walmart bargain bin [Archive]

Grinder

11-06-2006, 12:39

Several have mentioned the bargain bin.

I found cheap stuff under the rack, but no ripstop at all. The clerk said, (rather haughtily, I might add) "All Walmarts are not the same." and "we have NO nylon".

This was a so called superstore.

Where do you all live and how big are your superstores?

Would my chances go up with a trip to either Tampa or Orlando??

TIA

Tom

arkwater

11-06-2006, 12:58

The ladies in the fabric dept. at my wal-mart tell me they have no choice in what they get for the $1 table. They just order x# yards and get whatever. I have found sil and ripstop at big supercenters & small stores. I don,t think odds are better or worse at any particular location.

Pringles

11-06-2006, 13:02

Hi,

In my experience, what you find on the dollar rack at Walmart varies from week to week, let alone from store to store. My (favorite!) Walmart clerk told me a couple of weeks ago that the department manager had stopped ordering the $1.00 a yard stuff for our store for a while, because the stuff that had been coming lately was "awful." Looking at the leftovers, it was. But I was assured that she'd be ordering more at a later date, and hopefully, we'd be getting a better selection. Over the years, I have gotten some wonderful gray ripstop, some ugly-as-sin really lightweight uncoated hideous green ripstop, some beautiful coated nylon (though not ripstop) and enough other stuff to have learned how to sew. I've never seen any of the elusive silnylon there, but Noah Lamport or Thru-hiker.com always takes my order, so it's ok. Oh, and we are about as UNsuper a Walmart as UNsuper can get. Beth

Gaiter

11-06-2006, 13:40

its a matter of luck and timing, unfortunatly there isn't a system to tell us when the sil-nylon will be at your local walmart.

Just Jeff

11-06-2006, 14:03

Yep - it's luck. I think it depends on where that particular Walmart's stuff is shipped from. If their supplier ships this kind of fabric, it may show up every couple of shipments...shipments might be every 3 weeks or so. Some Walmarts seem to get a lot, others don't - and I don't think it has anything to do with how big the city is or anything.

My last silnylon find was south of Fayetteville, NC - and the clerk had seen enough of it to ask if I was making ponchos with it! Only clerk I've ever seen who knew anything about it.

So just b/c they don't have it now doesn't mean they won't get it in the next shipment. It's just luck of the draw.

STEVEM

11-06-2006, 14:50

Can someone tell me what kind of thread you would use with nylon? Seems like standard cotton sewing thread would rot.

Just Jeff

11-06-2006, 15:37

I use 100% polyester Gutermanns.

hammock engineer

11-06-2006, 15:55

I'll throw anyone vote for luck. I have been checking the Walmart close to my house off and on for close to a year. One day I asked the clerk and she said that she has not seen any in a year or so. A couple days later I went in and found 4 yds of ripstop. Luck of the draw.

saimyoji

11-06-2006, 16:00

My Walmart always has ripstop: dark grey and light grey. I guess I'd be willing to send you some if you want. Silnylon is another story. I've seen it once in four years.

Cuffs

11-06-2006, 16:23

Never seen Sil-nylon in my WallyWorld, but they regularly (but not always) have rip-stop. I'd be willing to purchase and ship for cost.

Grinder

11-06-2006, 17:59

Dudes (and dudettes)

I just got back from a bigger Wally World, in Haines City Fl. To find the bargain bin, it turns out, you have to say "$1 per yard??".

"Bargain bin" and "Sale material" got me sent to the wrong areas.

Also, I bought what I'm think is blue ripstop nylon, but it was labeled something like "Remnant of unknown fiber and content". It sure looks like the material in my purchased hammock.

No one has mentioned this as yet. I hope it it one of those things that "everyone knows".

If it dissolves the first time it gets wet. "Oh Well!! What the hell is $4.00 ? The price of adventure, eh??

Tom

Jonas4321

11-07-2006, 07:46

Dudes (and dudettes)

Also, I bought what I'm think is blue ripstop nylon, but it was labeled something like "Remnant of unknown fiber and content". It sure looks like the material in my purchased hammock.

No one has mentioned this as yet. I hope it it one of those things that "everyone knows".

