scott967

The correct answer is, switch to wax. But if you insist on oil, then my method is to use different sections of rag until the whole thing is filthy, then throw in trash. If I have "microfibre" or other fancy rags, I don't use them for grease cleaning.

scott s.
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Troul 

A little drakes on it & drop it in the frydaddy? mmmm deep fried pothole tar, earth, & geese crap with a faint taste of spent 10w30.

Crankycrank

Not trying to be snarky but this is equivalent to trying to keep the bottom of your shoes clean. Just wash the towels enough so you're not smearing previous goo all over the place. My favorite for cleaning is old cotton T-Shirts. When they get saturated with grease and oil they get thrown away to prevent sending all that crap down into the sewage system. Too much fuss for too little return to keep white towels white.

DaveSSS 

I use Scott paper shop towels for most of my needs. The exception is use with acetone, which will deteriorate a paper shop towel. I use white cotton shop rags for that. I buy both at Sam's in bulk. A cloth towel costs less than 20 cents, last time I checked.

Kimmo

Yeah, I've thought of that one.

Another I came up with would be the PlayStation button symbols on my thumb, as if the colour from the buttons had seeped into my skin.

fredlord

Get a belt drive.

Troul 

do they sell anything that is not a black material for belt driven systems?

Jockie

When you get a stain on clothes from a dirty, greasy chain, I've found putting neat 'dish soap' / 'washing-up liquid' with a little hot water on it as soon as possible. Then scratching away at the mark with a fingernail or somesuch. I've had some success with this method, which I think is down to getting detergent on the stain before it soaks into the fabric and dries.

(If you live in an area where warm weather brings cockroaches, keep a mild solution of the aforementioned detergent and water in a bidon. When encountering the bugs, give them a blast from the bottle. They soon die.)

SkinGriz

interesting thought.

I spilled melted wax on a sweater I liked once.

I put dish soap in boiling water in a giant pot on the stovetop. Dipped waxy portion in and poof(!) wax disappeared.

tkamd73 

They are rags, why would you spend time, and resources doing that?
Tim

Pop N Wood

I always thought it had to do with pictures like these

andrewclaus

And now we know where you got your name.

sweeks

I commute in my work clothes (unless it's raining),and occasionally a spot or two of grease will get on my (usually) pants. Doesn't look good on light colored khakis.
I've had good luck applying Goop hand cleaner to the spots, rubbing it in, letting it soak overnight. I'll spend a few minutes rubbing the Goop into the stain with a thumbnail. After rinsing with water, the spots come out pretty well in the wash. Once in a while the spots require two treatments. Of course, the best thing is to not get the stains in the first place.
I wouldn't spend this much effort on shop rags though...

dscheidt

A few years ago, I called a local wiping cloth supplier and ordered 20 lbs of 'woven cotton rags'. What I got was 20 lbs of white cotton washcloths. Most of them look brand new; a few have had holes or stains. They're great.