Removing kerosene & cutting fluid smell from work clothes?

[GSF]

At the moment I'm working in the machine shop of a small factory and naturally, I get pretty well coated in cutting fluid from our machines. It's a mixture of oil and kero.
So each weekend I wash my jeans & work shirts in a hot wash just with regular laundry powder and some water softener. They still end up feeling and smelling slightly greasy afterwards though.

Anyone working in a similar environment know any tricks for getting that shit out better? I know they'll just get dirty again soon but it kinda sucks getting up on a Monday morning and putting on clothes that still smell and feel a bit grotty.

[Grumph]

Overalls from a professional supply place. Never have to take them home...

Have to say i'm really surprised they're not already supplied - unless you're either on work experience or on trial - and even then i'd have expected overalls supplied.

[GSF]

Overalls from a professional supply place. Never have to take them home...

Have to say i'm really surprised they're not already supplied - unless you're either on work experience or on trial - and even then i'd have expected overalls supplied.

We do have dust coats supplied, they're a bit of a pain for me though because I'm a bit under average height and very small statured so even the smallest size I can get I end up swimming in, sitting on my coat tails constantly, having to roll up sleeves that roll back down again etc, etc. Although I did just realise I should ask them if they can provide work shirts as well. :doh:

[flyingcrocodile46]

At the moment I'm working in the machine shop of a small factory and naturally, I get pretty well coated in cutting fluid from our machines. It's a mixture of oil and kero.
So each weekend I wash my jeans & work shirts in a hot wash just with regular laundry powder and some water softener. They still end up feeling and smelling slightly greasy afterwards though.

Anyone working in a similar environment know any tricks for getting that shit out better? I know they'll just get dirty again soon but it kinda sucks getting up on a Monday morning and putting on clothes that still smell and feel a bit grotty.


Soak in solvent (petrol works fine) wring it soak it repeat then wring dry and wash as normal. Will work fine on jeans to get heavy dirty oil stains and smell out. Failing that, you could always try the Super Cheap degreaser.

[Reckless]

Dunno if this would work but
We wash the dirt bikes with a Dynamo Solution gets all the mud off and is pretty good with the oily chain residue etc.
You could try that but only genuine Dynamo works the blue 2 x stuff.

Failing that? one dedicated pair of cheap work jeans and shirts. Wash and only wear them to work :)

Haha Than you could go for the Hells Angel look and just out another pair under when they fall apart LMAO

[R650R]

Overalls from a professional supply place. Never have to take them home...

Have to say i'm really surprised they're not already supplied - unless you're either on work experience or on trial - and even then i'd have expected overalls supplied.

Plus one on that, OSH, long term exposure to organic solvents...

[caspernz]

Overalls from a professional supply place. Never have to take them home...

Have to say i'm really surprised they're not already supplied - unless you're either on work experience or on trial - and even then i'd have expected overalls supplied.

Absolutely right. Dirty job means employer supplies PPE and laundry of such, well in the real world anyway...

[Ocean1]

At the moment I'm working in the machine shop of a small factory and naturally, I get pretty well coated in cutting fluid from our machines. It's a mixture of oil and kero.

Oil and Kero is a bit of a strange mixture, most machines use a soluble oil. Although that can stink a bit if it's left unused for a while too.

It's no usually mandatory to get covered in it yourself either, has anyone shown you how to set it up or checked it since? It's not uncommon to get a wee splash on you but it shouldn't be enough to get coated in it.

And if your dustcoat don't fit then tell the boss, it's fucking dangerous if it's a loose fit.

[Waihou Thumper]

And if your dustcoat don't fit then tell the boss, it's fucking dangerous if it's a loose fit.

Sections 66, 67 and 69 of the Health and Safety Employment Regulations 1995...

Duty of care and ensure that PPE is Safe to use, meets standards, does nor cause harm and instructions must be provided on how to use it.

Other than that, just making sure that the workplace is safe and the employer does what is reasonable?
AND based on that, what is also reasonable out there....i.e. what is reasonable in other workplaces can be determined by what others are doing based on what is reasonable based cost and availability to prevent harm....Sections 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the HSE Act 1992.

[Flip]

Get a job at a professional work place.

Employers are required by law to provide propper PPE and meet the costs of maintaining it. Just read the MSDS for cutting fluid and kero. There should be a copy by the front door.

If they are using Rancid oil and kero mix I assume they are machining aliminimium you won't get it out with one wash. It stinks and absorbs moisture so its also hard on your skin.

[Waihou Thumper]

Get a job at a professional work place.

Employers are required by law to provide propper PPE and meet the costs of maintaining it. Just read the MSDS for cutting fluid and kero. There should be a copy by the front door.

If they are using Rancid oil and kero mix I assume they are machining aliminimium you won't get it out with one wash. It stinks and absorbs moisture so its also hard on your skin.

Yep, refer to above....:)
SDS now as per HSNO Act 1996....

[Ocean1]

Sections 66, 67 and 69 of the Health and Safety Employment Regulations 1995...

