# A towel is the most massively useful thing an interstellar knife enthusiast can have



## DaveInMesa

At least, that's the advice from the Guide to the Galaxy, more or less, with a little adjusting to fit. The question is... what KIND of towel?

Now, before one of you Admins moves this to the Off-Topic room, this is actually a serious knife-related question. Everyone agrees that carbon knives should be (washed and) dried after each use, but no one says what to use for that all-important task. What difference does it make, you ask? Well, if you were afflicted with the pathetic excuses for toweling that seem to be all that's available in my area, having driven all the useful towels into exile, apparently, you would not ask such silly questions. 

Now that I am no longer affiliated with any restaurants and, therefore, persona non grata at my local supply store, I find myself stuck with an assortment of essentially useless cloths that seem to actively repel water, rather than absorbing it. So, where does a non-professional find decent, absorbent kitchen towels, these days? Preferably without spending a fortune on them. It seems like such a simple thing, but it's trickier than one would expect.


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## cheflivengood

Paper towels. not being cheeky either. I have very expensive knives that I grind a re-etch myself. I wouldn't trust any cotton, poly, etc to dry them after washing. They also have the advantage of being cheap so you can use oil with them as well which I wouldn't want to use with cotton.


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## StonedEdge

Ikea has good kitchen towels in various sizes that actually absorb instead of simply spreading liquid around, for next to nothing.


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## El Pescador

I like linen. They seem to be much better at absorbing water.


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## K813zra

I use the Fukin that Jon sells. I picked one up because they were cheap and I actually like them. Before that I used a Tenugui that I got from Watanabe but it is kind of scratchy on some of the softer stainless cladding. What I do not like are those micro fiber towels, they repel water and leave little fuzzy things all over the place.

paper towels do work well but my wife finds buying them to be wasteful, the same reason we use cloth napkins.


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## WildBoar

K813zra said:


> paper towels do work well but my wife finds buying them to be wasteful, the same reason we use cloth napkins.


Ah, so she likes using the limited clean drinking water on laundering additional items. And releasing more detergent out into the water treatment plants, which results in more treatment chemicals being used.

:sofa:


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## K813zra

WildBoar said:


> Ah, so she likes using the limited clean drinking water on laundering additional items. And releasing more detergent out into the water treatment plants, which results in more treatment chemicals being used.
> 
> :sofa:



I never said we used clean water. :bigeek:


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## TheCaptain

The Kohls brand has a line that is super absorbent. They're getting harder to find with them carrying all the food network heat embossed pattern crap.


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## foody518

Next time I place an order at JKI, I'm definitely planning on picking up at least one of his Fukin
Also...I recall last year Maksim had a Towel Day Sale...maybe he'll do it again


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## ThEoRy

You could try a nice waffle-weave towel from the rag company. I use them for drying my car after a wash. Super absorbent. 

https://www.theragcompany.com/waffle-weave/


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## milkbaby

I like a really plush and soft cotton hand towel for the initial dry then a cheapie poly microfiber total for the final wipe down. The microfiber seems to dry faster.


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## daveb

I like these from Amazon more than the ones available at work. Much more than some available at work.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KM2RZWM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## vlad

Another vote for microfiber waffle towels. Tried a bunch of different ones. These from Amazon have been great performers. Soak up water like a sponge and dry quickly. Bunch of different colors to boot: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AV47XW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

One caution, however, and that's warm wash and dry. If they get too hot, they loose their remarkable absorbancy. I learned that the hard way.


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## XooMG

If I get towels that feel promising but absorb poorly, I run them through a few dryer cycles with some denim or whatever and no fabric softener or anti-static sheets.


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## Marek07

milkbaby said:


> I like a really plush and soft cotton hand towel for the initial dry then a cheapie poly microfiber total for the final wipe down. The microfiber seems to dry faster.


lus1: 
Hand towels over tea towels for sure plus microfibre - but the order of use is dependant on quality/dryness at hand. My tshirt or paper towels as a standby.


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## Salty dog

Good quality paper towel.


