Club Obi Wan

Being an Aussie I can't find Fuller's Earth/Clay/whatever you wanna call it "for love nor money", but I've got a great cheap substitute.

I''ve got a Dyson vacuum cleaner that is BRILLIANT, and picks up the finest of dust in the carpet...It's almost like talcum powder in consistency and clayish/grey in colour.
Sounds odd I realise, but it dirtys up a hat just nicely.......and IT'S FREE

Interesting. I actually use talcum powder itself. Perfect for that built-up sand/salt stains around the ribbon of the Cairo hat.

I use ground up cat litter, it is fullers earth just big pieces. About £1.50 for 10 litres, one bag will last FOREVER!



Scooby liked it!

AND if you cat can't find his litter box...

That ultrafine dust from the vaccuum cleaner is actually dustmite droppings

binkmeisterRick wrote:AND if you cat can't find his litter box...

Those little plush droppings are fine!

Remind me to never send my hat to KT for a treatment!

Regards! Michaelson

EDIT: UN-used kitty litter!

This is different, this is, "KT-Litter."

Costs 5 bucks per 5 oz.

hey kitty litter works great for spilled or leaky oil from your car. I put it on the garage floor, let it set and and the oil came up great. just an FYI cheaper then the oil dry mixture,and if you have a cat it work for him too. By the way it was new litter not used.

My dad has a car-repair shop and he also uses kitty litter to soak up the spilled oil. It works like a charm.

But on a hat, how easy can you remove it?

Regards, Geert

I wonder how well that would work on a soaked hat....

-KB

gwyddion wrote:My dad has a car-repair shop and he also uses kitty litter to soak up the spilled oil. It works like a charm.

But on a hat, how easy can you remove it?

Regards, Geert

Very easily, just hit the hat a few times and the dust just flies off.

BTW the oil spill stuff is also fullers earth (usually), it is just packaged differently.

So, in essence, my dad has a 50lbs bag of fullers eart in his shop while I am trying to locate a place to buy it?

Regards, Geert

gwyddion wrote:So, in essence, my dad has a 50lbs bag of fullers eart in his shop while I am trying to locate a place to buy it?

Regards, Geert

Yup!

But, make sure it is. Look at the ingredients/contents, make sure there are no additives/unscented. It should say 100% natural etc.

Some cat litter even says, "100% Fuller's Earth" on the pack.

It's just grey or browny grey chips of hard clay like material, grind it down a bit and "hey, presto".

I picked up an el-cheapo home brand bag of Kitty Litter and did just that..

MAGNIFICENT!!!!

Thanks HEAPS for the advice

I've been told that most "dust" found in the home is little pieces of people skin.

Blah!

I use 100% Potomac River silt. It's free, plentiful and fun to go out and get.

darthbish wrote:Being an Aussie I can't find Fuller's Earth/Clay/whatever you wanna call it "for love nor money", but I've got a great cheap substitute.

I''ve got a Dyson vacuum cleaner that is BRILLIANT, and picks up the finest of dust in the carpet...It's almost like talcum powder in consistency and clayish/grey in colour.
Sounds odd I realise, but it dirtys up a hat just nicely.......and IT'S FREE

It is also completely unsanitary. I strongly urge that you do not apply this to any gear in the future. The point in having a good vaacum cleaner, such as a Dyson, is to get rid of everything it picks up. If you continue to use this it could lead too allergies and/or respiratory problems.

Wow darth, that is truly nasty. Dust from your carpet is nothing more than dead human skin and dustmite turds. If you really want that on your head, be my guest, but I would suggest one of a hundred other methods before coating my fedora with skin flakes and dustmite droppings!!

Thinking about where our hero traipses, dead skin may be more screen accurate.

gwyddion wrote:My dad has a car-repair shop and he also uses kitty litter to soak up the spilled oil. It works like a charm.

But on a hat, how easy can you remove it?

Regards, Geert

Use a Dyson vacuum like darthbish's

conceited_ape wrote:Interesting. I actually use talcum powder itself. Perfect for that built-up sand/salt stains around the ribbon of the Cairo hat.

Me too.

Advance Auto Parts has Thrifty-Sorb on-sale this week for $5.98 for 40 lb. It's 100% Fuller's Earth. It's more particulate (not powder), but you could crush it. Just wear a mask so you don't breathe in the stuff and crush it while in a well-ventilated area. I used it while distressing my husband's Mark VII replica bag and it worked like a charm.

I put softpay cat litter into a food processor. I have enough fullers earth to last me until December 21st 2012.

Am I right in assuming, however, that ground up cat litter doesn't have the brown colour of the Fuller's that other people use?

not at all. Mine is a healthy brown. I just finished grinding up the whole bag today in my black and decker ice crusher blender. I kept switching between ice crusher and grind.

Just like a bruised...uh...piece of male anatomy, you can't beat it!

household dust is 60-70% dead human skin flakes and hair, 20-25% dust mites and their droppings {that's mostly 'second generation' human skin} the remainder is 'other detrius', which is the scariest bit I reckon.
I think I'll let my hat develop its own gradual patina

Looked for the kitty litter...couldn't find the right kind. Thought about vac-dust...not. Went out to my gravel driveway, scooped up some dust and put it in a rag, then began tapping it against the hat. Perfect and Free! Inexpensive Jones strikes again.

Indiana Joyce wrote:I put softpay cat litter into a food processor.

I hope you give it a good wash afterwards otherwise your meals will have a nice earthy flavor.

I have enough fullers earth to last me until December 21st 2012.

The day the lizard men take over. I can’t wait.

Yeah, I actually broke the food processor
The black and decker held up fine tho, who wants margaritas??

All you have to do is check on the back of the package for ingredients, if it says natural clay or fullers earth, your good. You can also use the safety spill stuff.