)

My neighbor used to run a machine shop and told me that his clothes always smelled funky no matter what his wife did, and he only wore them in the shop so the smell didn't matter. He said the smell comes from the cutting oils. I use sunoco way oil, dark sulpher cutting oil, just started using anchor lube, and WD40 as a cutting fluid on aluminum. I used to use tap magic, but that stuff stunk nasty while I was using it. The HF smell I'm Describing is similar.

Do any of you guys have this problem, and if so, how do you deal with it. Is there anything to permanently get rid of the smell.

Thanks,

Chris
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Hi Chris,
when it gets that bad, i do like the dog does and go roll in a pile of something!!!

...and does Harbor Freight really smell that bad????
I'm a gearhead at heart, i love machinery.
i've grown to love most of the machine shop smells and sounds.
there are 2 smells that i really can't stand though- Heavy Gear Oil and Dark Cutting Oil.
if you get these on clothing you have a battle ahead of you.
here's how the wife goes about it:

Use Washing Soda(about 1 cup per load)
along with your normal detergent
if you get the foofy smelling laundry stuff, the smell will disappear- stains are another problem
 
Thanks for all the comments. Can't bury the clothes because the ground is frozen. I may put a pair of overalls on the same hook as my apron and wear it while in the shop. Maybe a lab coat like you would wear in chem lab would be better to put in there. Heck I could get a few sets of cheap surgical scrubs like the doctors wear and just toss them when the get too bad.

The HE washing machine is a limitation, but I'm not buying a new washing machine just to do shop clothes, but one of those old antique washing machines with the ringer on top would look neat in the shop if it didn't take up much room. Some people I know take thier shop rags to the laundromat so they don't tick off the wife, but I always wonder what happens to the poor person who washes thier good white shirts in the machine right after you leave.

I may try old fashion method like boiling the clothes in an old junk pot on my camp cooker. I started showering with grandmas lye soap a while ago and have never been cleaner in my life. It is really great on my dry skin as well. I found an old laundry soap recipe all over the web and may give it a try, people say it works better than the stuff you get at the store. You shred some lye soap in a cheese grader(when the wife isn't looking) and mix it with borax, and washing soda. I may try it next month ot so when spring starts to come around.

Chris
 
Hi all,
Plenty of exotic deodorants but the best one of all is to hang your smelly clothes out in the sun for a full day. Natural sunlight full of ultra violet rays is the best de-smeller going. I would sell it If I could work out a way of getting it into a bottle.
Smoky
 
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