Thread: Found fire hose.

I posted about this in another place when I found it but the process needed a different place.

So I was at a light and looked over and saw on the edge this fire hose.


It's an inch and a half hose which winds up being 3 inches wide when flat and 50 feet long. It must have fallen off someone's truck. It has obviously been used and was very dirty but the texture was not ripped, worn or tattered.

The first thing I did was throw it out on the lawn and spray it with the garden hose. Then I put it on the driveway which is on a slope and folded one end over and stretched it out down the concrete. Then stuck the hose in the high end and let it fill up. It got really stiff then so I sprayed it well while inflated.

After that it spent a couple of days in my two person jacuzzi tub loose so I could do the wine making/grape treading thing with my feet a few times. Sorry, no pictures of me doing an I Love Lucy.

Next step was to put it in a wash tub on the porch and fill it with water for a soak.


First few soaks were just water but then I started with laundry soap.



This is after about 5 soaks overnight and some manual agitation, dump, rinse repeat. It is still a little dark but getting clearer with every cycle. Once I get the water to soak out to clear I have more methods to get it all cleaned up and usable.

Tune in next episode to see what comes next

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

I posted about this in another place when I found it but the process needed a different place.

So I was at a light and looked over and saw on the edge this fire hose.


It's an inch and a half hose which winds up being 3 inches wide when flat and 50 feet long. It must have fallen off someone's truck. It has obviously been used and was very dirty but the texture was not ripped, worn or tattered.

The first thing I did was throw it out on the lawn and spray it with the garden hose. Then I put it on the driveway which is on a slope and folded one end over and stretched it out down the concrete. Then stuck the hose in the high end and let it fill up. It got really stiff then so I sprayed it well while inflated.

After that it spent a couple of days in my two person jacuzzi tub loose so I could do the wine making/grape treading thing with my feet a few times. Sorry, no pictures of me doing an I Love Lucy.

Next step was to put it in a wash tub on the porch and fill it with water for a soak.


First few soaks were just water but then I started with laundry soap.



This is after about 5 soaks overnight and some manual agitation, dump, rinse repeat. It is still a little dark but getting clearer with every cycle. Once I get the water to soak out to clear I have more methods to get it all cleaned up and usable.

Tune in next episode to see what comes next

Very nice!!
I suppose it is unlined and flax linen to boot? Does it have a year as well?
You hit the jackpot.
If you ever need to hide 2 feet of it just let me know
I'm watchin'

Yep, unlined and flax. It's a nice tight even weave. Much tighter than the other fire hose strop I already had. I couldn't find a year but maybe once it's cleaner and all stretched out again.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Yep, unlined and flax. It's a nice tight even weave. Much tighter than the other fire hose strop I already had. I couldn't find a year but maybe once it's cleaner and all stretched out again.

Rub it in!!!

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Nice find!
I will be watching to learn the process you use for cleaning etc.
A number of years ago I tried cleaning a piece like that and my mistake was to let it dry without having a heavy weight on the end to keep it from bunching up.

Good stuff Paul. I'm watching the process for sure.

This week on Paul's Firehose Follies:....(dramatic intro music plays)

After wash, rinse, repeat, wash, rinse, repeat until the rinse water was no longer cloudy...


Paul stretches the hose out on an incline and plugs one end with a tennis ball and the other end with the garden hose to expand the hose and create a flow (although slow and almost negligible) through the pores in the fabric.


Then, using a scrub brush and a weak solution of water and Dawn dish detergent, he scrubs the hose from the bottom toward the top.


This is very tedious work and Paul toils with the heavy, water bloated hose, diligently turning the hose over and back, over and back to get all the diameter while working his way up the slope.

As you can see it cleans up quite well and Paul is pleased with the progress.

..........

Even so, this work is taxing and Paul's arms and shoulders are getting tired. Plus it is getting dark and Paul is beginning to feel the need for a cold, adult beverage so he wraps it up for the night but not before getting 2/5 - 1/2 of the 50 feet finished with the initial scrubbing.

..........

Will Paul get the rest of the fire hose clean?????

Will he get his cold, adult beverage?????



Stay tuned for more on next week's episode of ....Paul's Firehose Follies:....(dramatic exit music plays)

From handling that hose my hands were all abraded. It polished the skin to shiny?

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

From handling that hose my hands were all abraded. It polished the skin to shiny?

Okay your skin turned out nice. What about the fire hose?

Boy Paul, i appreciate the work you are going to. I think I would have started with a 3 foot piece. Are you planning on making a strop with it?