Duty of care and ensure that PPE is Safe to use, meets standards, does nor cause harm and instructions must be provided on how to use it.

Other than that, just making sure that the workplace is safe and the employer does what is reasonable?
AND based on that, what is also reasonable out there....i.e. what is reasonable in other workplaces can be determined by what others are doing based on what is reasonable based cost and availability to prevent harm....Sections 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the HSE Act 1992.

Well yeah, failing to comply perfectly with reg's might be a bad idea. But nowhere near as bad as getting your sleeve grabbed by the chuck.

Was photo's of past tradesman on the wall of the smoko room where I did my time. Ties were standard apparel. :laugh:

[Waihou Thumper]

Ties were standard apparel. :laugh:

Of course and only safe if tied with a proper Windsor knot...:facepalm:

[carburator]

short answer NO.

better answer get the tight assed buggers to supply you with overalls
cut the sleeves short and fill out the cleaning tag to get them hemmed.

The shit gets in your clothes and skin barrier cream and hand cream and
wash you hands a lot else you start leaving black marks on everything.

[sidecar bob]

Get a job at an accountant. Heaven forbid you should smell of manual labour when you get off work.

[GSF]

It's no usually mandatory to get covered in it yourself either, has anyone shown you how to set it up or checked it since? It's not uncommon to get a wee splash on you but it shouldn't be enough to get coated in it.


The lathes themselves only spray a pretty minute amount of aerosolised mixture onto the workpiece, and they sit under extractor hoods. I get the shit on me when cleaning swarf off the machines (we're machining precious metals). So usually my hands get oily after cleaning down, then go and scrub them clean but I seem to always manage to wipe some on my work shirt that I wear over the top of everything. Repeat that a couple of times over a week and its pretty grubby.

[Ocean1]

The lathes themselves only spray a pretty minute amount of aerosolised mixture onto the workpiece, and they sit under extractor hoods. I get the shit on me when cleaning swarf off the machines (we're machining precious metals). So usually my hands get oily after cleaning down, then go and scrub them clean but I seem to always manage to wipe some on my work shirt that I wear over the top of everything. Repeat that a couple of times over a week and its pretty grubby.

OK, seems likely there's a solution though, talk to the boss about the dustcoat eh? And you definitely should be wearing gloves.

Are they threatening to offer you an apprenticeship or at least some training?

[Grumph]

Get a job at an accountant. Heaven forbid you should smell of manual labour when you get off work.

Ah, jeeze, that bloody ink is hell to remove....and these days you'd have to count money wearing rubber gloves....

[jasonu]

Get a job at an accountant. Heaven forbid you should smell of manual labour when you get off work.

Yeah and those Bucket guys are a bunch of cunts too.

[Kickaha]

Yeah and those Bucket guys are a bunch of cunts too.
They always have been

[The Reibz]

All my clothes smell like they have had half a cup of diesel added in as fabric softener. You can't get rid of the smell ever

[carburator]

The lathes themselves only spray a pretty minute amount of aerosolised mixture onto the workpiece, and they sit under extractor hoods. I get the shit on me when cleaning swarf off the machines (we're machining precious metals). So usually my hands get oily after cleaning down, then go and scrub them clean but I seem to always manage to wipe some on my work shirt that I wear over the top of everything. Repeat that a couple of times over a week and its pretty grubby.

ppe and disposal able gloves
and overalls or end up like me chemically fucked..

[Yow Ling]

Yeah and those Bucket guys are a bunch of cunts too.


She must be working in the Tiatanium dome company

[caspernz]

All my clothes smell like they have had half a cup of diesel added in as fabric softener. You can't get rid of the smell ever

Try Napisan (in a pretty pink container) on hot soak cycle.

[speights_bud]

ppe and disposal able gloves
and overalls or end up like me chemically fucked..

I couldn't agree more with this,

I do a lot of Spark eroding which involves a lot of "kerosene like fluid".

My advise is don't fuck around with Latex or Vinyl gloves, they often perish in a matter of seconds with a lot of chemicals. Use Nitrile gloves instead.

[Voltaire]

I miss proper work smells , all I get is toner cartridge and coffee.

[Grumph]

I miss proper work smells , all I get is toner cartridge and coffee.

Couple of drops of "R" on the heating element in the coffee machine....

[swarfie]

I just tell 'her in doors' to suck it up when she tells me to "go away, you smell like a workshop":lol:
I have to admit to being pleased about not doing much spark eroding these days and the CNC is doors shut most of the time.
It's part of engineering/toolmaking and it's been my income for 38 years....get used to it:baby:

[speights_bud]

Couple of drops of "R" on the heating element in the coffee machine....
Or a few drops of Hoppes No9 gun oil, ooh baby....

[sidecar bob]

I just tell 'her in doors' to suck it up when she tells me to "go away, you smell like a workshop":lol:
I have to admit to being pleased about not doing much spark eroding these days and the CNC is doors shut most of the time.
It's part of engineering/toolmaking and it's been my income for 38 years....get used to it:baby:

My wife smells like a dental surgery when she's fresh home from work, I find that quite confusing, & she says I smell like her father when I get home from work. Apparently girls like that.

