July 2002

A Slightly Better Mousetrap

Synthetic grooming cloths perform better than most cotton cloths but not always well enough to justify the price.

We put a number of commercial grooming ûcloths to the test to find out why you’d want to ûbuy a "rag."

People are always trying to find better ways to do things than the simple old methods, under the principle that if you build a better mousetrap then the world will beat a path to your door. While better mousetraps, other than the basic barn cat or the basic spring model, have been made, they still often cost more than they are worth.

We feel the same way about synthetic grooming cloths. They generally perform better than the cotton cloths that you already have stacked in your barn, and significantly better for some specific tasks, but you can get cast-off cotton cloths for free. A manufactured grooming cloth will have to work…