I study the ads in tool magazines and tool catalogs, both for what the ads say and for what they imply.
For example, I ran across an ad for mechanic’s hand soap that bragged their product, “won’t clog drains.” I did some checking, and sunuvagun, some shop soaps contain pumice and other scrubbing products that tend to settle in the goosenecks below shop sinks or low spots in drain pipes and cause stoppages.
Which explains why about once a month I have to use a plumber’s snake on the drain in our shop to keep it flowing. As I think about it, it shouldn’t be any surprise our drains run slow---all the grease and stuff off our hands, combined with the occasional slag and metal debris from “cooling” metal fresh from the grinding wheel, torch or welder.
So now I’m in the market for hand soap that not only cleans greasy hands, but helps keep drains open, too. Either that or we’re going to have to rig our shop sink up to a toilet tank so we can get some serious flushing action to help keep the pipes clear.