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## RDalman

Linen. I have some old that my grandmother made. I will use them until they fall apart completely. The non fluffy kind.


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## cheflarge

Always end up back on paper towels.


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## BloodrootVW

Williams Sonoma makes a good hand towel. We use also the paper shop towels.


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## Mucho Bocho

I found what I think to be the ideal kitchen towel. I get these professional cloths from Unger Industries. The wear like nails, are the perfect size and are considerable more hydrophilic and have more surface area than any paper product. I buy in bulk.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G5WNQDE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## El Pescador

My issue is that I can't use a microfiber tower to pull stuff out of the over because it melts/ loses it absorbency. Now I need to have 2 towels, one for the sink and one for the oven.


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## LucasFur

this is actually a decent topic. - my kitchen towels seem to range from water repelling (after a wash) to food attracting (mid-prep wipe off).


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## milkbaby

Mucho Bocho said:


> I found what I think to be the ideal kitchen towel. I get these professional cloths from Unger Industries. The wear like nails, are the perfect size and are considerable more hydrophilic and have more surface area than any paper product. I buy in bulk.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G5WNQDE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20



Thanks for the link, those look nice. For the microfiber I've actually been getting by with dollar store cheapies, would like to try a nicer towel. 

Also, I only air dry my microfiber towels. I noticed that they can get too hot in a dryer, so I treat them like my technical fabric athletic clothing, i.e. wash then hang to air dry only. 

I like the blue shop towels for glass cleaning too, but due to the cost I only use them when doing an oil finish on my wooden handles. 

Great thread topic! :doublethumbsup:


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## DaveInMesa

vlad said:


> Another vote for microfiber waffle towels. Tried a bunch of different ones. These from Amazon have been great performers. Soak up water like a sponge and dry quickly. Bunch of different colors to boot: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AV47XW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
> 
> One caution, however, and that's warm wash and dry. If they get too hot, they loose their remarkable absorbancy. I learned that the hard way.



I wonder if that's why my microfiber towels act more like plastic bags than towels.


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## DaveInMesa

milkbaby said:


> ...they can get too hot in a dryer, so I treat them like my technical fabric athletic clothing, i.e. wash then hang to air dry only.



Hmm. Sounds like I've been doing that wrong, too :lol2: It's interesting that even some of the 100% cotton towels say to avoid hot dryers. Maybe the shrinkage makes the weave too tight to work well?



milkbaby said:


> Great thread topic! :doublethumbsup:



I was half expecting either nothing but crickets or a ton of disdain for asking such a dumb question. But, it seems like a lot of people think it's worth discussing.


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## kurwamac

I have a bloody large stack (50) of oven cloths that I borrowed from an employer, which are the only ones I'll use due to being overly familiarised to their shape and grip (have a very nasty burn from oven gloves as a substitute). They absorb the everloving **** out of oil and water, which works for me. I'll see if I can find a pic


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## aaamax

daveb said:


> I like these from Amazon more than the ones available at work. Much more than some available at work.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KM2RZWM/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20




These look exactly like the ones 90% of the kitchens use here. We probably should clarify what "wipe after each use" means. I use only high carbon and zero s.s. and can go 15-20 minutes with the blade dripping wet if processing the same material. Then she gets a wipe down, but not completely dry until after my shift or knife is not to be used for a length of time. The last wipe down is the paper towel and usually with a touch of olive oil. Nothing like a touch of oil after a nice day's build up of patina. Especially after processing a case of pineapple, onions and then the cooked meat. I swear the knife looks HAPPY! Yes friends, I've been on this site too long...lol
Cheers.


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## Triggaaar

cheflivengood said:


> Paper towels. not being cheeky either. I have very expensive knives that I grind a re-etch myself. I wouldn't trust any cotton, poly, etc to dry them after washing.


What? Your knives are so delicate that they'd be damaged by a gentle wipe with a piece of cotton?


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## malexthekid

He means by then not drying it properly or holding grit and scratching the blade


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## Triggaaar

malexthekid said:


> He means by then not drying it properly or holding grit and scratching the blade


Ok, I could understand if it was holding grit. But if you only use the towel for your very clean knives, there'd be no grit to hold, right? And if it's not drying properly, you need a different towel.

