No tutorial this week, just an honest and open review. Read on and hopefully you will be impressed.
In various Facebook groups that I linger around some folk have been recommending a product called Elbow Grease for cleaning cutting mats.
FYI, I don’t know who originally discovered this and so can’t credit them.
Anyhoo, on a recent trawl around the local town centre I happened to be browsing for wasp traps – yes, really, the little blighters are eating my home to build their nests! – and was in Poundstretcher and stumbled across the Greasey Elbow in question so snapped up a bottle and minced my way home to try it out.
After digging out the worst of the mats I set a couple of towels down – no particular reason other than to avoid a massive mess – and I set about squirting the Elbow Grease all over.
Tapping my foot impatiently I let it sit for a few minutes to soak.
I then took a kitchen sponge and vigorously rubbed in all directions …
… unbelievable! Actually required less real-world elbow grease than I had imagined.
It got the grimey adhesive from the outer areas, the fabric fibres from on the mat and most of the junk in the cut lines.
Now, you won’t have been able to tell this but this mat was unusable as it was so covered in muck so the test of this cleaner will be whether it restores the mat to a useable state – after all, the tack is still there, it was just hidden under a layer of gunk.
I left the mat to dry for an hour and would you believe it? It is usable again!
Well impressed!
Gunk had gotten on the back of the mat where the rollers where too and so I even cleaned that too.
So look, it was a chance thing and I have to thank whoever first found that little gem of gloriousness as it defo wasn’t me.
I am certainly going to stock up and also go clean the rest of my mats!
Hope you find this useful.
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Great post John,I will write it on my shopping note so I don’t forget to look at the one that should be similar and available here in the Netherlands.
Thank you so much for your great post, stay safe and have a wondeful Sunday.
Is your kitchen sponge a normal sponge or one with a scrub site and did you use then the scrub site?
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Just a normal sponge. No scrubby parts.
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Thank you for your answer John, have a great Sunday.
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That’s a good tip too Sheila, will have to give that a try!
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Just be careful you don’t burn yourself as you need the iron hot, hold the tablet with some tweezers, found this tip out the day after I tried to get the scorch mark off my iron.
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Thank you, I’ll be careful!
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I know what I shall be getting next time in shop, thank you for the tip John my mats are a disgrace. I also bought a new mat and it only did about 6 uses on the machine and the tackyness went. Fingers crossed it wiorkd on mine too. Another hem you might not know…. not scanncut related….if your iron has scorch marks on bottom, heat it up and use a paracetomol tablet, rubbing against the scorch mark. It comes off a treat x
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Awesome results! Wish we had this product in the U.S.
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You could always reach out to the and ask if they do distribute it in the US under this name or another, if you haven’t already.
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Hey Vonda. I went on a course on using the Scan n Cut and the instructor cleaned my dirty mat with “LA’s Totally Awesome All-Purpose Concentrated Cleaner Refills, 32 oz.” It was from Dollar Tree. She sprayed it on, left it for a minute or so, then wiped it off with a paper towel. I was amazed at how clean it was. Hope this helps you.
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Thank you for trying to share your makes however images do not get shared via the comments section of this blog.
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Hi John you can also get elbow grease from B&M they also sell the washing up liquid and something like J cloths which I have got but havenāt tried yet. Elbow Grease is great on cleaning baths and tiles.
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Sadly not good for my home as I have a septic tank system and think that it might kill off the microbes that do all the work but it’s good for the mats and as long as I dispose of the cleaning clothes directly in the bin I can still use it.
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Great tip John, wow that did a great job. I use elbow grease but never tried it on my mats, so will give it a go. I think get mine from Poundland xx
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Thanks John. Been wondering about this product, I have also seen it mentioned in various groups. Now I know it works, I shall be on the hunt for it. š
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Thank you for sharing that John, itās always reassuring when someone you trust in the craft world tests these things out. Iāll definitely be on the look out some x
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I saw an article about this from you recently, and tried it. It really is pretty good, and it cleans other things quite well too…. xx
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Thank you John, that’s a very useful tip. Will have see if I can get some & give it a try, I’ll also pass this info onto my daughter who uses her scan n cut far more than I do! 2 questions… Did you re-tack the mat? & what about the registration points?Thank you again.
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No, I didn’t retack as there was enough original sticky left under the gunk this time. The cleaner didn’t affect any of the registration marks.
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Thanks John.
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If thatās really as god as you say it is John, Iāll be buying some! Did you re-tack your mat after this cleaning or literally able to attach card and cut again?
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There was enough active tack under the gunk to use it without retacking this time. I can tell it will need doing at something but for now, I’ve saved some money on the glue by cleaning with this, which was Ā£1 for the bottle.
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