Tom

Yup, that is how all the ripstop (and other) nylon I have found at Wally World is marked. Mystery fiber, I guess!

I was in Ocala FL visiting my folks and found something I have not seen before - what appears to be ripstop nylon supplex. It's cottony-feeling like other supplex I have bought, but has the ripstop grid. I did a burn test and it is indeed nylon, not cotton. It's heavy, but will be great to do some experimenting with.

I also agree with the Gutermann's 100% polyester thread recommendation - avoid cheap thread. For a buck more, you'll never be unhappy.

Jonas

MOWGLI

11-07-2006, 08:21

The clerk said, (rather haughtily, I might add) "All Walmarts are not the same."

Of course, she lied. All Wal Marts suck. Need any more reasons not to shop there?

saimyoji

11-07-2006, 08:58

Of course, she lied. All Wal Marts suck. Need any more reasons not to shop there?

Some people can't afford not to get the best deals they can. :eek:

Just Jeff

11-07-2006, 10:57

Ripstop supplex! Now I'm burned. I've seen this stuff several times but passed on it b/c I just thought it was cotton. GRRRR!!! I bet at least some of it was supplex. Should have tested some.

Apparently some of the ripstop there is also polyester...but if I've seen nylon vs polyester I can't tell the difference and they both work well for hammock applications AFAIK.

Any way to tell if it's supplex in the store?

Ewker

11-07-2006, 11:21

to a newbie on fabric how do you know what is what

Frolicking Dinosaurs

11-07-2006, 11:29

This info comes from someone I know who is in Wal-Mart's middle management. Wal-Mart has roughly 70 distribution centers in the US. Each center serves from 70 to 150 stores. Each center has contracts with sewing mills within its region to buy remnants and excess cloth for clearance. Sometimes one distribution center will get cloth from another center when its supply runs low.

As Mowg says, Wal-Mart is not a nice company. I limit my purchases from there to items not available elsewhere - even when it means I pay more for the items. I cannot support what Wal-Mart has become - and I bet Sam Walton is spinning in his grave.

Grinder

11-07-2006, 13:02

Ewker,

That's the point I was trying to make!!

As newbies we don't know.

I just took a real good look and touch of my purchased hammock and bought what felt and looked the same.

If you don't have a hammock, feel a tent in the camping department or a sleeping bag outside shell at home.

At $1 cost, it won't be that big a deal if you guess wrong.

Tom

Jonas4321

11-08-2006, 08:11

to a newbie on fabric how do you know what is what

I am no fabric expert, but here are a few of the pointers I have picked up:

Cotton usually frays as single threads. Synthetics like nylon (and many others) usually fray as lots of little (smaller than hair) fibers. Find the end and check the fray.

Cotton will often stretch in any direction, as will rayon, silk, and others. Nylon, particularly the ripstop I am interested in, will usually only stretch diagonally to the little squares of ripstop. To me that's not truly stretching, it's the fabric weave going from a square to a parallelogram. Semantics.

My favorite way to see if something is cotton or not is to burn some loose fibers, not something you can do in the store. But you can usually find a few fibers loose at the end of the fabric and take those to your car and test it there. Nail clippers help to cleanly trim the fibers. Be nice to the fabric- if removing a few stray fibers damages what is left, don't do it. Ignite these fibers with a flame (not your car's cigarette lighter). If it burns like a wick, it's cotton. If it shrinks immediately at the heat of the flame, then burns and melts often with a black sooty smoke, it's synthetic. If it's ripstop and it burns this way, it's probably nylon.

You know, though- I got 6.25 yards for 6.25 dollars, so I took my chances and did my burn test at home. I figured the worst that could happen was that I threw out 6.25 dollars. I'm not rich, but that's not going to prevent food from hitting the table. And I can always use that fabric to build a "test" something or other, like the hammock with integral SPE "wing" pockets I have been considering.

Jonas

hammock engineer

11-08-2006, 08:40

Ripstop nylon is made up of tiny squares in the fabric. If you look at it and there are no squares, it is something else. I don't think I would make my finished hammock out of non-ripstop nylon. FYI someone else can correct me if I am wrong (I am still a newbie at sewing) but I do not think that any other material has the same square pattern as ripstop has. So that is the easiest way to eleminate cotton, poly, or other materials.

