Time for a starch thread!

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volvoguy87

volvoguy87

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Hi. I'm Dave and I'm a starch addict.

I am posting this because I am having a difficult time finding Linit liquid starch, which I prefer over Sta-Flo. I like to starch my shirts, pillowcases, and a few other things. I usually like my starch to be somewhere between "heavy" and "oppressive" with a bias toward the oppressive. I cannot use aerosol cans of starch, because I can go through a case of them in no time at all. I need liquid starch so I don't go broke!

Are there any other starches out there worth trying?
Is it really feasible to make your own starch, and how long will it keep?
Who else here starches?

Dave
 
Dave,
Malco sells the starch directly for 22$/6. I agree, Linit is much better than Sta-flo, it seems more concentrated and the finished product has a better hand. We can still buy Argo in these parts, the powder you mix up. So you may look into that as well, it's very cheap.
HTH, Todd
 
Argo is available here in the Atlanta area as well. If I am not mistaken it is corn starch with a fragrance. Linit and Sta-flo have other ingredients that add body to the fabric. I have not found Linit in years, however I agree, I do remember it being superior to Sta-flo. When I used to do my former partner's shirts, I would always use a concentrated Argo batch. Now I use the Sta-flo (cup or so in the final rinse for sheets and bed linens).
 
Does anyone remember when "plastic" starch was introduced in the early 60s?

The last things I starched were canvas shopping bags years ago. I hung them to drip dry and they turned out beautifully. Fortunately, the heavy gray recycled plastic bottle shopping bags from reusable bags.com stand up without starching.
 
My mom used Argo and something that was solid and blue---kind of like a blue Hershey candy bar. She would break off pieces of the stuff and dissolve it in hot water. In fact, I seem to recall her occasionally shredding the blue stuff on a box grater so it would dissolve faster. This took place in the 1960s. Anyone know what that product was called?

Thanks in advance for your help/starch knowledge.
 
I used to starch all my work shirts and pants about 15 years ago. I used Vano, a concentrated liquid starch that came in a 1/2 gal bottle. I would mix it 50/50 with water in a plastic spray bottle, spray the garments ot linens to be starched, roll them up and let them set for awhile until they were uniformly damp, then iron with a dry iron. This worked perfectly. If I was in a hurry, I'd just iron and spray with the starch as I ironed. Vano may have just been a West Coast product, I recall the slogan on their TV commercials was, "If you're not using Vano, you're working too hard". I also used Faultless Starch if I couldn't find Vano, it came as a concentrated liquid too. They also made a powdered starch that you had to mix with water. I never used that one.
 
Satina Ironing Aid By General Foods

Is what you are looking for Frigilux. Have a whole full display case of the stuff and you are more than welcome to a box or two for a few bits. *LOL*

Satina was invented to deal with the long standing practice of laundresses/laundries and anyone else who had to iron things with starch; that is putting a bit of wax and or fat in the cooked starch mixture. These substances helped keep the iron from sticking and made for easier gliding of same and thus "faster" ironing. No small feat when pushing a five, six or more pound "iron" back and forth.

Recommended substances varied from fats such as butter to candlewax, spermaceti, lard, etc... The first and last were frowned against by many professionals and advisors due to the chances of either burning/turning ironed textiles rancid. Wax was deemed more suitable since it brought an enhanced stiffness but also pliability to the starch and thus what was being ironed.

Today most all domestic and commercially prepared starches sold as liquids and often in powder form contain some sort of ironing aids. Rather than wax however these are often silicone based. Argo is pure cornstarch. However brands of old sold to housewives such as Quick Elastic did contain some sort of ironing aid.

Having used Satina have to say the stuff does what it says; however it must be dissolved in *HOT*/cooked starch and thoroughly. Otherwise the bluing agents/coloring will not totally blend with the starch and can end up staining laundry much like blue tinted fabric softeners.

Satina is a mix of wax, bluing agents and other chemicals (it claims to keep laundry fresher), but have never been able to find out exactly what is in the stuff. It predated modern label requirements giving ingredients and General Foods long since ceased production.

launderess-2015060817392503879_1.jpg
 
Powder versus liquid starch

Choice is up to the particular person.

Liquid starches have the benefit of being premixed as it were thus no cooking, boiling or other preparation is required. Just measure and use according to directions. However you are paying for all that convenience, in particular the water which largely makes up those jugs/bottles. Just as with liquid detergents a good part of the cost comes from moving/shipping those mostly water filled bottles of starch about.

Commercial laundries that do large amounts of starching most always purchase it as a powder and mix/prepare according to their needs. They also have access to more highly concentrated liquid starch and sizing products that give more uses per bottle. You really find only Laundromats and perhaps smaller laundries going in for spray starch in cans. Even at discounted per case rates available to wholesale/commercial users the stuff is expensive for what you get on a per use basis.

Prepared liquid starches have the benefit of being readily able for use as a "spray" product. Just decant into a spray bottle and there you are. Cheaper and less harmful to the environment than cans.

Once easily found in all type of shops starch both powdered, liquid and spray has become increasingly difficult to find. Much of this owes to changes in laundry habits (few households iron things much less starch), and the spread of modern "easy care" fabrics.
 
Yes!! That's the stuff, Launderess. Talk about a blast from the past. I'd forgotten that Satina wasn't starch, but an ironing enhancer. My mom cooked a batch of starch every week for shirts, tablecloths and a host of other items...like doilies.

Anyway, thanks so much for solving the mystery. You continue to prove you know something about everything. My money is on you should you ever appear on Jeopardy!

Aside: Thanks for the gracious offer, but my iron hasn't seen electricity since Y2K was in the papers, LOL.
 
And we haven't even bought any starch since I retired. I used to starch my uniform shirts. I don't even think anything has even been ironed in the past year or so. Hanging clothing up straight out of the dryer eliminates most of that.
 
The only time I ever used starch was when we used it as part of a paper mache project in elementary school. Big bottle of blue stuff as I recall. I think I twisted my mother's arm, and she got a supply, although I don't think my enthusiasm for paper mache lasted... I am almost certain my mother never used the starch for the intended purpose.
 
Linit is widely available here in the northeast supermarkets. StaFlo is only seen in WalMart and Family dollar stores. Some years back, while working on the west coast, I began using Vano which was a Purex product. At that time, it was much more concentrated than Linit and StaFlo. StaFlo would later become a Dial brand along with Vano. Ultimately Vano was discontinued but i still have three half gallons carefully stored from my last mail order.

Another brand that I have used and liked a lot is Faultless liquid starch. It is very concentrated and a little does a lot. However here on the east coast it is no longer sold in stores - KMart used to carry it. So now the only way to order it is from Agelong Brands. They charge almost 6.00 for a half gallon and shipping costs are murder. I am told that some Wegmans' supermarkets carry it but the nearest one is 100 miles away from me in Woodbridge, New Jersey.

I still have about 12 boxes of Faultless dry starch with bluing. I use that on my table linens and napkins and it really does a nice job. Again the word that defines my life - DISCONTINUED!!
 
Thanks for the Linit link!

That's the stuff I use. Buying it from that site linked above by the case can work. Amazon lists a terrible price for the stuff once you add in the freight.

I'm not opposed to trying a different technique than I've been using. If there is any liquid starch aside from Sta-Flo or Linit I can get, I'd be keen to try, especially if it's a stronger concentration. I can drain a bottle of starch with great speed.

I usually pour the Linit into a spray bottle, add water to about a 50/50 ratio, shake it up, and spray the fabric. After it sits and soaks in evenly, ironing is a breeze (no steam!). I usually do my cuffs and collars 2 or even 3 times, just to make sure they are stiff enough to be used as weapons. I haven't needed to use collar tabs in a few years :)

I wish I could add starch to the final rinse, but it would be far too weak for my liking. I want my creases to be sharp enough to use for shaving, at the end of the day! I guess you could say that I like my shirts to be violently starched.

For whatever it's worth, I am an avid swing dancer, and I dance at least weekly. I am known for always wearing a starched shirt and argyle socks. Many follows compliment me on my starched shirts. They say that it is a refreshing change from dancing with sweat-soaked guys in drenched T-shirts. It makes it Having a drenched shirt makes it harder to maintain proper grip and counter-balance, which makes dancing harder and less safe. Thanks to starch, I can stay reasonably fresh all evening and enjoy good dances all night long.

Here's a shot of me at a dance. It was very hot and it was toward the end of the evening, but my creases were still holding!

Thanks for making this a good thread,
Dave

volvoguy87++6-8-2015-20-52-18.jpg
 

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