"Baby Wipes" Topic

Do you keep Baby Wipes on your workbench or painting station?

No, but they are very close by.

No. Are they a useful addition?

x42

No.

Yes, I find they are invaluable in case you yourself while painting something.

Pat

We've got them in the house…

What for!?

I don't use babies for painting…
-Kle.

Umm, no.

Eric

You can almost tell from the posts who is a parent (or anyway, a fairly recent parent) and who is not. Both of my kids are out of diapers, but I intend never to be without baby wipes for the rest of my life: you simply cannot imagine how handy they are until you've had them around. Do yourself a favor and buy a small pack; I think you'll be hooked.

I am a parent, and I still can't see a reason to use them for painting…

Warning: If you DO use baby wipes (for whatever reason) DO NOT FLUSH! Not unless you enjoy paying a plumber lots of money.

Damon.

I agree with Jeff. Before I had kids, I never had them around. Now I have some at my desk and in my car. They're incredibly convenient and useful (and yes, you can get unscented wipes if you don't like the idea of scented ones).

I have a two year old and I despise the nasty, damp, chemically little things (wipes, that is) and as soon as possible the house will be free of them…

Buy the cheaper baby wipes, like the Wal Mart store brand.

Open the package up. Leave it open for a couple of weeks. The wipes will dry out completely.

Left behind will be a package of durable "paper towels" that are only a little less durable than shop rags and are more absorbent. I have been known to use the same dried out baby wipe as my "brush rag" for WEEKS.

You can leave the package on your painting table and it takes up very little room. Need a new rag? The package is a handy dispenser. If you have to sacrifice an entire new wipe to spilled ink, who cares? It only cost a few cents. Fractions of cents if you bought a case of the things.

Some people use the wipes moist rather than drying them out – I tried that and didn't like it. It seemed like they didn't clean my brushes as well. YMMV.

Now, I have to admit that I now use plain red shop rags which can be washed and re-washed dozens of times – but that's just because they had 'em on sale cheap at Lowes the other day. When they're all so stiff with paint that they can't be re-washed anymore, I'll most likely go back to baby wipes.

Shawn.

@streetline: I felt the same way when my kids were still in diapers. And when they were OUT of diapers, those wipes went out into the garage and set there for about a year for the same reason you said – I was sick of the sight of the awful things.

Then one day I needed something to clean a brush with and my wife would not allow me to destroy any of our remaining t-shirts (having disposed of all the ancient ones despite my protests and wailing). I remembered the wipes and the rest is history . . .

- Shawn.

I have several packs around the house and some in the car. But I wouldn't want to use them for cleaning my brushes and that is about the only thing I could think of using them for.

How would they help with hobbying?
They don't pick up spilt beer all that well…

Then one day I needed something to clean a brush with and my wife would not allow me to destroy any of our remaining t-shirts

Kitchen roll.

Cheaper than baby wipes. Or T-shirts.

Connard bog rolls are even cheaper.

No, I use paper towels.

But they fall apart too easily, ditto tissues. Kitchen roll's absorbent and strong.

I sound like an advert…

Running out of things to wipe your brushes on? How much paint are people putting on their brushes?

I've used paper towels and a roll of that will last me years.

I use new T shirts. Then you have a really cool painted shirt when it's full up ^,^

I find baby wipes are incredibly useful for cleaning things off of the carpet. They don't shred like a paper towel will on carpeting and they seem to have some magical ability to pick up liquids and food items rather than scrubbibg them deeper into the pile. I've gotten up a bit of spilled paint on an occasion or two.

Depends on the type, some have too much lotion and aren't good for quick clean-ups and etc. If by chance I see we have some ultra-cheap ones without the lotion, I snag them for the workbench.

Paper towels. Cheaper, easier, multiple uses.

Baby wipes are in my MOLLE rucksack, for the unlikely event I get sent into "The Field" again.

Just because it says "Movement Control" on my office door, doesn't mean it's That Kind of movement.

Eric

No

Fascinating thread. I've adapted lots of things to modelling, but honestly looked more at the plastic boxes as storage containers than the wipes themselves as anything useful. Paper towels and old t-shirts have gotten me this far, that's probably where I'll stay.

That said, I never thought something as mundane as using the toilet would be something I would so look forward to another doing. We have twins almost three, and we are going through the arduous process of potty training. One got it fairly quickly, the other is being stubborn (she's taking after her mother…). I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to not having to drop everything when you here those dreaded words, "I have to go potty."

Get the unscented, hypoallergenic wipes if you want no scent, no chemicals.

Get flushable wipes if you want to be able to dispose of them that way.

We have kids so we have them around the house and use for cleanups. I have not used them at the painting table yet (except sometimes for wipedown). Still using rags cut from old t-shirts, usually a wet one and a dry one; these seem to absorb better than the red towels from the auto parts store. Still using water + brush soap for cleaning the brushes.

I wouldn't want to use paper towels, or facial tissue or bathroom tissue for cleaning brushes; they shred and leave paper lint particles behind. But have been using shop paper towels in the garage (the blue ones); these seem stronger the kitchen paper towels.

So may possibly bring the wipes or the shop paper towels to the painting desk at some point.

My babies are 20 and 21 I hope they know what the bathroom sink is for by now!

Sorry but the ones we have had around the house either:

Smell
Are covered in a slimy chemical
Rip
Or are covered in a slimy smelly chemical

Get flushable wipes if you want to be able to dispose of them that way.

FLUSHABLE WIPES ARE NOT ACTUALLY FLUSHABLE!

I know this because I spent a lot of money dealing with the "problem" they caused…

Damon.

Garand,

You obviously don't have a Flushmaster 2000 (TM)!

Rob

The cheap wipes I used to use were far stronger than paper towels. I paint a lot of buildings and large terrain pieces, so sometimes I'm using 1" or even 2" brushes. Sometimes to directly apply paint, sometimes to dry brush. These wipes stood up to repeated bouts of dry brushing up to 10 buildings at a time (back when I sold custom building sets).

One wipe would last as long as a whole roll of paper towels for the sort of "industrial" use I was putting them through. And remember, I'm not talking about the brand name, fancy schmancy wipes – I'm talking about the el cheapo Wal Mart brand.

Drying 'em out gets rid of the chemicals and baby oil that might goob up your brushes.

I'm not saying wipes are superior to anything else – I traded 'em in for shop rags myself – I'm just responding to Bill's question about whether folks ever got good hobby use out of 'em. ;)

Shawn.