Suzie Homemaker Question

I would climb into the washing machine with a jar of peanut butter and try dissolving it. Then I'd pre-wash everything with warm water and dishwashing (yes, dishwashing) detergent to get out the peanut butter, wring things dry, climb out and run the cloths as normal with laundry detergent.

But it would be much more comfortable to do the first three steps standing at a sink.

"Tim Wescott" wrote: (clip) peanut butter (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Peanut butter? Really? I would have thought of turpentine, since it is a solvent made from pine.

Peanut oil (or other vegetable oil) is an excellent solvent for any kind of tree sap and many gummy, sticky contact cements as well as some petroleum products, and it's gentle on most household items. On smooth surfaces the ground-up peanuts act as a gentle abrasive to speed cleaning. I recently got a setup CD for a wireless link all gummy with contact (they had the CD envelope closed with the stuff!). I washed it a couple of times in vegetable oil, then washed the oil off with dishwashing detergent -- it worked fine.

I don't know so much about cloths, but I'd try peanut butter first. It'll either fix the problem or mess things up so bad that washing them is out of the question -- either way you'd have an answer.

Correction: I'd try peanut butter _second_. Unless the sap was soaked in I'd _first_ try putting the cloths into the deep freeze so I could peel the little solid pieces of sap off. Once again, getting the deep freeze into a washing machine will be a pain, but that's what the OP wants, so he can go shopping for one small enough.

Two things I use for grease spots in clothes that might work:

first is any good hand cleaner, like Gojo, Joe's, or Permatex Fast Orange. I've had best results with Joe's. Rub it in real good and drop in the washer.

2nd is the hand cleaners sold in paint stores to remove paint, which might be what you need to cut tree sap. Not sure how easy that stuff is on clothing, so spot-check it first. I suspect almost anything sold as a handcleaner won't stain clothes, because inevitably a hand cleaner will wind up on sleeves occasionally.

- - Rex Burkheimer WM Automotive Fort Worth TX

SteveB wrote:

I second the Orange hand-cleaner route - I have the Zep one and have used it on pine tar.

First, be sure you remove the clothes from the sap.

I recently was talked into buying a gallon of Castrol Purple Cleaner concentrate. Boy is that stuff effective on carpet spots! You have to pay strict attention to how it's diluted, because straight it would no doubt just dissolve most fabrics. I have used it on some stubborn stains on my work clothes, with success.

GWE

Makes good parts washer solvent too.

Me! Me! Hand in air!! I got an answer! Pre condition the fabric thusly: Work a thick paste of baking soda and water into the stained area. Work it hard! Then throw into the mchine. Let me know how it turns out.

Sincerely. Ken

BTW - A paste of baking soda also removes pine sap from your hands.

I seem to remember using peanut butter ad patience to remove chewing gum from one of the kids' hair when they were little. Randy