I see no problem with using paper towels, but then I don't see a problem with a cotton towel either.


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## loong

I tried towels in different materials but still prefers paper towel. Clean and efficient!


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## zetieum

I use a sponge followed by a normal cotton kitchen towels. It absorbs enough for my usage. Contrastively to paper towel they are washable and reusable.


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## Matus

I use the tengui (several of them) that I got from Jon. It needs to be noted, that these needed 3-4 washing cycles to start to absorb water well. Now they work great. 

I only use paper towels when I am sharpening to remove the mud from the knife.


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## TurboScooter

If you use fabric softener on your towels that might be why they don't absorb well. My various kitchen towels all seem to absorb water fine. I have terry and herringbone weave. The herringbone weaves are the real cheapo looking ones with the stripe of color on them, ratty looking hems on the edges, and they shrink quite a lot on the first hot wash. I don't have an Ikea where I live, but the Ikea Tekla towels look pretty similar to what I have in pictures online. Towels like that are all over Amazon so I just got the cheapest ones I found at the time and they work for me.

While prepping I use those foodservice type wipes to wipe down my board and knife.

What I don't like about microfiber waffle weave is that once they're saturated they are seemingly impossible to wring out meaningfully so they're effectively useless until they're dry again.


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## scott.livesey

DaveInMesa said:


> At least, that's the advice from the Guide to the Galaxy, more or less, with a little adjusting to fit. The question is... what KIND of towel?
> 
> Now, before one of you Admins moves this to the Off-Topic room, this is actually a serious knife-related question. Everyone agrees that carbon knives should be (washed and) dried after each use, but no one says what to use for that all-important task. What difference does it make, you ask? Well, if you were afflicted with the pathetic excuses for toweling that seem to be all that's available in my area, having driven all the useful towels into exile, apparently, you would not ask such silly questions.
> 
> Now that I am no longer affiliated with any restaurants and, therefore, persona non grata at my local supply store, I find myself stuck with an assortment of essentially useless cloths that seem to actively repel water, rather than absorbing it. So, where does a non-professional find decent, absorbent kitchen towels, these days? Preferably without spending a fortune on them. It seems like such a simple thing, but it's trickier than one would expect.



here are 12" x 12" 100% cotton basic shop/cooking towels for 28 cents each. I have not bought their towels, but I have bought denim shop aprons and heavy shop rags from them and was very happy with their service and quality of product.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-PACK-CO...264944?hash=item2113fcf230:g:4cYAAOSwENxXm2Vy


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

What TurboScooter said. Fabric softeners soften no fabric - they impregnate it!

...

If nothing else feels like absorbing today: Side of paper towel roll (on stand).


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## LifeByA1000Cuts

"Now that I am no longer affiliated with any restaurants and, therefore, persona non grata" ... god, you australians are so careful in avoiding imported diseases - and you got a serious case of german wholesale-vs-retail mentality?


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## Matus

We do not use any softeners at all. The tengui do need a few wash cycles.

Still - the best water absorbing towel we have at home are those made from bamboo fibres. These are made as diapers for a reason


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## TurboScooter

Matus said:


> We do not use any softeners at all. The tengui do need a few wash cycles.
> 
> Still - the best water absorbing towel we have at home are those made from bamboo fibres. These are made as diapers for a reason



Isn't a lot or even most bamboo textile found in the consumer market just rayon by another name wrapped in "green" marketing?

In that case, Mrs. Miwako's Kitchen Towel.


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## Ruso

I use what my grandma used to use; old or teared away clothing.


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## cschoedler

Costco sells shop/kitchen towels for something like $15.99 for 40. I buy a pack or two a year for home use. They hold up decently well and for the price after a few wash cycles the ratty looking ones get retired to the garage or trash.


