# Laundry Machine vs Woodchips



## 4x4American (Feb 11, 2013)

Hey y'all, anyone ever have any problems with woodchips in your lingerie machine? I am going to be running alot of woodchip covered clothes through my 25ish year old maytag and I'm wondering if it might be a problem for the machine, should I vacuum the chips off or can I just get ask much chips off as I can by hand and then run it or what's the standard procedure? I couldn't find a laundry machine forum so I decided the next best place to ask wood be here. 
Thanks!
Doug


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## Philbert (Feb 11, 2013)

When machines die, I autopsy them before they go out to the curb or recycling. Just one of those 'how do they work' and ' what went wrong' types of curiosities.

From tearing apart my old washing machines (top loader and front loader) a few thought come to mind:

- wood chips would float (right?), and probably not all get out of your clothes - some would settle back in on top.

- bigger chips would get strained out by the holes in the tub, and also not get out, or could get mixed in with the next load (un-happy wife if you are married or co-habitating).

- stuff that gets through the holes could still be hard on the pump that sends the wash water up that black hose and out to the drain.


Soooooo, . . . .

I think that you will be OK with fine sawdust - that's never been a problem with me. But if you are covered in chips, I think that it would be worthwhile to hold the clothes upside down and shake them out good, paying special attention to the pockets, etc.

JMHO

Philbert


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## 4x4American (Feb 11, 2013)

Thanks Philbert! Just what I needed to hear, whenever this old toploader maytag goes will for sure have to tear it down to get a better understanding of how it works. 
Thanks for your sharing some of your brains!
Doug


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## KenJax Tree (Feb 11, 2013)

Two words.....air hose


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## Grouchy old man (Feb 11, 2013)

I would do whatever I could to keep that old Maytag running and happy. The new ones ain't worth a s***. They don't get your clothes clean and will last a few years at best.


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## mdavlee (Feb 11, 2013)

I shake all my close out after I've been cutting before they go in the washer. The wife and little girl don't like wood chips in their clothes. The lint catcher will have some after they're dried.


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## redoakneck (Feb 11, 2013)

Got me a brand new washing machine and the chips are all still in the thorn pants' pockets when done. They don't even come out in the dryer. Now my right sock is a different story. SWMBO makes me vacuum the socks.

Air Hose is right, blow everything out as much as possible, saws too.


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## 4x4American (Feb 11, 2013)

all good points, our warshing machine drains into a slop sink that then goes to a sump pump which pumps the water up about 8 foot. Hoping that the sump pump will be okay with it, we just had to replace it not long ago. We put a ladies stocking on the end of the drain pipe that drains into the slop sink and that seems to do a decent job catching junk


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## timberland ts (Feb 11, 2013)

Always collects in the hoddies pocket not to bad on washer but rough on the dryer.


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## woodchuck357 (Feb 11, 2013)

*Blower side of shop vac*

does a good job of blowing chips out of pockets. My air hose blows stuff off the outside of clothes fine but has to much pressure to get sawdust and chips out of pockets. The small shop vac hose fits into a pocket and leaves room for the crud to come out with the air, opening down of course.:msp_biggrin:


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## hammerlogging (Feb 11, 2013)

I've found saw chips while folding my wife's clothes more than once. Never had a problem with the machines, but I haven't really lived anywhere long enough to know!


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## bert0168 (Feb 11, 2013)

hammerlogging said:


> I've found saw chips while* folding my wife's clothes more than once*. Never had a problem with the machines, but I haven't really lived anywhere long enough to know!



This may belong in the WTF section.......:msp_biggrin:


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## Rounder (Feb 11, 2013)

My wife made me undress and shake clothes well on the porch. I've gotten to the point now that I just take a pair of jeans and sweatshirt and change at the end of the day before I leave the job. Makes for a more comfortable drive home anyways. Less mess in the truck too.


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## hammerlogging (Feb 11, 2013)

bert0168 said:


> This may belong in the WTF section.......:msp_biggrin:



Welcome to the 21st century. Guess I cut enough timber to be able to be nice to women, children, minorities, and all the other nice people out there. Its a nice place to be, all are welcome.


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## hammerlogging (Feb 11, 2013)

Rounder said:


> My wife made me undress and shake clothes well on the porch. I've gotten to the point now that I just take a pair of jeans and sweatshirt and change at the end of the day before I leave the job. Makes for a more comfortable drive home anyways. Less mess in the truck too.



summer time the change fo clothes is standard, especially for the improved drive home. Winter, chips in the house, oops.


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## northmanlogging (Feb 11, 2013)

*Fresh from the war department (aka the wifey...)*

She says the chips mostly collect in the lint trap, and warshes my crusty clothes separate. She's planning on making fire starters out of the dryer lint...

Machining is almost as bad for getting chips in yer pockets, there just allot sharper, and tend to draw blood... but logging puts more in yer pockets, its a trade off... pitch, diesel, grease and wood chips, or coolant, grease, way oil and metal chips. Just depends on what day it is...:msp_rolleyes:


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## Philbert (Feb 11, 2013)

northmanlogging said:


> .. pitch, diesel, grease and wood chips, or coolant, grease, way oil and metal chips. Just depends on what day it is...



Surprised she doesn't make you take 'em to the the laundromat! I spilled some gas on my gym shoes a few weeks back - tried to wash them with some other 'dirty' clothes and made them all stink! Don't want to think about diesel.

Philbert


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## northmanlogging (Feb 11, 2013)

She just warshes the really bad stuff three or four times... I've gotten good about not spilling diesel on myself. Saw gas still gets everywhere, and the coolant from my straight job is water soluble, comes right out... grease on the other hand...


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## Philbert (Feb 12, 2013)

I took a tour through a commercial laundry a while back - the kind that 'leases' uniforms to factory workers, auto mechanics, etc. It was amazing how they could take greasy, dirty, smelly work clothes, and even those rags (aka 'shop towels), and get them clean in just one cycle through their industrial washing machines.

I don't think that those industrial chemicals are available to us, but I know that they also were not allowed to dump any nasty solvent type cleaners down the sewers; it was all water based stuff..

Philbert


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## OlympicYJ (Feb 12, 2013)

I try and shake em out and sometimes take the air gun to em, even so still see allot of saw chips in the lint screen on the dryer too. I pick all the grease blobs off my clothes otherwise strait to the washer with similar clothes. My dad's a retired mechanic and would run his coveralls through the parts washer to get heavy grease off before putting em in the regular wash.


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## lmbrman (Feb 12, 2013)

I heard from a guy that he cuts his pockets out so they dont catch chips and dust

-and he's always got sumptin to play with


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## northmanlogging (Feb 12, 2013)

The wifey makes our laundry soap. borax, baking soda, and grated castille soap?(the castille may be sumthin else its her recipe and she went to bed... might be some sniffy junk in there too???) gets most everything out in the first go, diesel is pretty hard to get rid of though, that and kerosene, so generally after changing filters or draining fuel tanks (hope i never have to do that again...) is when I get the double warshing, but most times every thing comes out nice and clean, and at a fraction of store bought detergent prices. did I mention we're cheap bastards as well...:biggrin:


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## Rounder (Feb 12, 2013)

hammerlogging said:


> summer time the change fo clothes is standard, especially for the improved drive home. Winter, chips in the house, oops.



Chips in the house must mean we're making lots of money.........That's what I tell my wife anyhow...........


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## c5rulz (Feb 12, 2013)

lmbrman said:


> I heard from a guy that he cuts his pockets out so they dont catch chips and dust
> 
> -and he's always got sumptin to play with



I have heard about that to, the guys name was Dave.:rolleyes2:


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## c5rulz (Feb 12, 2013)

I don't know about wood chips and the washing machine. But two weeks ago I ran 2 five gallon pails of golf balls through the wash along with bath towels for scrubbing action. Worked great!

Of course it was the day before the wife was getting a new washer too.:jester:


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## lmbrman (Feb 12, 2013)

c5rulz said:


> I don't know about wood chips and the washing machine. But two weeks ago I ran 2 five gallon pails of golf balls through the wash along with bath towels for scrubbing action. Worked great!
> 
> Of course it was the day before the wife was getting a new washer too.:jester:



so, when she is gone you scrub your balls?


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## bitzer (Feb 12, 2013)

Its not so much the chips, its the black oil lines and smudges. A gallon of bar oil a day slung off the saw has to go somewhere. All my work stuff gets washed seperate. Then a load of towels to follow. When I'm ####in around with hydraulic leaks she gets ugly. I just replaced the water pump on my washer and all the lines are about 1" so chips will run right through. Its that sock at the end you gotta watch. Forgot to change mine a couple of weeks ago and she dropped into the drain and plugged er right up. The basement floor got a bath. Oh yeah clean out yer lint trap! Thats my real fear!

Hammer- I fold wash too although I really try to avoid it. I'll take the dishes, scrubbin the can, or sweepin the floor any day!


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## treemandan (Feb 12, 2013)

Our newer HE washer will suck hot water when set on the cold cycle, our 20 year old maytag didn't do that. 

If you pull out the agitator on most washers you will see a screen under there that may get clogged with chips and is easy to clean.

As far as sticking anything with fuel on it in there: DON'T DO IT!

Sometimes I just wash my #### with degreaser in the utila-tub. Simple Green, Purple Power, Lysol,etc. You can use that stuff in a machine too. Sometimes I have to run an empty cycle of bleach and baking soda through the machine.

My favorite is when I pay for something and end up leaving a pile of chips on the counter.


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## Philbert (Feb 12, 2013)

bitzer said:


> Its not so much the chips, its the black oil lines and smudges . . . Oh yeah clean out yer lint trap! Thats my real fear!



We are getting domestic again! http://www.arboristsite.com/chainsaw/220545.htm

I don't have the space, but if I did, and I regularly had clothes like that, I might think about hooking up a second, old washer to keep the logging clothes separate from the 'unmentionables'.

Started using a permanent lint trap several years ago. Shown here installed, with a spare (sorry for the sideways photo). About $8 at a local home center. Works good. Has hole in the top to prevent overflow.

Philbert


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## Philbert (Feb 12, 2013)

treemandan said:


> Sometimes I just wash my #### with degreaser in the utila-tub. Simple Green, Purple Power, Lysol,etc.



A trick someone taught me for washing rags was to place them in a bucket in the laundry tub, under the washer discharge hose. It pre-washes them for a few cycles with the slightly used (but much less dirty) wash water.

Philbert


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## northmanlogging (Feb 12, 2013)

treemandan said:


> As far as sticking anything with fuel on it in there: DON'T DO IT!



The fuel in the warsher isn't so bad, besides if it catches on fire then insurance will bail me out of an upside down loan...:msp_w00t:

fuel and gasoline in gas fired dryers is a no no, but we're running ellectrickity... so house is still standing...


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## bitzer (Feb 12, 2013)

treemandan said:


> As far as sticking anything with fuel on it in there: DON'T DO IT!



What happens? I've been doing it for years with no problems. Diesel, gas, all kinds of oils....


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## Philbert (Feb 12, 2013)

bitzer said:


> What happens? I've been doing it for years with no problems. Diesel, gas, all kinds of oils....



[youtube]_SnOWjzKZX0[/youtube]

Philbert


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## northmanlogging (Feb 12, 2013)

tennis ball full of silver nitrate is far more impressive...(approx. 1/4 stick of tnt) ah the good ole days before the alphabet soup goons cracked down on reservation fireworks...


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## Humptulips (Feb 14, 2013)

My god loggers are getting prissy now a days, :censored: laundry.

Many a logger I've worked with solved this problem by never washing their work clothes. Tin pants don't get washed. Why should anything else?
Is kind of bad though when you wake up in the morning with a headache and still wearing your riggin clothes. Must have been fun though, if I could only remember.


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## slowp (Feb 14, 2013)

Humptulips has a point. I asked a hooktender about his laundry method. I got a blank stare and then, "Wash riggin'pants? No, or only once in a while at a laundramat." 

But he wasn't a faller god. I assume you have to be immaculate. :msp_biggrin:


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## Gologit (Feb 14, 2013)

slowp said:


> Humptulips has a point. I asked a hooktender about his laundry method. I got a blank stare and then, "Wash riggin'pants? No, or only once in a while at a laundramat."
> 
> But he wasn't a faller god. I assume you have to be immaculate. :msp_biggrin:



Immaculate? Sure. Every Monday morning for about fifteen minutes. :msp_biggrin:


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## HuskStihl (Feb 14, 2013)

My problem is the socks. I wear long ones and pull 'em up over my pants to look really cool, but more importantly keep the fire ants out (they really suck and have an annoying habit of making giant mounds at the base of trees). The chips just brush off my work shirts and pants, but not the socks. I've started just keeping my working socks seperated. My wife got one of those high efficiency, front loading machines, but it wouldn't get the diesel stink (which I like BTW) out of the clothes, so I re-hooked up the old one.

Three observations:
1) I absolutely cannot believe this thread exists
2) I am either extremely jealous or very concerned that 4x4 has the need for a dedicated "lingerie machine"
3) I am 100% not joking about this, I am beginning to think Philbert may be the smartest man in the world

Good luck with your washing machines you manly men you


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## 4x4American (Feb 15, 2013)

HuskStihl said:


> My problem is the socks. I wear long ones and pull 'em up over my pants to look really cool, but more importantly keep the fire ants out (they really suck and have an annoying habit of making giant mounds at the base of trees). The chips just brush off my work shirts and pants, but not the socks. I've started just keeping my working socks seperated. My wife got one of those high efficiency, front loading machines, but it wouldn't get the diesel stink (which I like BTW) out of the clothes, so I re-hooked up the old one.
> 
> Three observations:
> 1) I absolutely cannot believe this thread exists
> ...



hey now...i dont got a dedicated lingierie machine, so dont be jealous or concerned. as for warshing my work clothes, they're the only clothes i got, so I warsh em every so often.


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## northmanlogging (Feb 16, 2013)

4x4American said:


> hey now...i dont got a dedicated lingierie machine, so dont be jealous or concerned. as for warshing my work clothes, they're the only clothes i got, so I warsh em every so often.



careful yer spelling is starting to slip a little, its permanent ya know...


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## slowp (Feb 16, 2013)

northmanlogging said:


> careful yer spelling is starting to slip a little, its permanent ya know...



I think he plans to sneak into our fair state and is practicing. :msp_ohmy:


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## HuskStihl (Feb 16, 2013)

4x4American said:


> Hey y'all, anyone ever have any problems with woodchips in your lingerie machine?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## 4x4American (Feb 16, 2013)

HuskStihl said:


> 4x4American said:
> 
> 
> > Hey y'all, anyone ever have any problems with woodchips in your lingerie machine?
> ...


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## 4x4American (Feb 16, 2013)

I agree that philbert has gots lots of brains! 

Sidetracking a bit from lingerie machines...I told this really smart guy at my old job that when he dies I was going to take his brain and sell it. He said "Doug, my brain would be worthless, it's used too much, your brain on the other hand would be worth alot. Kinda like buying a car, you want the ones with less miles"

then we laughed for a spell on that one


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