Hello! I came across this scrap material the other day and decided to spend 5 mins making a small bag to attempt to wash some of my strings. I ugly sewed it with an old kitty string. I’ve never tried it before but I keep seeing it suggested on the markmont site. Some of them are airetic strings that aren’t made anymore and I tend to yo-yo in my shop so they often get dirty pretty quick. I know if I just throw them in the wash with clothes they’ll get wrapped around something and might cause a problem. How do you all go about washing boutique strings?
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Quick soak and then light agitation in cool water with a small amount of detergent. [Rinse then] squeeze the excess water out, untangle and hang to dry.
Washing in a bag like that could work fine, but machine washing and (especially drying) gradually turns everything into lint.
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I hand wash them too just like @hsb but that’s just because it’s faster than a washing machine. You can also just put them in a pocket and wash them or use a garment bag and hang dry them
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I have a small bag of string I’ve been meaning to wash. I have enough string don’t need to wash any for a while so I just keep putting them in a bag and will deal with it one day. I’ll probably just toss them in the wash when I get around to it.
It doesn’t help I keep buying more string as well…
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One problem I can see you having with this setup…that Kitty string you used to sew the bag is going to be very difficult to remove and use again afterwards…
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We happened to have a garment washing bag that was designed for masks. It’s like a lingerie bag; mesh fabric and a zipper, but much smaller. I’ll just fill it up with fancy strings and throw it in the wash when it’s convenient.
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No! I that was my lucky string!
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The few times I’ve washed strings I just throw them in a pair of shorts with a zippered pocket, zip the pocket and let the washer do its thing. I take the strings out of the pocket and hang dry them before the shorts go in the dryer.
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So I’ve finally gone through and collected all the grimmy used string and tossed it in a pile. It’s gonna take a wash cause I’ve been super lazy but I also hate to waste good string.
Worse of all some of this isn’t even mine but stuff from trades where the string was pretty gross when I got it
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Dang I feel super wasteful seeing this thread now lol. With bulk string I literally do not care, soon as the string gets dirty and there’s enough fraying, it’s being added to the string ball. I will say if I had a few boutique strings I’d definitely be washing them and making sure they lasted as long as possible though, that’s different for sure
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Admittedly allot of that pile is bulk garbage string I’m washing to add to a new string ball I made cause dirty string is not something I want to ball up and leave on my desk but there are several boutique string in there that are going right back to rotation
I currently use kitty string fa and I wash them once before I throw them away. That makes them playable for a a little longer, which adds up in the long run for a pack of 100 strings, meaning that you can get a playtime worth of 125 strings more or less
I have noticed that when I play, kitty lasts for about 4-5 hours. After an hour the string begins to fray and 2 hours after that I have to adjust my string tension after 3-4 throws. (Sochi lasts an extra hour in total and the fray appears way past the first hour, maybe around the second hour of play).
What I have found is that by washing them, I can get an extra hour of acceptable quality play. That means that after 30 minutes I have to deal with string tension more often than not. The last 30 minutes will not be ideal for slacks and whips though.
So here is how I do it:
I pour a bit of lukewarm to hot water in a big bowl / bassin along with some clothes detergent liquid. I let it soak for 30 minutes. Then I give it a.good whirl/whisk.
You can use a regular kitchen tool for that. An egg whisk will do but the strings will get tangled up. You can also use a laddle in order to steer it up.
Wash them out with water and let them dry. You are done!
- I have never used a boutique string so I wouldn’t know what to tell you on that one. They are impossible to get in Europe.
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Lazy here so they went in a bag in the wash then the dryer seems fine and now all sorted and bagged and back for rotation.
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While sorting these are the string too worn to make a come back and they get made into a cat toy later.
A bit of this is bulk lots of it is cotton and the rest is nice boutique stuff. Only one boutique strong was borderline and might be gone next wash or risk cutting.
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I haven’t had much luck washing my strings. Most are already used for 15 hours or so though and are bulk string aceyo and iyoyo slackies thin. They seem about the same. How long do you you guys use your string for before washing them?
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I only wash my super expensive but nice Markmont strings that take literally a month or so to break in properly. Those strings last around a year (supposedly) with washing and I use them for a month or two before washing them or changing them out for another string. So far, all of them have held up really well for me and still seem like they have a ton of play left on them before I will have to trash them. The one time I washed bulk string it didn’t really matter like the string was still toast. I used it for like 5 mins then just put on a fresh one.
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Thats crazy I gotta try them sometime. Do they still handle like tension slack like a new bulk string does a month in with the markmont?
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My collection is large so I switch throws often and that means it’s rare I wear down a string even bulk in a month. I also only throw a few hours a week total. Often my bulk stuff will get dirty from my kids tossing them or dragging them around the house or yard. So lots of my string is messy but not all that worn. I have plenty of stuff so I generally wash my string maybe once every few months when it gets to a critical mass like you all saw above.
It’s the same way I do bearings I have lots of bearings so I just sort of collect a bunch that need cleaning and then bulk clean…
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Better than bulk string ever has been even after months and months.
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If you’ve ever tried 100% wooly nylon string it has similar properties but taken to the next level
If you’ve only ever tried normal poly strings tho Markmont are completely different, you won’t really understand til you try them tbh. They whip way faster than any normal poly string, are much slicker and stiffer/different feeling and basically doesn’t fray or wear out, you can pretty much use them indefinitely.
Doesn’t mean it’s exactly better than normal poly but it’s completely different and has its own pros/cons
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Yeah sometimes thin poly is desirable depends on what your doing what your throwing it’s all tools and finding what your mood or trick set needs .