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## naifu

My search for the ideal towel is over. (12-Pack) 16 in. x 16 in. Commercial Grade All-Purpose Microfiber HIGHLY ABSORBENT, LINT-FREE, STREAK-FREE Cleaning Towels - THE RAG COMPANY. This is by far the most ideal towel to work with on the cutting board -- one damp for wiping during cutting, and one dry. They are very soft and absorbent, and they fold evenly without lumps. 

I tried this herringbone cotton dish cloth which is OK, however when folded the seams add uneven thickness. It is not the ideal towel either damp or dry to work with on the cutting board because they are not sufficiently soft and pliable, and they do not fold evenly.


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## nevrknow

naifu said:


> My search for the ideal towel is over. (12-Pack) 16 in. x 16 in. Commercial Grade All-Purpose Microfiber HIGHLY ABSORBENT, LINT-FREE, STREAK-FREE Cleaning Towels - THE RAG COMPANY. This is by far the most ideal towel to work with on the cutting board -- one damp for wiping during cutting, and one dry. They are very soft and absorbent, and they fold evenly without lumps.
> 
> I tried this herringbone cotton dish cloth which is OK, however when folded the seams add uneven thickness. It is not the ideal towel either damp or dry to work with on the cutting board because they are not sufficiently soft and pliable, and they do not fold evenly.




I too use micro-fibers, however ( and I'm ASSuming, yes I know, ) it may be the brand I use. Drying in a dryer seems to destroy mine quicker than line drying. Do these hold up better to machine drying?


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## naifu

nevrknow said:


> I too use micro-fibers, however ( and I'm ASSuming, yes I know, ) it may be the brand I use. Drying in a dryer seems to destroy mine quicker than line drying. Do these hold up better to machine drying?



I am sorry to tell you that I do not know. I have been using these before washing/drying. But I did hand wash and line dry one, and it works just as well.

I will test one in the washer and machine dry and report back in a week.


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## TurboScooter

If you're going to dry MFs in a dryer do it on low or no heat.

Rag Company has a Detalk about washing/drying MF towels.
[video=youtube;FhZBikIIbPo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhZBikIIbPo[/video]


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## naifu

TurboScooter said:


> If you're going to dry MFs in a dryer do it on low or no heat.
> 
> Rag Company has a Detalk about washing/drying MF towels.
> [video=youtube;FhZBikIIbPo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhZBikIIbPo[/video]



Very informative and helpful. Thank you.

Line dry or no-heat dry it is.


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## Colorado_cutter

zetieum said:


> I use a sponge followed by a normal cotton kitchen towels. It absorbs enough for my usage. Contrastively to paper towel they are washable and reusable.



I'm with zetieum- I just use regular cotton dish towels. Why waste a paper towel? The dish towel can be used a bunch of times just to dry things... you know, use it, hang it to dry, use it, hang it to dry. Then maybe later use it on counters or to clean up spills THEN wash it... but you can get a lot of uses before it needs laundering, and with the cotton towels, they can just be washed and dried like anything else, no special treatment. Generally, I just use paper towels for spreading around a film of oil in my cast iron skillets or for really oily clean-up.


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## Marek07

@ TurboScooter - thanks for the video link. I use microfibre, cotton and paper towels depending on the task at hand. However the video showed me I've been treating the microfibre towels rather poorly - very hot tap water, sometimes even adding boiling water and bleaching them. About to buy some new ones now and start over.


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## Chef Doom

This thread is great. I am going to purchase some linen to see how that works as a towel.


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## Benuser

I like linen a lot for wiping off stone slurry from the bevel during sharpening. Thin and hard. You can really feel the bevel thru it if you do apply some pressure, AYOR of course. For normal use though I prefer half linen / half cotton.


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## Chef Doom

Holy Gee Willikers Batman! These linen towels online are pricier than a preacher's reverse osmosis holy water in the middle of a Quentin Terantino Halloween bash!

Although I have been looking into modifying my kitchen towel arsenal, I put my kitchen towels through too much tourment to pay $5 for ONE linen towel. My shaky hands from all the meth and alcohol abuse has put more holes in my towels than a victim of the infamouse Jigsaw.


