Any sources? None of the usual suspects seem to have ’em (Woodcraft, Rockler, Grainger, the Borgs)…
Discussion Forum
Get It All!
UNLIMITED Membership is like taking a master class in woodworking for less than $10 a month.
Start Your Free TrialCategories
Discussion Forum
Digital Plans Library
Member exclusive! – Plans for everyone – from beginners to experts – right at your fingertips.
Highlights
-
Shape Your Skills
when you sign up for our emails
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. -
Shop Talk Live Podcast -
Our favorite articles and videos -
E-Learning Courses from Fine Woodworking
-
-
Replies
You can use a metal gallon paint can from the home center and fill it part way with water. Put your oily rags in it and seal... no more problem.
Or you can lay/hang the rags out flat to dry. They only catch fire when you wad them up.
http://www.finishwiz.com
John
When we had our automotive repair shop our insurance guy recommended a metal trash can with a tight fitting top. He said the key is to limit the amount of oxygen available to the rags. If you want an official type of can check out Lab Safety supply On the web labsafety.com they have everything you may need related to safety. We ended up buying an official dirtyrag can. The key is to dispose of the rags properly so the can doesn't become overfull also. We were in business for 20 years and never had a rag fire so the can must of worked
I recommend the spreading out to dry plan. The metal can with water is an interim solution until they can be dealt with.
The major oily rag problem is with the drying oils (BLO, tung, oil/varnish mixes) such as used in finishes. It is their curing that generates the heat that can lead to spontaneous combustion. Rags with lubricating oils--motor oil, etc. don't cure, and can't spontaneously combust, though they are still flammable products and should be protected from sources of ignition.
Didn't know it was the curing that does it. Right now it's tung oil I'm working with, and my wife's nervous about the rags. For now I'm spreading them out, but I'll soak them in water I guess so I'll be able to dispose of 'em.
The spreading them out to dry works just fine. When they have finished curing they can be disposed of in ordinary trash.
Soaking them in water is a messy solution that doesn't eliminate the chance of spontaneous combustion unless the rags are a submerged in the water and there is no way the water can dry out.
You are much safer to allow the rags to dry while spread out. This is best done out doors to eliminate the smell and all fire risk. A simple short clothesline and some clothes pins will do the job.
John W.
Hey cool, there they are. I see a Eagle brand steel "oily waste can" for $66 right there on labsafety.com.
I'll be ordering today, thanks! And now that I know what they're called and a brand name, I can probably comparison-shop.
Hi, I just bought one on eBay from a materials handling place that's posting some auctions there. I paid half of the usual cost. Just search on eBay for "oily waste".
-Pellaz
Thank you, I'll check that out.
Any auto repair supplier.
A bunch of rags is more volatile than just one. But since the whole point is to eliminate oxygen, "barely big enough" is better than HUGE.
Personally I usually air-dry them outside and just toss into the outside trash bin the next day. I've also used old paint cans, sealing the top with the old lid (it seals better than the official disposal cans but it's inconvenient to open or close).
Good call on the size. I was planning to get the 6 gal (smallest) for that reason.
Thanks for starting this thread. This is a long standing "to do" for me, and I separately identified what I think is the same 6 gal. can as my best option. Order placed!
Cheers, -robert
Just a thought maybe buy a webber bbq and put it out in the driveway. If the rags ingnite that should contain the fire (always best to try this at somebody elses house lol).
Troy
When it's not raining, I toss them in the driveway. In a few hours they're dried and safe. In the winter I toss them into the shop woodstove and light them. Not the best advice if you don't have a woodstove!
We put woodstove ashes into small metal trash cans with metal lids that we got at HD. The ashes then extinguish and we can throw them into the trash totter in a few days without setting the trash truck on fire. You might try one of these small metal trash cans.
I'm not crazy about putting the rags in water. I'd have a safe rag and water with some serious contamination. If I could send it down the drain to the the public treatment works, that would'nt be so bad maybe, but a bit illegal. But our drain goes into the septic system and I'm not interested in putting solvents and heavy metal driers into the groundwater I drink (when I'm out of beer).
Yeah, I had no good idea of what to do with the water either. I'm going to use the oily waste can until I get a nice sunny day, then throw 'em in the driveway for the afternoon, then trash 'em.
Many moons ago, back in the early '70's when I was a wet-behind-the-ears trainee some of the old farts that taught me a fewof the tricks of the trade dealt with the risk of linseed/tung oil laden rags spontaneously igniting, particularly in the winter, by------
-----immediately chucking them in the wood waste fed fire or stove when they'd finished with them! It's not exactly the politically correct thing to do anymore, but you knew for certain those rags weren't going to inconveniently ignite later when no-one was about, ha, ha. Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
WHAT?? Granger use to have UL rated 'fire cans'.. Geee they going under too?
I just put my rags in the driveway with a brick on top.. Wait a few days or until the neighbors complain to the Police...
No, Grainger's not going under. :) I just didn't know the proper term for the items. In fact, after someone clued me in to search for "oily waste" cans, I found 'em on Grainger.
I put them in the Weber grill with the lid on. Once, I took the lid off to put a new rag in and found a bunch of burnt rags. Seeing that makes one take this seriously.
Frank
try http://www.mcmaster.com or http://www.grainger.com
Datachanel
Doing things the hard way
McMaster... should have thought of that. That's a better price than Grainger. Thanks!
And typically McMaster has it to you the next day.Datachanel
Doing things the hard way
All: Here's what I've been doing with smaller rags; I'm wearing a disposable glove, take it off inside out with the rag inside the glove, squirt some water on the rag and knot the glove around the now wet rag and in the garbage it goes. Clean, safe (I think) and few wasted steps or extra equipment. Of course this will only work with smaller rags that will fit inside an inside out latex glove. If someone sees a hole in my logic please let me know. Duke
The Bill of Rights
December 15 1791
NRA Endowment Member
LEAA Life Member
CRPA Member
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled