Make your own Swarfega

[VicS]

Swarfega is pretty hash on the skin!

What you should be doing is using a barrier cream applied before starting work.

A mild hand cleanser if necessary
and
a nourishing cream.

We had a pink cleansing cream that was not as harsh as Swarfega but I don't remember what it was called.

I also found "Boraxo" a mix of borax and powdered soap quite good and fairly gentle on the skin.

 

[PeterGibbs]

Swarfega is pretty hash on the skin!

What you should be doing is using a barrier cream applied before starting work.

A mild hand cleanser if necessary
and
a nourishing cream.

We had a pink cleansing cream that was not as harsh as Swarfega but I don't remember what it was called.

I also found "Boraxo" a mix of borax and powdered soap quite good and fairly gentle on the skin.

Here, Here. Atrixo with its nice gelatine content as a skin prep, and half an orange squeezed into the hands after mutilation. That's the optimum treatment, to keep your hands in a condition from which the first mate will not recoil!!

Atrixo is cheapest in Wilkinsons.

It's remarkable how much regular grime can be removed just agitating the hands in a bowl of warm sudsy water, whilst listening to the fun on Ch 16, without the need to apply all those laddish nutritious chemicals....

Ever used surgeons gloves? - Wilkinsons again. Boxes of 100. Very affordable. You really don't want diesel or petrol on your skin if you want to void taking those spreading white and red flakey disquaminating bits for the dermatologist to tut tut over.....

PWG

 

[sarabande]

latex gloves and diesel/petrol do not mix happily. Ntrile or polythene.

 

[robp]

All these concoctions sound intriguing. But I use just Fairy liquid. (Other liquid dish washing preparations are available)! With water only introduced slowly. It seems to work perfectly. Perhaps I should be more technical about it.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

I've been using Fairy Liquid plus coffee grounds (decaff ) for more stubborn muck such as dried on anti-fouling.

 

[stephenh]

" Fast Orange"

Interesting - first time I've heard of it ....

In a boatyard back in the 60's we ran out of Swarfega at the weekend and one of the really old guys ( probably born in the 19th century, come to think of it !) came up with :

butter
sugar
oil from orange peel

worked a treat........

 

[Humblebee]

Swarfega is pretty hash on the skin!


We had a pink cleansing cream that was not as harsh as Swarfega but I don't remember what it was called.

Not Rozalex, was it? Or was that a barrier cream?

 

[robp]

Swarfega is pretty hash on the skin!


We had a pink cleansing cream that was not as harsh as Swarfega but I don't remember what it was called.

Not Rozalex, was it? Or was that a barrier cream?

Rozalex was a pinkish coloured sticky barrier cream that used to pickup all the grit and dirt in the lane outside my parent's house, whilst I tried to get under my MGA to fix it!
Happy days

 

[Alfie168]

Rozalex was a pinkish coloured sticky barrier cream that used to pickup all the grit and dirt in the lane outside my parent's house, whilst I tried to get under my MGA to fix it!
Happy days

Rozalex is really an anti dermatitis barrier cream, and very good too. Too many on here seem to want to give themslves dermatitis one way or another.

I currently use Powercraft Powerful hand cleanser bought at Aldi and it is dermatologically tested. I also used it to clean some alloy wheels today with considerable effect along with a non scratch pan scourer. I buy fove pr six tubes when it comes in and that lasts ages.

Tim

 

[alan17]

Smelling wonderful

I use Crabtree and Evelyn's Gardeners Hand Scrub with Pumice. I smell wonderful

Is that the perceived wisdom of the majority or just a personal belief?

 

[cliffordpope]

What you should be doing is using a barrier cream applied before starting work.

Ah, but that's the difficult bit. When precisely do you start work? With most jobs on the boat/car/house I don't intend to "start" at all - just a little exploratory peep, a gentle pull to check where the problem night be, a prod with a screwdriver - and then suddenly I'm up to my elbows in muck, grease, I've destroyed another clean handkerchief, my trousers have grubby knees, there's a rip in my jumper, and oily marks all the way to the bathroom cupboard as I fumble trying to get an an Elastoplast out of the box.

I'd need to be permanently lathered in barrier cream just in case I got accosted by something needing to be repaired.

 

[Stemar]

...I fumble trying to get an an Elastoplast out of the box.

So it isn't just me for whom no repair/improvement can be successful without the sacrifice of skin & blood to the great god Toolbox