Grinder

11-08-2006, 10:54

Hammock Engineer,

Thanks for the clarification on Ripstop.

It turns out, none of my equipment is ripstop. To get educated, I Image Googled "ripstop". As you said, the square grid of reinforcing fibers is clear to see in the "real McCoy"

Neither my purchased Byer Mosquito Hammock nor the one I made from "WalMart bargain bin mystery fiber" are ripstop. I'm pretty sure the mystery fiber is Nylon though.

I slept in it three hours last night. Now have to rewhip it a few times to get the sag I want.

Fun! Fun! Fun!

Thanks
Tom

Frolicking Dinosaurs

11-08-2006, 11:13

There is such a thing as polyester rip-stop (http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50515232/Polyester_Ripstop_Fabrics.jpg), but it looks different than nylon rip-stop (http://www.hisupplier.com/userImages/hantron/hantron$122916354.jpg). Note the closer weave in nylon.

hammock engineer

11-08-2006, 14:11

No problem.

The other stuff may work. I just prefer the ripstop. My HH is not made from ripstop. For what it's worth in my short sewing adventure I also had ripstop rip all the way across. It already had a hole started though.

Just Jeff

11-08-2006, 14:19

I've ripped ripstop all the way across, too - dropped me on my bum. Ripstop is good for keeping small rips from growing, but with the weights a hammock puts on them even a small hole can quickly rip across. (Like before you have a chance to jump out!)

FWIW, they also make cotton ripstop. My camo uniforms (BDUs) are made from it. Supposed to be going to synthetics sometime soon, but the AF hasn't changed yet.

Dingus Khan

12-14-2006, 11:27

Any way to test or identify sil vs ripstop in-store? shiny side vs non shiny side?

Frolicking Dinosaurs

12-14-2006, 12:26

Dingus Khan - sil-nylon looks and feels much different than regular rip-stop. Go to an outfitter and look at tents made with it and you will be able to tell.

johnny quest

12-14-2006, 17:13

Jonas4321

12-17-2006, 12:08

i went to my walmart yesterday and found had a roll of gray dollar material that im sure is silnylon. at least i think im sure. its almost impossible to hold. when the lady was cutting 4 yards off for me it was going all over the place. gorgeous gray. if anyone wants some i can go back and buy more. you pay the dollar back and shipping.

Johnny Quest-

If you have a chance to go back and get more, I need 8 yards or more. I will buy everything they have if it's silnylon (it will be very shiny on both sides, extremely slippery and be kind of 'crinkly'). I'll happily pay for you to ship it to me:banana.

Thanks.

Jonas

ozarkjeep

12-28-2006, 16:58

Ive found that supplex fabric almost everytime ive gone, sage green, grey greeen, and a brown/rust color.

Ive been buying it to use for non-waterproof things, and just figured out what it was today I think.

I had posted it before, here
http://www.practicalbackpacking.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1172&page=2

and was told it was cotton, but I burn tested it, and it melts away and smells terrible, I presume its nylon.

also, ive been finding, polyester ripstop there, grey and green, and in a digital camo pattern today

recently also some clay colored heavy weight DWR coated ripstop.

Pringles

12-28-2006, 21:25

Hmmm. No wonder Walmart is thinking about closing their sewing departments. Whiteblaze members are converging there to fondle, breathe through and burn their fabric. ;) It probably has management a little scared.

Beth

tiamalle

12-29-2006, 01:27

rafe

12-29-2006, 01:37

I'm with you Dino,I hate Wally World:dance here is how I feel when I have to go in with the wife :datz

I'm with both of you. Costco, fine. Wal-Mart, no way. I wish more folks understood the issues at stake here. Those "every day low prices" are costing folks far more than they realize.

stumpknocker

12-29-2006, 08:08

I wish there was a Super Wal-Mart closer to me. I would grocery shop there all the time. They are one of the few grocery stores that don't use those VIP cards to shop with.

hammock engineer

12-29-2006, 12:54

I only go to Walmart for the fabric. I think that if they realized that they were $4 cheaper than everywhere else, they would raise their price on it until they were $.50 cheaper than everywhere else.