Unusual uses for Swarfega

In 2017, Swarfega celebrates its 70th anniversary since being first introduced as an industrial hand-cleaner in 1947.

Many readers will know that Swarfega was formulated some time earlier and was first sold as Deb Silkwear Protector, a detergent for women’s silk stockings, from 1941. Less well known are some of the more unusual and unconventional purposes for which it has been used over the years.

Many of these are logical for a product that is so good at removing grease and other oil-based substances, such as using it to degrease pots and pans, as well as lift oil spills from clothing and carpets. However, according to Nursing Times magazine, Swarfega has also been used in hospitals to degrease the area around a flesh wound prior to dressing it. Somewhat more innovative was a recommendation via the internet, suggesting Swarfega is ideal for cleaning the grease glands of their pet guinea pigs.

Not that Swarfega is entirely appropriate for every medical application. In 2014, the Daily Star newspaper in Scotland reported that the Medicines and Healthcare Agency had impounded a shipment of condoms that had been lubricated with Swarfega. Don’t try this at home, folks!

While most mechanics of a certain age will have strong memories of the distinctive smell that Swarfega had up until fairly recently, another of its physical properties has served as inspiration to creative artists. The sound of Swarfega being squelched was reputedly used to create the sound effect of slimy monsters for episodes of Doctor Who, and movie technicians also apparently used Swarfega to create some of the gloopy monster effects in Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi thriller Alien in 1979.

But by far the most impressive achievement for the humble hand-cleaner was that it was allegedly used to lubricate the V-bed concrete track along which the Saturn V rocket, the spacecraft that carried the Apollo space missions to the moon, was transported from its build hangar to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.