Been using hucks for years and just realized how much time I’m spending washing them, folding them, and I have enough dryer lint to make a pretty nice sweater… for a family of polar bears.
So pulled the trigger, ordered a scrim and gave it a shot.
Washed it 4 times, threw it in the dryer each time to remove lint and took it out on a job.
First impression: I don’t like carrying a beach towel around on the job.
Second impression: it does work good for detailing.
So I used it for a day then took it home and cut it in half. I know that’s heresy over in the UK, but I don’t like having such a big towel. Hemmed it, washed it, took it back out and it worked great.
I’m still getting used to the big towel (even if it’s cut in half it’s still 3’x1.5’) but it works great. The rumor is that you can use these things damp, so when the towel gets to the point of being damp (the same point where I’d switch out a damp huck for a dry one), I kept using it to see if it would continue to work. It does! It’ll still suck in water when damp.
I tried the [MENTION=327]Dangerous[/MENTION] Dave method of wetting them and wringing them out, but even cranking on them, I couldn’t get it to wring out enough. I’m guessing that’s why the UK guys don’t cut theirs: with the bigger towel, you can wring it and, since there is a lot of material, it’ll wring down and out to where you can use it immediately.
I was looking at the car wash towel wringers and they’re pretty expensive. Until a friend of mine (who buys storage units) says he throws those in the trash all the time. He didn’t think they were worth anything. So next time he tosses one, it’s going to be mounted in the back of my truck!
So when one scrim is too damp to use, I hang it over my now empty dirty towel laundry basket and use the second one. When that one is wet, the other one is good to go.
I also started using just a generic microfiber to wipe the sills inside. Outside I just use my sill squeegee. The generic microfiber wipes good and holds a LOT of water. When it gets full, you can wring it out and keep going. I tried the PVA towels, but they want to grip on the sills and I don’t like that. They do hold a lot of water, but they’re hard to wipe with. I picked up a hip clip to hold the microfiber off the side of my unger bag and it works great.
As for the huck towels, I still carry one around for detailing lettering. When my scrim is damp, it’s easy to grab a huck and just wipe up the lettering real quick. But one huck per week is better than 100.
So when I start hiring employees their kit will include 2 hucks, 3 pieces of scrim (1.5 actual scrims) and 2 microfibers for wiping sills. They can hang the towels up at the end of the day and they’ll be ready for the next day. Then I’ll wash everything on friday and be ready for the next week. One load of towels per week ain’t gonna be half bad.
Oh, and being a big frickin towel might prevent them from losing it.
