how do i remove residue from steel wool?

I was rounding the fret ends on my one piece maple neck and after using the steel wool on a few, I noticed some grey residue left from the 0000 steel wool I used. What is that residue & how do I remove it?

Roll some masking tape up sticky side out and touch it to the steel wool pieces or use a strong magnet.

I saw this in a woodworking magazine. Using a strong magnet, as Mike said, put the magnet in a ziplock bag, go over the project to capture the micro steel particles then hold the baggie in a garbage bag & remove the magnet, discarding the baggie with the particles. Works great & the magnet stays clean.

I was rounding the fret ends on my one piece maple neck and after using the steel wool on a few, I noticed some grey residue left from the 0000 steel wool I used. What is that residue & how do I remove it?

I'm not sure what you mean by 'residue'. If you mean small bits of steel wool strands then I usually just vacum them up and it works just fine. I also like the magnet in a bag trick mentioned above. I'll try that one some day.

If residue means the wool has left an actual stain (rather than small strands) then I would try using naptha to wipe it off because it's likely a fine oil type residue that was on the wool from manufacturing. If it is a 'stain' then I would consider finding better quality steel wool. All wools are not of equal quality.

I 1st use magnet
then maskng tape

Magnet

http://www.tonywatkinsmusic.com/gallery/albums/userpics/normal_tru04.jpg

The residue is sort of like a powdery substance sort of like graphite, and it's certainly not the individual tiny metal strands from the wool since I've huffed and puffed them off the neck. Maybe naptha is the answer if the magnet trick doesn't fix it. The other suggestion about getting better wool makes sense so I'll get some. How do I know if some wool is better than other wool?

Use magnet as suggested......it'll suck up those hairs.......Your also probally getting some funk off the frets.......Use Naptha, keep on truckin.

why not just get another piece of steel wool? a bag of 0000 is pretty cheap....:roll: