I'm not pissing on China.

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say in my post.
For instance, in my dads day they didn't change their cars every three years. They looked after them and got them repaired when needed and kept them for more than 10 years.
I know that's not so good for the car manufacturers but I believe it's better for us in the long run to take care of what we have.

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The Chinese can make good stuff but that's not what's in demand. Cheap Cheap Cheap seems the way to go.
Just look at any Asian owned business who sells mobile phones etc... Full of really cheap crap from Hong Kong or China.

I try not to buy anything made in China but at times that's unavoidable because either the product is adequately marked or there is no other option.

I am just tire of hearing it. China is the scapegoat for everything. Cars last longer now then they ever did. Maybe not those 70's pick up trucks.

There is a market for cheap cheap cheap. that's why there are there. Tell you the truth, I rether not buy cheap China products, but I would buy a Chinese made Monitor any day of the week over a French or Italian one (I am not sure if they even make one). The phone, you say? I take one of those cheap mobile phone over the Porsche ones (Never knew they made one until this past weekend). cool looking, but no thanks.

I think the Chinese are really smart this time around. They have the cheap market cornered. Just look at harbor Freight Tools. When ever there's a sale, the parking lot is jam packed. Long lines at the cash registers. Their thinking is, if customer A, B, and C would not buy their crap, D and F will because it is cheap enough. They are smiling all the way to the bank. Hell, if I was in business, I would sell a bunch of crap for dirt cheap too. You don't see stuff coming our of other third world countries at this huge scale.

I knew about not piling/wadding oily rags but I never was told of one proper way to dispose of them. After laying them out flat on the concrete floor or somewhere I guess I would wash a shop towel in a washing machine, and the soap would remove the oil, and it would go out into the wastewater treatment facility then into the ocean. The rag would be safe though.

You've got that right. My '70 F-100 is the closest thing to eternal that I've ever seen. Whether you drive it every day or once every 3 or 4 years nothing seems to break.

Years ago I had resealed my deck and threw the rags in the cardboard box I had other rags in. Later I'm watching Football and smell like who the hell is burning trash, go to the garage and the box is smoking. Went out and got a Metal Rag can w/self closing lid, lucky that time.

By the time the water has evaporated the oil soaked rag has passed it's ignition point.
There needs to be a specific condition for the rag to spontaneously combust. It's moisture content of the rag, position, time and ambient temp.

An oil soaked rag laid flat, won't combust. An oil soaked rag balled up will. There needs to be heat generated from the condensed oil, enough to start a flame.

This can't happen if the rag is wet or laid flat. Also it can't happen in a couple of days, after the water has evaporated. By that time the oil is not dense enough anymore.
And is passed its ignition point.

Most oily rags won't spontaneously combust but linseed oil is the exception. We use it on turbine case joints or at least used to and it's a big no-no to leave them piled up exposed to air.

I know a professional wood finisher that had applied Watco Danish Oil on a conference table he had just delivered/installed. His helper took the rags and put them in a metal trashcan on the side of the room near a large tall windows. The next day, when someone opened the window drapes, the sunlight hit the trashcan and the rags spontaneously combusted. He made sure to always lay them flat afterwords.

Priceless heads-up here. Tx, never realized.

Another story.

We were staining and finishing a truckload of wood trim in a clients warehouse.

At the end of the day, we threw all our rags into the dumpster at the other end of the parking lot.

Came back next day to find dumpster looking like a piece of charcoal.

Be careful out there.

Any explanation for how this happens?

Posted earlier in the thread....

a snip from Wiki