If you were looking at the tools displayed in the picture, it looks like I am starting to quilt. I don’t blame you, I would too. In fact, these are quilting tools. But in fact, looks are deceiving. I am making rifle cleaning patches out of rags.

My wife has an image problem. That would by my image. She insists periodically that I clean out t-shirts that are no longer completely white. Using my moral filter, I do not give anything to charity that I wouldn’t buy myself. So while I would consider the clothing serviceable, it is not proper to try and pawn off on somebody else.

At times, I have tried to use them as rags using the cut an rip method. This means that I cut the shirt and then try to rip it into sheets. Why I get something, they are not uniform size and can have varied results. I try to work around screen printing by using the rest of the shirt. I will likely continue to make rags out of colored, cotton shirts.

Most gun cleaning patches are made out of some sort of synthetic or blend. I like how 100% cotton works better. I discovered a brand called Bloomers a few years ago but like everything since the pandemic, inventory is spotty. It is not like I use that many patches over the years, but finding the caliber and quantity with price has not been easy.

Why not just make them? I will warn that it will take a bit to return on investment. The mat, ruler and cutter setup cost $50. That buys several thousand cleaning patches. Then, there is the time. I would estimate that I spent two hours making several hundred patches. I did figure out that I could gang the strips together significantly speeding up the process.

I would point out that having something custom is never about cheaper and faster. In the end, this process will be cheaper than buying patches. I do always plan to have a surplus of clean patches. It is another thing I can do with music or a podcast on in the background. For me this is about putting a resource to work that would otherwise be trash. I feel good about that and I don’t have to buy them when I see them.

End Your Programming Routine: No, I am not quilting. I could if I wanted to though. This rotary cutter setup gives me nice, clean cuts in fabric so that I can repurpose discarded clothes into a second life. Sometimes that is a quilt and sometimes that is gun cleaning patches.