08-04-2005, 03:57 PM
|
#1 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Jyväskylä
Posts: 3,877
| Washing Many Masks?
I've been tossing my personal mask in the dishwasher for years. (Yes, euro-friends, in America everyone has a dishwasher.)
But when faced with washing many masks (like for a club), it becomes impractical. Your stuck with doing 2-3 / hr, and that is simply not acceptable.
So, Take 'em down to your local car wash. I'm not talking about the ones where you drop in a token, pull forward and let freakin' robots crawl all over your ride, while you sit tight sucking down Starbucks, and gorging yourself on Jelly Donuts. I mean the old fashion kind where you get out the car, and physically hose your whip down.
Last week, after devising this brilliant plan, I power-washed 20+ masks in about 15 minutes... it's pretty amazing how much crud you can blast off of one mask... All good as new, and in great condition.
Small warning! Be careful not to accidentally spray your hand with the power-washer... It'll blow the skin right off. If you feel particularly dirty, you can use this method to wash the INSIDE of your thumb, like I did...
So be careful... and keep your masks clean !!!
P.S. - I'm mostly healed now... so no need to send a card. 
__________________
Quit touchin' me, ya freak
F.Net Rule #1: E. L. E. (everybody love everybody)
| 
|  | | And now for this message... |
| |
08-04-2005, 04:07 PM
|
#2 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Florida
Posts: 431
| I have used the Bathtub for such purposes cause its hands free. add a little dish soap and fill. let soak for like 2-5 minutes then drain. to rinse turn on shower and walk away.
I also wash my kit in the same fashion because I live in an apartment and the washer costs $1.50 plus all the straps on my knickers and plastron get wound around the machine which is a pain.
to further you idea if you had one of those touchless car washes were the robot doesn't touch your vehical you could use a truck or el camino and just drive through they would even wax the masks for you.
__________________
The Epeeman, the Epeeman, in frayed and tattered gear
Can lick his weight in wildcats and can drink his weight in beer
And for the foil and sabreman he hasn't any fear
For he's a late edition of the dashing Musketeer.
| |
| | |
08-04-2005, 04:32 PM
|
#3 | | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 493
| You really wash (and dry?) your mask in the dishwasher? I had never thought of this... | |
| | |
08-04-2005, 04:37 PM
|
#4 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Florida
Posts: 431
| you can just let the mask air dry if you towel off the excess water. if you use the dishwasher make sure you turn the hot dry off. but it works great as long as you have a decent dishwasher that won't leave chuncks of stuff on the mask.
__________________
The Epeeman, the Epeeman, in frayed and tattered gear
Can lick his weight in wildcats and can drink his weight in beer
And for the foil and sabreman he hasn't any fear
For he's a late edition of the dashing Musketeer.
| |
| | |
08-04-2005, 05:14 PM
|
#5 | | Member
Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Colorado
Posts: 96
| There is a small business close to our club that has a system for cleaning sports equipment. Originally intended for hockey gear. We took in a few masks in serious need of a clean, and that were not in the best shape just to try it out. The result was amazing. Completely clean, fresh and totally dry. There was no strong smell of soap or other cleaning solutions; it was a very neutral light smell. The variety of detergents used kills bacteria and other nasties as well.
Based on that we took in all the club masks. I think they could do 15-20 at a time. We got a price of $5 per mask for that many. Club members have been bringing in their own masks for around $8 each.
This was worth the cost; you would actually want to wear one of the club masks now!
The Esporta has a website to find locations for the cleaners in Canada and the US www.esporta.ca
This was an article in the Denver Post about them.
Cure for Smelly Hockey and Sports Equipment
Colorado Clean Gear offers a patented, 4-stage, cleaning and disinfecting process for your dirty, smelly athletic equipment. The process was originally developed in Canada, by Esporta, to address the offending odors of hockey equipment and has been expanded to include all kinds of athletic equipment.
The price for a full set of hockey gear is $33.25 which includes helmet, shoulder, elbow, and shin pads, pants and gloves. Skates are slightly extra.
Washing works! And you'll be amazed how long the results last.
For more information call 303-664-4731. | |
| | |
08-04-2005, 05:17 PM
|
#6 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Jyväskylä
Posts: 3,877
| Andrea,
That's great!
Although it's more expensive (my adventure cost $4.00 for the lot), it's probably a whole lot more convienent and safer. You're a great resource
I'll look for something similar locally...
__________________
Quit touchin' me, ya freak
F.Net Rule #1: E. L. E. (everybody love everybody)
| |
| | |
08-04-2005, 05:18 PM
|
#7 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 659
| Mr. Epee -
I know of a club where the masks were loaded into the back of an open bed truck and THAT was run through a car wash. All of the masks were clean and only had to be air dried. Plus, the club manager got a clean truck out of the deal. | |
| | |
08-04-2005, 05:47 PM
|
#8 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Middle of Nowhere, Germany
Posts: 242
| I live in Germany and have a dishwasher. (I'm the only person I know with one, however...) It never occurred to me to wash a mask in it. In fact, it never occurred to me to wash one at all (I'm a dirty, dirty boy) until someone "accidentally" boosted my mask at summer nats this year and used it. I found it later in the lost and found and it was still wet and didn't smell like my funk. More like... an old onion sandwich. Good thing I was staying in Davis with a friend who had precisely the right supplies: a bathroom sink and a basket full of girly soaps. I washed it with something called "Sweet Pea" from Vicki's Secret or some chick's place like that. Afterwards, it smelled like a Czech brothel which was horribly distracting and that's what I attribute my miserable showing in the next day's event to.
