Scrubbing moss off granite
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Any suggestions on scrubbing moss off granite (in Mass, if it matters). It's a roughly 20' tall outcropping w/ in a forest, so rapping down the face and scrubbing is probably how I'll do it. It's north facing, so there's some decent moss buildup in some places. A buddy and I were thinking of using BBQ cleaners - steel bristles and strong enough that you can bear down on it. Anybody have other suggestions? Thanks |
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That works for me. There are other shapes and sizes of wire brushes that may be helpful. Some retain their bristles better than others; I've done a bit of trial & error. Unfortunately, these things aren't exactly name-brand, so I can't recommend anything specific. They'll all get the job done though. Plenty of moss up here to scrape at! (every couple of months, it seems sometimes;) |
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The most effective tool for route development I have used is a Stihl BR 600 leaf Blower. It will literally blow sheets of moss and dirt off from about 5ft away, especially the thick green stuff we get in the PNW. Any remnants occurs after the first pass with the leaf blower I scrub with the special red handled brush. See this thread for more details |
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If a bit here and there then brass brushes work great though I have used steel brushes. |
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Ask here: squamishclimbing.com |
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BBQ brushes aren't the best. Got to the hardware store and get a wirebrush more substantial-- better yet one big and one small (for cracks and edges). These work well: |
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Thanks for the responses. I'm not too worried about backlash, as the face is about 90 degrees from the trail (I happened to glance over at the exact right location and saw the arete), plus there's two bolts in the top (you know, for all those times when slinging the healthy 24" white pine that's 15' back from the top is just too sketchy for the 20' climb) |
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As Jim said, get an extendable 10 foot pole sold at Home Depot painting department and attach a wire brush to the end of it. Then screw in a scraper to the wire brush. Now you have a pole that can easily reach up 18-20 feet and you use the scraper and wire brush to get that boulder ready to go. I have been using this set-up for 15 years and it always does the job. |
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I think the recommendations for brass brushes is off. They leave brass residue on the rock, especially granite, though they may be OK for some soft sandstone around NV. I have never noticed a problem with rust stains from non-stainless steel ones here in NE. Stainless is nice, but expensive. These are excellent Wooster Brush 1821 Longneck Wire Brush with Scraper Saves the knuckles and you can grab it different ways, making it less tiring. |
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get some good work gloves as I can assure you you're knuckles will thank you, oh and maybe some of those surgical masks so you're not breathing all that shit in ( a bandana works too) |
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3rd the Woosta brush... from a CT scrubber. |
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spray bleach |
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Im the fan of using toliet brushes. you can gerneally find em for free or cheap and thier conical shape makes them perfect for cleaning out hand cracks |
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the past 2 yrs every summer we clean a new section of rock for development here. We tried bbq brushes, the wooden handle steel bristle and many other things. Moss comes off pretty easily, pretty much any stiff bristle brush works well for it. However, if it's Lichen your speaking about, thats the really dry stuff that sticks like it's almost embedded, the best thing we found is a welders steel wire brush. Bristles no more than like 1" long, and many of them. The wooden ones lose their bristles pretty quick, and the bbq brushes are lucky if they last a day of scrubbing. After scrubbing, a shop broom works pretty well to get rid of the dirt leftover untill you can get a big rain. We usually rap and hang on a prusik to do most of it... Good luck dude. Cleaning rock is always a fun project... |
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I went with the Wooster. It's excellent. I may not be able to climb the problem, but I'll scrub the $#&^$ out of it |