Thursday, July 19, 2007

Stain, Stain Go Away

Sooner or later you are likely to get some blood on your clothes, coat or pack, and in all likelihood these stains will be long-dry by the time you get home and are tough to launder out.

One old trick is to presoak anything that is bloodstained in a solution of water with two tablespoons of unseasoned (plain) Adolph's Meat Tenderizer per gallon of water. Presoak for about four hours prior to laundering, and there will be no trace of blood stains remaining when you launder the clothes. This treatment is not harsh to fabrics or colors, and works every time.

Another trick that works with many other stains is to apply a combination of hydrogen peroxide and squirt hand soap -- the same mix used to get rid of skunk odor on a dog. It is almost miraculous on red wine stains.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good tips. I was wondering if you, as someone who writes about dogs, are going to weigh in on the Michael Vick/dog fighting debacle.

PBurns said...

Maybe tommorrow morning. Debacle is a good word, however.

Anonymous said...

Oxiclean also does an excellent job on old blood stains. I use it on my hunting gear. If there was only one thing rabbits do well, it would be bleed. Look at one and you will get a spot somewhere. My Dad gave me his old hunting vest which I don't think he ever cleaned. It had been in our attic for years. The game pocket was stuck shut. (Ewww!!) A run through the washer with a couple extra scoops of Oxiclean and it was good as new. I then sewed on some pink fringe, lace, bows and pretty buttons and gave it back to him.

Today's magic word is "luszjagz". I wonder how many times I have to comment before a real word, or the works of Shakespeare, need to be typed in to validate my existence.