On December 24th 2019, we ran a hot bearing in Polson 70’s tender truck at Mt. Rainier Scenic RR (photo of that evening shown). Attempts to find a replacement journal pad met dead ends and we learned that a large demand still existed for this product. I researched materials and found that undyed natural cotton demonstrates the best surface chemistry for wicking oil due to the micro and macro capillary action. With help from my wife Katie, we also dissected old pads and developed methods and materials to make our own.

Loop-tufted natual cotton on natual cotton backing is not commercially available so we made prototype pads out of reconstructed car wash mitts. However, we found the loop density and height to be too low, and the cost was too high. So we decided to make our own loop-tufted fabric, giving us full control over materials and quality. Next we located US-sourced raw materials and developed a system to tuft our own cover cloth. After months of trial an error in our basement workshop, we developed a method.

These improved prototypes went out for testing and after over 4000 miles on several pads, they still looked and functioned well, so we began making them for customers. We continue to learn new things and invest in better equipment to improve production efficiency, fit, and performance. We uphold our commitment to keep costs reasonable for organizations of all sizes and provide the best customer support possible.