Swarf

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

Swarf (swɔːf):
origin: Scandinavian (Old Norse), svarf = mentallic dust
One of those words that sounds fake, but isn't.

noun
Metal shavings accumulated from the use of (often mechanical) cutting tools.


source: regarding using them as functional art

Comments

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

Is that what the soap stuff, swarfiga or whatever it was called, was for? I used to use it in art college to get paint off my hands, but more often I just lazily used white spirits.

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

Interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarfega

the name comes from "swarf", being the old engineering term for oil and grease, and "-ega", as in "eager to clean".

This may be a bit confusing, as "swarf" now commonly refers to the metal shavings and chips resulting from metalworking operations.