During my efforts to sweep up some scraper shavings I suddenly remembered we used to use sweeping compound in shop class when I was in school. Many times, it's not worth the effort to get a vacuum over to a site and I simply want to use broom or brush and dustpan.
Did sweeping compound disappear for some good reason or did the Army use it all up during the 60's. Are they storing it in some hidden location?
Industrial or janitorial supply houses should still have it. I just bought a drum for the warehouse a couple of weeks ago.
Boy, that takes me back. School, military ..
Did a google. They sell it at Ace Hardware. Now environmentaly safe! Probably means the smell is gone.
LD
Boy does that bring back memories. Nothing worth relating; a couple of part time jobs during and after high school.
Thanks for the trip.
- - LRod
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
I've seen people use a sprinkle bottle with water to do the same. No oil - wouldn't it be slippery?
Josie
What is it?
Barry
IIRC it is a ground up saw dust that is red colored and a bit of oil added in the mix. The stuff is sprinkled on a floor and swept up with the rest of the dust. I recall seeing it in small town grovery stores that had wooden floors. The floore were red tinted from years of use of the compound. The oil mixed in was to keep the dust down similar to dust mops having a bit of oil added to keep the dust down.
that and "pencil smell" is my "going back to school season" memory = yanker.
--=20 SwampBug
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remembered we=20
Boy does that bring back memories. Nothing worth relating; a couple of part time jobs during and after high school.
Thanks for the trip.
- - LRod
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
Probably means it doesn't work as well, either..
Sat, Nov 6, 2004, 9:30pm (EST-1) snipped-for-privacy@interaccess.com (Dustmaker) posts: During my efforts to sweep up some scraper shavings I suddenly remembered we used to use sweeping compound in shop class when I was in school. Many times, it's not worth the effort to get a vacuum over to a site and I simply want to use broom or brush and dustpan. Did sweeping compound disappear for some good reason or did the Army use it all up during the 60's. =A0 Are they storing it in some hidden location?
I must be missing something here. Yeah, I remember sweeping compound. Light green, and the janitor used it when someone puked on the floor in school. Dump some over it, sweep the whole mess up. I've seen fine sawdust used the same way.
I don't see what the problem would be using a broom and dustpan on scraper shavings. But, if so, I'd dump some sawdust down, and sweep the whole thing up. And, we are talking about being in the shop, right? So, what's to sweat?
Maybe you want to consider one of those little hand-held battery powerd vacuums. Me, if the broom and dustpan doesn't get it, it stays where it is until next time.
JOAT Viet Nam, divorce, cancer. Been there, done that. Now, where the Hell are my T-shirts?
Probably means that it doesn't work either.
Wayne
On Sat, 6 Nov 2004 21:30:50 -0600, "Dustmaker" calmly ranted:
They found that they could triple the price for it if they relabeled it "New, IMPROVED, Dustless Kitty Litter".
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No more so than a waxed floor. They used to use it in schools and other institutions for those long, wide hallways. The janitors then always wore green work clothes and used a broom or dustmop with a head about the size of Rhode Island. You always knew where they used it, as there was a distinct but not unpleasant odor.
LD
Not at all. The oil in the sawdust help it keep dust down. The big advantage of a sweeping compound it getting up the finest of dust and not just spread it around.
Don't you always have to leave a little bit of dust for "seed"?
I found it at the orange Borg a few years back in a 10# or so container (not the bigger commercial cardboard drum size:(.
Jeez...I remember when my dad brought half a tin drum (I'd guess about
40 gallon size) of dark green sweeping compoun home from work. That lasted for years. He later used the drum for storing coiled electric wire. :)John
Wow. Remembrance of things past. Your last sentence evoked the smell. Hot spring days, watching the clock creep toward 3:00, hearing the swish swish of the broom out in the breezeway...
Josie.. I do that several times a day... Not only lets you sweep without raising dust, but I think if the floor is slightly damp, it sort of attracts dust from sanding and things, which is better than letting them float around until you breath them..
we used to use huge bags of it on the cement floors of a plastic factory I worked in... it left the floors a lot less slippery than they were before we used it, as I remember...
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