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## TurboScooter

Marek07 said:


> @ TurboScooter - thanks for the video link. I use microfibre, cotton and paper towels depending on the task at hand. However the video showed me I've been treating the microfibre towels rather poorly - very hot tap water, sometimes even adding boiling water and bleaching them. About to buy some new ones now and start over.



At some point boiling towels was a commonly accepted way of "rejuvenating" MF towels in the various online auto detailing communities. From what I remember it kind of started off as a "my towels are screwed, might as well try this before I dump them" thing, and at some point it got said often enough that it became truth.

Keep in mind also that these guys are also coming at towel care from the perspective of auto detaling; they're trying to avoid instilling scratches, even very fine ones, in auto paint. For the purposes of kitchen use, it probably doesn't matter so much. I certainly wouldn't buy top shelf MF meant for auto detailing for kitchen duty.


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## Mucho Bocho

Talk about delicate work horse towels, I've washed them so many times, evidently doing every thing wrong and they still come out clean. I've snagged so many heels on these towels and the never rip, they have a weird self healing property. You can get them at Home Depot, usually pay around $3 a towel but I haven't burned even one out in three years. They are soft and grab anything they touch.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G5WNQDE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


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## jljohn

Don't laugh:

Cloth Diapers. A simple cotton prefold diaper (thick, multilayered cotton) that's been washed and dried about a dozen times is extremely absorbent. And you can buy them in a range of sizes for a couple dollars each.


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## hmansion

Ive been using these for years...

Nouvelle Legende Cotton Flour Sack Towels Commercial Grade 28in X 29in (12Pk) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BS4856/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I fold one side in 1/3 of the way, then fold the other side over to the newly folded edge (think folding a letter for putting in an envelope). Then I fold it in half lengthwise. 

Perfect size in the kitchen, absorbent with the multi-layers, and as the outer sides get dirty you can flip things around and refold to expose cleaner areas of the cloth. Mine have held up well to repeated laundering, too, with little or no fraying, bunching or shrinking.

When one becomes too stained and unsightly for kitchen use, it gets repurposed for cleaning around the house...


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## Chef Doom

jljohn said:


> Don't laugh:
> 
> Cloth Diapers. A simple cotton prefold diaper (thick, multilayered cotton) that's been washed and dried about a dozen times is extremely absorbent. And you can buy them in a range of sizes for a couple dollars each.


I have to admit, cloth diaper towels are great for the kitchen. Cheap, gets my knives dry, easily replacable, can find them anywhere, nearly lint free, almost zero downsides outside of potentially confusing the kitchen diaper for the baby diaper lol


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## SeattleBen

Flour sack cloth towels are the go to at my house.


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## pleue

I really like flour sack towels for drying (stemware, knives, etc.) and in a pinch they work well for anything else and restaurant terry or oven cloth towels for the rest like handling pots and pans and such.


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## Vils

Pieces of old cotton sheets works really well.


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## LostHighway

An old thread springs back to life!
For something like glassware that absolutely has to be lint free I use good quality microfiber despite the hassle that goes with that: don't mix loads with non-microfiber fabrics, no bleach or fabric softener, air dry or at very low dryer temperatures, and potentially using specialized detergents. I prefer the smooth finish glass towels or the waffle weave over the looped/terry cloth style. IME Korean made microfiber tends to be much better quality than PRC manufactured. 
For general dishware I like cotton flour sack towels or diaper material but newer production ones generally don't match the quality of the old towels, either too thin, overly loose weave, nonabsorbent, or lint monsters.
I have not tried the Japanese tengui towels.
For hand towels almost anything including terry cloth, surgical huck towels, etc. and I confess to using the apron when nothing else is in reach.


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## Chef Doom

I am too young to remember the quality of old cloth diapers but I do not dispute your assessment.


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## Chef Doom

Those Korean microfiber towels look very promising. Making an Amazon purchase today.


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## NBrewster

I use 50 cent Ikea towels (similar to flour sack) and they work well. Are quite rough feeling but they absorb well and I don't feel bad tossing them after they get stained from cleaning surfaces.


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