How do you clean purple foamed wool pads?

Eh...I *don't*. I consider them disposable, single-use pads. By the time I'm finished with them they're usually losing cut anyhow.



When I've tried to wash them out they seemed to go bad, losing their "foaminess" and looking like bedraggled regular wool. When I left the polish in to dry and then tried to fluff them up/reuse them, that didn't work either.



So no, I don't reach for them for spot corrrection as I figure it'll probably kill the PFW. I only use them for pretty big jobs and I almost always use more than one anyhow.



Now let's see if anybody else has differing experiences that might help us both out :D
 
I do clean them, since I use them every single day. If I tossed them I'd be poor. :) I do agree after a wash or two they are more like regular wool than foamed wool, but that's fine by me. I wash them in the laundry machine, warm water, regular detergent, but I let them air dry. Maching drying them *will* remove the backing pad (trust me!). Machine washing them can too, but it happens much, much more slowly.



fwiw, I have ~75 PFW pads, of those maybe 20 have lost their backing velcro due to drying. The rest I stopped drying and have washed many dozens of times without a problem.
 
I am no expert having only cleaned one PFW. However I was very unhappy with the clumped up mess I had after machine washing and air drying. I grabbed the dog's slicker brush (rectangular with fine steel wires) and was able to brush the wool back into near new shape. Only took a minute or two and very little effort to do. :grinno:
 
I dip mine is some water, put it back on my makita and use a toothbrush while it's spinning to loosen and remove the old compound. A spur works also.
 
I wash mine by hand in a bucket of ACP and water. Rinse them well and let them air dry, or spin on the rotary. They loose a little cut, but still work for what I need them for.
 
Oh jeeze, you guys are killing me :think:



Mine never work as well after I wash them...they perform almost as badly as the look! They don't cut as well nor do they finish out all that great.



I'll try brushing one out with a softer brush next time and see if that makes a diff.
 
I have had excellent results with the following process of cleaning my PFW pads:



After using them, I allow the wax, polish to fully dry, usually about a day or two. Then, unlike a regular wool pad- using a metal spur, I use my foam pad brush cleaner to get all the dry wax/polish off. Once I am satsfied that most of it is off (no more dust flying around), I wash in warm water with hair shampoo. I actually use shampoo to clean all my pads (both wool and foam). I found that the soap washes out more easily and doesnt clog the pores on foam or tangle the twines of the wool. I also found that the shampoo keeps the pads and wool soft and doesn't allow them to get that "crusty" feel until broken back in. Give it a try, it cleans well, and leaves them soft as the day they came out of the packages. I keep a bottle of it at my deep well sink in the garage just for this purpose...and like said before, I'd be broke if I used the pads once. Using this process, I get about 5 or 6 uses out of them, and find no reversal in cutting ability.
 
I frequently clean them during use via Universal Pad Washer and spin the dry. I try to keep them very clean during use which in turn maximizes their performance. They still work very well from what I can tell. They do shed a little though.
 
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