Tak Rags

I was starting to prepare for painting a St Mawes One Design that has been getting a litle TLC  when I was prompted to think about how I use Tak Rags.  It involves, as many tasks in boatbuilding do, the use and discard of something after just a few minutes of use.

Tak Rags are pretty good at picking up remaining dust after a surface has been hoovered but they have to be used with some care in order to avoid leaving a resin deposit that can compromise a paint finish.  What if there was something better, easier to use and that involved less stuff going in the bin?

I decided to do an experiment using micro-fibre cloths.  They are fairly cheap, can be washed and have, compared to Tak Rags, a fairly long useful life.

After hoovering as normal I wiped down the boat using a micro-fibre cloth.  I then wiped it down with a Tak Rag.  There may have been a very small amount of dust on the Tak Rag, but I couldn’t detect it.  I have now decided that for all normal purposes I can use a micro-fibre cloth instead of a Tak Rag, with the added bonus that I don’t need to worry about surface contamination from the resin.

Now all I need to do is remember to wash out the micro-fibre cloths before the next time that I need them!