Removing silly putty

I Googled on "removing silly putty" and found lots of different ideas. Take your pick.

Try Alcohol, it works for chewing gum.

Rauni

"Mel>> Does anyone know how to remove silly putty from sheets?

From Binney and Smith's site: # Materials Dull knife or metal spoon # WD-40® (car part lubricant) # Liquid dishwashing detergent # Cotton balls # Rubbing alcohol # Soft cloth or sponge

Procedure Scrape off excess Silly Putty or clay with a dull-edge knife or metal spoon. Spray with WD-40 and let stand a few minutes. Scrape excess Silly Putty or clay with dull-edge knife or metal spoon. Respray with WD-40 and wipe off stain with cotton balls. If any stain remains, saturate a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol, blot the stain and rinse. Wipe any remaining residue or remaining stain with a damp sponge or cloth moistened with liquid dishwashing detergent.

Salvage the undamaged area for scrap! With silly putty, if at first you don't succeed - you probably won't. It sounds like the putty was 'melted' into the fibre by body heat and in that case you're usually hooped! Cynthia

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Many thanks to all who replied.

We're trying out the instructions below.

Thanks again

Susan

I know this is late, but I'd give eucalyptus oil a go if all else has failed. Connie

Thanks - I think that make it smell quite a bit though - or will it wash out?

i say this as some of the fanily are not at all keen on this smell :)

Susan

I'll second what Amelia says!

The best thing that eucalyptus oil does is remove anything sticky, adhesive or gooey. So: the leftover adhesive from sticky labels; plasticine from carpets; bubblegum from kids' hair and so on and on. Tea-tree oil is *famous* in Oz schools for removing headlice and nits! You just put a few drops in a cup of water and spray it into school hats (mandatory here in Oz) to deter them. Dab it full-strength on a cotton ball into parted hair to get rid of little animal visitors.

I can't imagine why either one wouldn't remove silly putty... (maybe orange oil is more available to you and could do the trick as well?)

Tea tree oil is wonderful stuff!!!

I would be very careful about using it like this: it's toxic to cats and I wouldn't chance it on a baby's delicate skin.

It's toxic to humans when given by mouth so it's not a good idea to ingest it.

I do use tea tree oil - it's a great antiseptic and anitfungal - but treat it with care. Natural is not the same as harmless.

Sally

Sally, you're quite right about it being toxic, but let me tell you, my Nanna dosed us with a teaspoonful of sugar containing as much eucalyptus oil as would fit into the teaspoon every time we had a headcold! I'm not dead yet and neither is my sister (or my Mum, for that matter). I think, maybe it's toxic in rather large doses... not in the small dab you'd use to remove a stain...

I think Eucalyptus oil and Tea Tree Oil are two separate things. There are tons of cough drops with eucalyptus in them, so it should be okay.

Oh yes! Eucalyptus oil is distilled from the leaves of E.globulus (Tasmanian Bluegum) while Tea Tree oil comes from Melaleuca alternifolia (which is a misnomer, because the true Tea Trees come from the genus Leptospermum...). Eucalyptus has been used for yonks to treat head colds because it works as well as menthol does to open airways. Tea Tree has been used by indigenous peoples from time immemorial as a natural antibiotic. It really does work very well to repel headlice too! It's not so good once an infestation is present, but it will prevent one from starting if you spray it in your kids' hats!

Anyway, as I said, eucalytpus used in small doses (ie. just enough to flavour an item - it's very strong) seems not to do much harm. I was amazed to hear of its toxicity, having taken it all my life! I think it would be silly to administer it internally, knowing as we do that it can cause trouble. But I don't think using it topically on fabrics could do much harm at all, especially if you wash it right out with warm soapy water. Eucalyptus oil is *brilliant* for getting chewing gum out of hair! I know this from experience! ;->

Thanks to all who replied.

So far the WD40 'recipe' seems to work best .

I can't do it as the smell makes me feel ill so DH has another job to do !

Thanks again

Susan