[JimO]

My wife smells like a dental surgery when she's fresh home from work, I find that quite confusing, & she says I smell like her father when I get home from work. Apparently girls like that.
old mans wees?

[Voltaire]

I just tell 'her in doors' to suck it up when she tells me to "go away, you smell like a workshop":lol:


In the words of a Famous Brewery: Yeah Right.:bleh:

[nodrog]

Try being a gynecologist.

[swarfie]

In the words of a Famous Brewery: Yeah Right.:bleh:

At least I don't smell like toner:motu:

[St_Gabriel]

At the moment I'm working in the machine shop of a small factory and naturally, I get pretty well coated in cutting fluid from our machines. It's a mixture of oil and kero.
So each weekend I wash my jeans & work shirts in a hot wash just with regular laundry powder and some water softener. They still end up feeling and smelling slightly greasy afterwards though.

Anyone working in a similar environment know any tricks for getting that shit out better? I know they'll just get dirty again soon but it kinda sucks getting up on a Monday morning and putting on clothes that still smell and feel a bit grotty.


All my clothes smell like they have had half a cup of diesel added in as fabric softener. You can't get rid of the smell ever

Dont know about the Kero per se but I used to work in the petroleum industry and continually got diesel onto the overalls which would remain and never come out. One of the guys mentioned using a cup of "Handy Andy" hard floor cleaner (no shit...) into the load of work clothes. Works wonders and completely removes the smell. It is the cloudy ammonia that does the trick so if you can find that in the cleaning aisle even better (and a lot cheaper)

[GSF]

OK, seems likely there's a solution though, talk to the boss about the dustcoat eh? And you definitely should be wearing gloves.

Are they threatening to offer you an apprenticeship or at least some training?

Yeah, I'm being trained up to the point where I'll be able to operate & maintain all our machines (started out on the various lathes, eventually move up to the faceting and milling machines).

I'll hit them up about Alsco supplied shirt or coat that will fit properly. I don't particularly mind using my own work shirts if there was a sneaky trick to getting this shit out of the fabric but I can't be arsed trying to get them clean anymore. Let the professional laundry people deal with it.

I had always been under the impression that wearing gloves while operating a lathe (or other machines) was a very bad idea. Would nitrile gloves tear, rather than pull your hand into belt/chuck/food processing blades etc?
OSH came through a few weeks back and didn't seem to raise any objections about me working in bare hands with oil/kero mixture. If I'm going to be using a machine for an extended period of time I wear a mask as well, given that there will be a bit of mist floating about.

[Ocean1]

Yeah, I'm being trained up to the point where I'll be able to operate & maintain all our machines (started out on the various lathes, eventually move up to the faceting and milling machines).

I'll hit them up about Alsco supplied shirt or coat that will fit properly. I don't particularly mind using my own work shirts if there was a sneaky trick to getting this shit out of the fabric but I can't be arsed trying to get them clean anymore. Let the professional laundry people deal with it.

I had always been under the impression that wearing gloves while operating a lathe (or other machines) was a very bad idea. Would nitrile gloves tear, rather than pull your hand into belt/chuck/food processing blades etc?
OSH came through a few weeks back and didn't seem to raise any objections about me working in bare hands with oil/kero mixture. If I'm going to be using a machine for an extended period of time I wear a mask as well, given that there will be a bit of mist floating about.

Gloves for cleaning swarf out of lathes. Leather ones. If the tool's set up right the swarf is chipped but you can't rule out the odd string and they're nasty. I once cut stainless strips on a planning machine with a high top rake carbide, 1/2" feed and maybe 2 thou deep. Made 8 ft curly razor blades, you could almost see through the edge. The guy cleaning up after me lost half of the skin off three fingers of his right hand.

Nitrile gloves if you're getting kerro/cutting oil on your hands by all means. Most people show no adverse reaction to them but some develop a sensitivity after a while and it can end careers. The trick is moderation, just the odd splash isn't likely to cause issues but prolonged or repeated exposure is worth avoiding.

[carburator]

Yeah, I'm being trained up to the point where I'll be able to operate & maintain all our machines (started out on the various lathes, eventually move up to the faceting and milling machines).

I'll hit them up about Alsco supplied shirt or coat that will fit properly. I don't particularly mind using my own work shirts if there was a sneaky trick to getting this shit out of the fabric but I can't be arsed trying to get them clean anymore. Let the professional laundry people deal with it.

I had always been under the impression that wearing gloves while operating a lathe (or other machines) was a very bad idea. Would nitrile gloves tear, rather than pull your hand into belt/chuck/food processing blades etc?
OSH came through a few weeks back and didn't seem to raise any objections about me working in bare hands with oil/kero mixture. If I'm going to be using a machine for an extended period of time I wear a mask as well, given that there will be a bit of mist floating about.

barrier cream..
never worn gloves with lathes or mills. you get sucked in period...and destocking of fingers is not pretty
you want a 3m face mask, with clean wipes and organic filters if its misting that bad.