Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Squeegee Clean blackpool on March 29, 2008, 08:05:32 am

Title: Scrims
Post by: Squeegee Clean blackpool on March 29, 2008, 08:05:32 am
Can anybody please tell me what scrims are made of, is it muslin????? ???
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: Dean Aspects on March 29, 2008, 08:07:07 am
The ones i have are grade 1 Irish linen

Dean
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: simon knight on March 29, 2008, 08:09:42 am
The ones i have are grade 1 Irish linen

Dean

Ditto
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: windowwashers on March 29, 2008, 10:43:36 am
The ones i have are grade 1 Irish linen

Dean

Ditto
Are they the thick heavy ones ???

I had some years ago now but they were great, the ones I have now I poor.

where do you get them from link to site if poss.  ;)

Ian
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: elite mike on March 29, 2008, 11:56:25 am
hi ian

https://www.windowcleancentre.co.uk/default.aspx

mike
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: simon knight on March 29, 2008, 11:59:15 am
The ones i have are grade 1 Irish linen

Dean

Ditto
Are they the thick heavy ones ???

I had some years ago now but they were great, the ones I have now I poor.

where do you get them from link to site if poss.  ;)

Ian

I get mine from the pro shop in Kingston...they're not cheap mind (£7ish) and they take forever to break in...but once they do they're fantastic and I get very upset if I lose one.
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: Squeegee Clean blackpool on March 29, 2008, 12:00:51 pm
The ma in law has got a curtain liner made of muslin its just like scrim it could save me a fortune i maight just try it and see.
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: chrismroberts on March 29, 2008, 02:04:51 pm
The ma in law has got a curtain liner made of muslin its just like scrim it could save me a fortune i maight just try it and see.

LOL... will she mind you cutting up her curtains?  ;) :D :D
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: ZampaWall on March 29, 2008, 05:03:46 pm
Scrims are made of Lignin.
They are graded as someone has mentioned, grade 1 are the better ones.

For those who have trouble breaking them in, try boiling them or as I used to do put them in the washing machine, on a hot wash (no soap/chemicals) when new, then use them to wipe down frames / ledges, use them to mop up spills etc, wash them out on a rinse cycle in your washing machine, they soon break in.
You can buy pre bleached scrim, which are ready to use but are not as good and dont last as long
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: Chris Cottrell on March 29, 2008, 10:07:38 pm
I thought it was calico
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: Londoner on March 30, 2008, 07:52:24 am
It is calico if you want to be technical. The word scrim is the old naval term for unbleached calico. But today the word just means a bit of cloth.

You can buy calico very cheaply from any fabric shop. In the old days the window cleaners would buy calico and boil it before they used it. Even today its no good till its been through the washing machine a half a dozen times.

The thing you have to understand though is that the old window cleaners did not use scrim as a drying cloth. They would dry the window with the shammy and only use the scrim afterwards to polish the glass because the shammy had a tendancy to leave water marks on the glass.

When the squeegie came into common use the scrim became a detailing cloth but modern microfibre cloths have left everything else far behind for that purpose.

The routine for me is to buy some calico and use it as a sill cloth until it has had a few washes to break it in but I don't have that much use for scrim these days.

The only time I use it now is as a "first" cloth to save the microfibres so it has taken over the job that the shammy used to do.
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: windowwashers on March 30, 2008, 08:04:13 pm
It is calico if you want to be technical. The word scrim is the old naval term for unbleached calico. But today the word just means a bit of cloth.

You can buy calico very cheaply from any fabric shop. In the old days the window cleaners would buy calico and boil it before they used it. Even today its no good till its been through the washing machine a half a dozen times.

The thing you have to understand though is that the old window cleaners did not use scrim as a drying cloth. They would dry the window with the shammy and only use the scrim afterwards to polish the glass because the shammy had a tendancy to leave water marks on the glass.

When the squeegie came into common use the scrim became a detailing cloth but modern microfibre cloths have left everything else far behind for that purpose.

The routine for me is to buy some calico and use it as a sill cloth until it has had a few washes to break it in but I don't have that much use for scrim these days.

The only time I use it now is as a "first" cloth to save the microfibres so it has taken over the job that the shammy used to do.
Take has got best thing I have learnt on the cloth side this month,  ;D

Cheers
Vince
Title: Re: Scrims
Post by: NWH on March 30, 2008, 08:26:58 pm
They don`t make scrim like they used to,i have some in the van that i`ve had for over 10 years.