Non-woven Mirlon Pads lifespan?

[BHuij]

I decided to try these out to replace my 0000 steel wool for things like de-nibbing finishes between coats. Seems like they are less likely to leave scratches, and of course far less likely to leave microscopic metal particles behind.

I get the impression they have a pretty long service life - they don't really fall apart like steel wool, and if they load up, apparently you can just machine wash them and keep going. Is there a point at which you know "okay, it's time to retire and replace this piece of mirlon?"

 

[Mortalis]

They look like the 3M pads. Probably last until they wear through would be my guess.
You gonna pay the Mirka tax with those.
3M Ultra Fine are roughly $1.30ea

 

[BHuij]

Good to know about the less expensive source. Sounds like I won't be replacing them all that often though, if I can just keep washing and using them over and over. I turn small stuff

 

[howsitwork]

A real plus is they don't react with tannin in the wood . A friend was cleaning up after some restoration work and uses wire wool ,left it overnight and found " mould spots " next day . They weren't mould it was fine iron fibres reacting with the oak ! He was less than pleased. he had vacuumed and used a magnet on the surface but there was still some in the grain obviously .