Hey guys/gals, Like many of us I use WFP and HATE hydrophobic glass. I’m sure many of you have seen the videos Matt Perry of Perry Window Cleaning in Ohio has posted on here and on Youtube of him scrubbing some hydrophobic glass doors with Bronze Wool and the outcome of the glass changing to hydrophyllic.
I think everyone who uses WFP would love to have the ability to scrub every one of their clients’ windows with bronze wool so they were all hydrophyllic, but #1 to do that by hand would be excessively time consuming only to have to go back and then rewash with the WFP afterwards, and #2 when the windows are high up and you have to put the bronze wool on a fixiclamp at the end of a pole you lose some pressure on the glass, am I right?
So I know there are steel wool sleeves that are made to fit on t-bars, but as I am Pro-bronze wool over steel wool for the simple reason of not having to deal with rust and accidentally scratching a window, I was wondering why I haven’t been able to find a bronze wool sleeve? But why just have a sleeve that goes over a t-bar, when it would be SOOOOO much better to just have a nice fat block of bronze wool at the end of your WFP brush? Or how about a bronze wool sleeve that is made specifically to fit over your WFP brush’s bristles, that would allow the jets to shoot water through the bronze wool?
I’m not an inventer, and I don’t care who takes this idea and makes it happen, but I do want this product to exist and be in my toolbox right now! So, someone get on this and let me know when it’s for sale in WCR’s store. Any reason this wouldn’t work or any better ideas on how to accomplish this? Please post your responses and ideas. I’d like to hear what everyone else out there using WFP’s thinks about this idea. Thanks.
Yeah, thanks for the link Randy. But I’ve seen these products and none of them are #1 a Sleeve! and #2 a sleeve made to go on a WFP. The knuckler type pad is only usable IN YOUR HAND! I want a sleeve (like the Wiljer type sleeves that go over t-bar scrubbers) that goes over my WFP brush, but is made of bronze wool and allows the pencil jets or fan jets if possible to flow through and still rinse after you’ve scrubbed the window with it. I’m talking about a whole new WFP brush, that essentially is a bronze wool WFP brush.
I get what you’re saying, but there’s no demand for that product per say. Would people buy it? Sure, it was a eye opener for me as I didnt know the difference between phobic/phyllic by a visual…until I ran across hydrophilic glass. Then I got the visual difference to compare. In essence, most of what I clean is phobic…I thought all/most glass was like that. Couple that with large amount of resto work and sealing…I’m stuck with phobic glass everywhere. Spotting or whatever issues that many talk about have not been a problem. I have the knuckler and 9" threaded bronze wool applicator pad, the big one works on the reach around. But I seldom use it on there. You might be able to rig something up out of what’s out there already.
Yeah, I see where using that item with a Reach Around might work. However, since it’s on a swivel pad I doubt you could apply as much pressure as if it were a sleeve on your brush or t-bar, especially if you’re trying to clean windows 30’ up or higher.
And by the way I did a search and finally found a bronze wool sleeve (6’') that goes on a t-bar, elsewhere (not that I’d ever buy from them though). So that confirms for me that making a sleeve that would cover over your WFP brush is doable. I wonder if the guys at WCR would want to make a product like this. Buy big rolls of bronze wool, lay out enough to cover a whole WFP brush, sew them and sell them. I’d buy a 5 or 6 pack right now. Chris?
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I appreciate the post David. It’s true not everyone has the same needs or perhaps just doesn’t see the need. Some people aren’t analytical and don’t ask why something happens, they just accept that it happens. But every window cleaner that I’ve talked to that knows the difference between Hydrophobic and Hydrophillic glass admits that they have to spend more TIME rinsing the glass on all hydrophobic windows.
So if you could scrub and rinse every window you come across with a bronze wool wfp brush and they all sheeted like hydrophyllic glass, not just that time that you were on the job, but again in 3 months or possibly 6 months, you’d save a lot of time and therefore your productivity would be going up.
I subscribed to the Window Cleaning Magazine (from the UK) and in the article where Matt Perry was interviewed, the interviewers also asked Daniel Capon of British Glass what he thought is happening in the videos where the windows were scrubbed with bronze wool. Here’s what he said (opinion only of course): “It appears that the bronze wool is covering the glass with a residual surface of bronze. This will be like coating the glass.”
So, There are a ton of window cleaners worldwide using WFP, most all of them would benefit (whether they know it or not) if they never had a hydrophobic window again. I don’t know that bronze wool is the answer either. But there have been others who have tried it out and attested to it’s apparent ability to alter the surface of the glass. If it does indeed “coat the glass” then I want to make sure all of the windows I have to clean are coated with bronze wool too, so they sheet, clean easier, and faster.
Ok, Steven, thanks for pointing out the bold part. Maybe I’m the only one who wants one that IS a wfp brush, not an add on attachment, or has to be used with a separate pole and then switch back and forth. I’m going to try to just get my wife to sew some bronze wool together and see if I can wrap it around one of my WFP brushes and give it a whirl on one of my BIG monthly jobs, poke out a couple holes for the jets to shoot through and see what happens.
I figured if the bronze wool is in a sleeve form that fits over the brush, bristles, stock and all, maybe snaps in the back or velcroes, it should have good pressure because the bristles inside the sleeve will be pushing out (splaying) into the back side of the bronze wool. therefore the bronze wool would be getting shoved into the glass. It seems like it would work in my mind’s eye. Who knows?
Shawn White
Streakless Windows Inc.
(520) 808-6635
The large bronze wool pad from j flint products has two elastic straps on the back. I think it would fit over a small wfp brush. Maybe even cut the bristles off a worn out wfp brush and put the pad on it.
I will try the first option tomorrow to see if it works.
Ok, thanks. Same one Steven pointed out. I went back to that website and looked at it, but it doesn’t show the back of the pad, or the elastic straps themselves. I take it you have the kit? So, whilst it says “gold cleaning pad” it really means Bronze? :rolleyes:
