Magic erasers are a kind of foam that works as an abrasive for cleaning. In the past, I’ve wondered about how it compares to sandpaper in terms of grit.
I had the chance to test it out against 1000 grit sandpaper in hand wet sanding (cleaning) some vinyl. The eraser left a rougher surface than the sandpaper.
So places that say the eraser is equal to 2000, 3000 or higher grit are probably basing it on lighter pressure and/or effort.
Be careful using an eraser on anything with a finish that might be damaged.
If it’s spam, he’s playing an impressive long-con. He joined 2 years ago and has posted off and on throughout. Most spammers join 10 minutes before their spam post.
And he happens to be right - the magic eraser isn’t magic at all. It’s crumbly sandpaper. I have a neighbor who routinely cleaned his kitchen countertops with it. Then he started noticing all these dark “stains” on the counters and kept scrubbing harder. Then he realized he’d sanded right through the formica and down to the underlying particle board.
Same thing’ll happen if you use it regularly on your car’s materials.
Now there’s someone who takes cleaning seriously!
As I was reading I got this vision of someone frantically scrubbing harder and harder until they reached wood…
Sorry, not spam.
I happen to have tested both and thought the info might be helpful to others. Everyone is free to use or not use the erasers as they like.
Personally, I don’t think that I would ever use them on my car (inside or out), but I have heard of some people who use it on the inside of the windshield.
Lol. Pretty close. He likes to cook, and isn’t so keen on cleanup, so he usually cleans last night’s mess shortly before he starts cooking, which is why he has to scrub so hard - things have had time to solidify.
Stretch that out over the course of years and you end up in trouble.
Not recommended for the following surfaces: high gloss, polished, dark, brushed, satin, faux, bare/polished wood, copper, stainless steel, non-stick coating, or vehicle body.
You mean that we are supposed to clean the counter after we cook.
There was this old gentleman Bill,who lived alone. He had an old friend that always seemed to stop by just before supper time. Bill was too kind not to explain to the friend that he had to leave so he could eat his dinner. Bill would finally get hungry enough that he would just offer half of his dinner to the friend. This was getting old as Bill would only get half a dinner when this guy hung around. You know the type, never knows when to leave.
One evening as Bill was eating his half of dinner, he got an idea. When there plates were empty bill laid the plates down for the dog to lick clean. When they were finished Bill reached down, picked up the plates, opened the cupboard door and put the dirty plates back on the stack. It must have worked, because the friend still stopped by, but never accepted the offer to eat a meal there again.
Call me a skeptic, but I tend to avoid products or services that claim to be magic .
I don’t believe even Ron Popeil used that adjective when describing his RoncoChop-o-Matic, Mr. Microphone, Popeil Pocket Fisherman, Veg-o-Matic, Buttoneer, Smokeless Ashtray, Electric Food Dehydrator, Inside-the-Egg Scrambler, GLH-9 Hair in a Can Spray, Rhinestone stud setter (Bedazzler), Cap Snaffler, Popeil Automatic Pasta Maker, Ronco 6 Star Plus Knives, and the Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ.
Well, to be fair, the erasers do work well in some places, like kitchen, bath and tile. The main thing seems to be to not over do it because it can jump from mild to pretty abrasive depending on elbow grease.
This thread reminds me of the time I decided to buff some scratches off my watch crystal with one of those 3M green pads. You know, the kind used to hand wash pots and pans & dishes. I figured if it could clean dishes, it could clean a watch crystal. I can say from experience, that wasn’t a good idea. I had to source some optical diamond slurry before I could tell what time it was again.
Yep! My great grandma was obsessed with fishing. She’d keep a Pocket Fisherman in the glovebox of her '57 Chevy (right next to the pearl handled Colt 45) and if she passed a lake or a river she’d jump out with it.
Interesting how many words are on the packaging and warnings WITHOUT any mention of how the eraser compares to grit in sandpaper terms.
The companies selling the eraser must have been too busy using their money on other things than to do the simple comparison I did AND TELL the consumers about it.
I think a lot depends on the surface. Sandpaper will scratch much harder surfaces than the eraser will. I’d have no problem using the eraser on a windshield. Sandpaper, nope.