My mask smelled mighty nice though. | |
| | |
08-04-2005, 06:02 PM
|
#9 | | Epee fencing addict
Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Glenwood, ny
Posts: 2,300
| Note - if you wear a bandana and soak up the sweat, the mask doesn't need washing all that often. 
__________________
One test is worth a thousand opinions.
I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was. - Toby Keith
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo | |
| | |
08-04-2005, 06:06 PM
|
#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Middle of Nowhere, Germany
Posts: 242
| And crazy socks? Niemand gewinnt mit diesen schwule socken!!! | |
| | |
08-04-2005, 06:16 PM
|
#11 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Ithaca, NY
Posts: 1,012
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by parrythis Note - if you wear a bandana and soak up the sweat, the mask doesn't need washing all that often. | I disagree.
Broncofencer: Just tie up all your straps into knots and toss 'em into the washing machine. 's what I do and nothing has wound around the machine since. 
__________________
The solution to your problem is to fence another weapon.
| |
| | |
08-04-2005, 06:25 PM
|
#12 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Middle of Nowhere, Germany
Posts: 242
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Katman I disagree. | It was an "in" joke. As in: "in this thread." | |
| | |
08-04-2005, 06:46 PM
|
#13 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Ithaca, NY
Posts: 1,012
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by dilznik | Yes thanks, I read and posted in that thread. I understood exactly what he was refering to. I still disagree.
__________________
The solution to your problem is to fence another weapon.
| |
| | |
08-05-2005, 02:25 AM
|
#14 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Middle of Nowhere, Germany
Posts: 242
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Katman Yes thanks, I read and posted in that thread. I understood exactly what he was refering to. I still disagree. | Fair enough.
Okay, a lot of you have PM'd me about also wanting your masks to smell like a 50 euro roll in the Eastern European hay, so here it is. Sweet Pea is from Bath and Body Works and my friend informs me that I used the shower gel. You can get it here. Enjoy. | |
| | |
08-05-2005, 04:43 AM
|
#15 | | Curmudgeon-in-Chief
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Somewhere in your nightmares!
Posts: 23,534
| Bah, Mr. Epee! Your contention that everyone in the US has a dishwasher is an illusion doubtless based on your experience with Blue States. We in the Red States are rugged, hardy souls who cling to the Auld Ways in dishwashing as in family values and voting.
But seriously---how did you anchor your masks down? If the pressure-wash wands at the car washes where you live are anything like those I've used, I picture masks skipping and caroming merrily around the bay... | |
| | |
08-05-2005, 09:17 AM
|
#16 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: NJ
Posts: 364
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Mr Epee ...where you get out the car, and physically hose your whip down. | Is this a regional colloquialism? 
-r | |
| | |
08-05-2005, 11:57 AM
|
#17 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Hoboken, NJ
Posts: 298
| Try using your dishwasher. | |
| | |
08-05-2005, 01:03 PM
|
#18 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Jyväskylä
Posts: 3,877
| Quote: |
Originally Posted by Inquartata Bah, Mr. Epee! Your contention that everyone in the US has a dishwasher is an illusion doubtless based on your experience with Blue States. We in the Red States are rugged, hardy souls who cling to the Auld Ways in dishwashing as in family values and voting. | In Red States Dishwashers wear skirts... Quote: |
Originally Posted by Inquartata But seriously---how did you anchor your masks down? If the pressure-wash wands at the car washes where you live are anything like those I've used, I picture masks skipping and caroming merrily around the bay... | You are very insightful... at first they were hard to control, but I drove them cowering into a heap against the wall. Then I picked up the strays one at a time, held up them with my left hand and blasted them with the right... just be careful not to spray your hand by mistake. Quote: |
Originally Posted by rsy Is this a regional colloquialism? | No...
__________________
Quit touchin' me, ya freak
F.Net Rule #1: E. L. E. (everybody love everybody)
| |
| | |
08-05-2005, 01:54 PM
|
#19 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,545
| how do you stop it from blasting off the paint coating? on the masks? I'd imagine if its really as powerful as you say it are, it would damage the masks.
__________________
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. And from this side only! The flight of a half-man, half-bird. Dinosaurs nuzzling their young in pastures where strip malls should be. Cookies on dowels. All those moment, lost in time. Gone, like eggs off a hooker's stomach. Time to die" -Phil Ken Sebben
| |
| | |
08-05-2005, 02:03 PM
|
#20 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Jyväskylä
Posts: 3,877
| DFP,
It may knock off a few loose flakes, but it would take some pretty special equipment to really strip the paint. That's when you need a sandblaster! Although High pressure water is more than a match for dirt/sweat stains and mere human flesh...
As has been noted elsewhere... the flesh is weak!
__________________
Quit touchin' me, ya freak
F.Net Rule #1: E. L. E. (everybody love everybody)
| |
| | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes |  Linear Mode | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off | | | All times are GMT -4. T |
