Scott 75147 Shop Towels Original — Blue, Wet-Strength, 9.4 x 11 in, 55/Roll, 12 Rolls

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What the Scott 75147 Shop Towels Original Are

They are the iconic blue shop towel — a heavy-duty wet-strength wiping towel for grease, oil, fluids and spills, sold as 55 sheets per standard roll, 12 rolls per case (660 towels), at 9.4 by 11 inches per sheet. What sets a shop towel apart from a paper towel is wet strength: it holds together and keeps wiping when soaked, standing up to scrubbing and torque instead of falling apart. Kimberly-Clark rates them at about twice the absorbency of the leading value-brand paper towel, so they pick up oil and fluids fast and you use fewer per job.

They are built for the messy work — automotive repair, garages, workshops and industrial cleanup: oil changes, degreasing, fluid top-ups, wiping tools and parts. They are a wiping towel, not a hand-drying towel, so they belong at the bench and the bay rather than the washroom. The same towel also comes in a one-handed pop-up box (75190) for trucks and spots without a holder. See our shop towels and wipers for the range.

Wet Strength: Why a Shop Towel, Not a Paper Towel

The reason a blue shop towel exists is wet strength. A bathroom or hand paper towel is engineered to break down — good for drying hands and flushing, useless for wiping up oil, because it shreds the moment it is wet and dragged across a rough surface. The 75147 is the opposite: it is built to stay intact when saturated, so you can soak up a spill, keep wiping with the same wet towel, and scrub a greasy part without it coming apart in your hand. Combined with the high absorbency, that means fewer towels per job and less mess left behind.

That durability is also why the honest guidance is to keep them in their lane. They are for the dirty mechanical work — automotive and garage cleanup, degreasing, fluid handling, tool and parts wiping. They are not a hand-drying towel, not a lint-free finishing wiper, and not skin protection. And when the job involves solvents or petroleum, the towel handles the chemical but your hands do not — pair it with nitrile or chemical-resistant gloves for the chemical you are using. Used that way, the 75147 is the reliable blue workhorse it is known as. Our janitorial equipment guides cover the wider shop and facility setup.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is wet strength, and why does it matter?

Wet strength is a shop towel's ability to stay intact and keep working when soaked, instead of disintegrating the way a bathroom or hand paper towel does. It is the single property that makes a shop towel a shop towel: you can wipe up oil, keep wiping with a wet towel, and it holds together under scrubbing and torque. For grease, oil and solvent cleanup, that durability is why you reach for the 75147 rather than a hand towel.

What jobs are these for?

Cleaning up grease, oil, fluids and spills, and wiping tools, parts, hands and surfaces — automotive repair, garages, workshops and general industrial and household mechanical work. They handle oil changes, fluid top-ups, degreasing and messy cleanup, and sit well alongside the rest of a stocked facility and janitorial kit. They are a heavy-duty wiping towel, not a hand-drying towel for a washroom; keep them for the dirty jobs where a normal paper towel would fall apart.

How absorbent are they?

Kimberly-Clark rates the 75147 at about twice the absorbency of the leading value-brand paper towel — a manufacturer comparison rather than an independent lab figure, but it reflects that these are built to soak up oil and fluids fast. The combination of high absorbency and wet strength is the point: they pick up a lot, and they keep doing it when saturated, so you use fewer towels per job than a thin paper towel.

Why are they blue?

Blue is the industrial-wiper convention. The color makes a shop towel easy to spot on a bench or floor, distinguishes it at a glance from white hand and food-service towels so the two do not get mixed up, and hides the grey of grease and oil better than white would. It is a practical, recognisable code for a heavy-duty wiper rather than a cosmetic choice.

How many are in a roll and a case?

There are 55 sheets on a standard roll and 12 rolls in a case — 660 towels per case. That is a shop-and-garage quantity that keeps a workbench, bay or facility stocked. The roll format lets you tear off a sheet as needed and keeps a supply at each station; for a truck or a spot without a holder, the same towel also comes in a pop-up box.

What size are the sheets?

Each towel is 9.4 by 11 inches — a generous wiping sheet that covers a hand or a tool and folds down for detail work. That size gives enough towel to soak up a real spill without being wasteful for a quick wipe. When comparing shop towels, look at the sheet size and the count per roll together, since both drive the real value behind a case price.

Are they suitable for painting or finish work?

Not really. They are low-lint, but they are not lint-free, so for finish-critical surfaces — paint prep, clearcoat, optics, electronics — a lint-free wiper is the right tool, since stray fibres show or interfere. The 75147 is for general mechanical work: degreasing, oil cleanup, wiping tools and parts, where a little lint does not matter — see the full shop towels and wipers range if you need a different weight. Match the wiper to whether the surface is finish-critical.

Can I reuse them?

They are durable enough to survive a few wipes rather than tearing on the first pass, so people do get more than one use from a towel — but they are disposable wipers, not laundered cloth rags. That is often the point: a disposable removes the contamination from the building each time, whereas a laundered rag service returns fabric carrying the residue of whatever it last cleaned. Use them as tough single-job disposables.

Do they work with harsh solvents?

The towel itself tolerates solvents and holds up to degreasers and cleaners — that is part of its heavy-duty design. Your skin is the limit, not the towel: for petroleum products wear nitrile gloves, and for aggressive solvents wear chemical-resistant gloves, because a shop towel does nothing to protect your hands. Use the right glove for the chemical, and let the towel do the wiping.

Do they fit a shop towel dispenser?

The standard roll can be used loose or in a compatible wall-mount or portable shop-towel roll holder, whichever suits your bench or bay. Many shops just keep the roll at each station and tear off as needed. If you want one-handed dispensing without hardware — handy in a truck or at a spill — the pop-up box version of the same towel is the alternative.

How do these compare to a cloth rag?

A disposable shop towel like the 75147 gives you consistent wet strength and absorbency every time, and it takes the contamination out of the building when you bin it. A laundered cloth rag is reusable but comes back with the chemical history of its last job and a variable condition. Disposables cost more per wipe but remove that uncertainty and cross-contamination risk; many shops run disposables for exactly that reason, keeping a case at each bench next to their work gloves.

What are they not for?

They are not a hand-drying towel for a washroom, not sterile or food-contact rated, and not lint-free for finish work. Most importantly, a shop towel is not personal protection: it does not shield your skin from a chemical splash or protect against a cut. Pair it with the right gloves for the chemical and the right cut protection for the task, and keep it to the wiping and cleanup job it is built for.