Somewhere in the stuff I inherited from my father, there is an original wiping cloth, used when "wiping a joint". The 'traditional' wiping cloths were made of blue striped mattress 'ticking', a heavy cotton fabric, and were coated by the plumbers with tallow- as noted by Greenwud.
Dad worked for the City of NY as a construction inspector, and had been a journeyman plumber before WWII. He knew the 'old ways'- calking and running joints on cast iron soil pipe, and lead work done on lead water service pipes. He taught me a bit of this kind of work when I was a kid. Dad, as well as an uncle of mine who was a licensed master plumber, told me that in a pinch they would use folded up newspaper as a wiping cloth.
The houses in the neighborhood I grew up in all had steam heat. As time went on , people's radiators would start really knocking during the heating seasons. This was due to a combination of piping moving relative to the house structure (or vice-versa), or wood flooring and framing moving and "settling" under the radiators. There was a licensed plumber on our block, but he and his family were real SOB's, no one anyone wanted to have much to do with. Dad, being a good hearted man and known as someone who could solve most problems, was the 'go to' guy. We'd get a call from one of the neighbors that their radiators were knocking. This was due to trapped condensate in the radiators, which the steam would push ahead when it entered the radiators. The slugs of condensate would hit the cast iron sections of the radiator with considerable force and it could wake up an entire household. Dad would have me come along to help him. The first thing was to get a potato sack or similar burlap sack and put our tools and supplies into it. This was to avoid being seen by the plumber- who lived across the street from us- as carrying plumber's tools. He would have called a complaint in to my father's employer, the NYC Department of Buildings. In the sack we put the usual pipe wrenches, a cheater pipe, a 'spud' for removing the 'tailpieces' of the radiator valves ( a brass half union with male threaded tail which made up to the outlet of the radiator valves). We always took a short crowbar, wood shims, Hercules pipe dope, and a ball of wicking. We also took an ice pick (for cleaning old dope and wicking out of threads), and a level (to establish a good pitch on the radiator). We sometimes took along some additional pipe nipples, and maybe a union or coupling or two.
We would 'break the joints' and get the radiator loose, then tip it up and drain the condensate into a pan. After that, it was a game to re-set the radiator with a good pitch on it. Since we'd 'broken the joints', Dad always had me clean the pipe threads with the ice pick, and then we'd go back together with fine wicking and pipe dope. To be sure, Dad would put some pipe dope on the male cone of the half-union on the radiator valve and lay a neat ring of wicking in the dope. He'd then put a coat of pipe dope on the female cone on the radiator valve. We'd shim the radiators to get a good pitch using pieces of cedar shakes, or thin pieces of 1/4" plywood. Another thing we did was to check the packing nuts on the radiator valves, snugging them if they needed it.
Breaking the joints to start the job was always fun. Dad would use two wrenches, one being what he called a 'hold back', and put cheater pipes on them if things did not break with just the leverage of the wrenches themselves. Going back together, Dad did not use the cheater pipes, just drew things up with the pipe wrenches. If there was a leak, the neighbors would call and we'd come back with the cheater pipes.
No money was offered nor expected for doing this work, as neighbors took care of each other. I was always a proud kid to be helping on these jobs. Dad was a great teacher of a lot more than basic skills at things like plumbing, electrical or carpentry work. Dad was a great believer in the use of wicking and pipe dope but he was careful and sparing in how he applied them. I learned a little lead work from my father, mainly soldering with a copper. The main service pipe into our house (a 4 family) was soft lead, dating to the 1920's. It had a brass ferrule 'let in' to the end where it connected to the house service pipe ( 1 1/4" galvanized as I recall). Dad did show me some lead work on a chunk of lead pipe and let me try my hand it wiping a joint.
My uncle (Dad's brother in law) was a licensed master plumber and WWI veteran. He was given to strong opinions and boasting, and was one of those plumbers who believed brute strength was an essential for becoming a plumber ahead of brains and skill. I was maybe 14 or thereabouts, and Dad got tired of this guy's boasts and carryings on at family gatherings. Dad wanted me to go take the plumber's licensing exam, even though I was underage and had no time served 'with the tools' as an apprentice of helper- all or which were required. The exam had a written portion as well as practical, which, in those days, consisted of making up cast iron soil pipe (running a couple of joints on 3" soil pipe), letting in a ferrule on soft lead pipe, and making up screwed piping for water and gas. Dad was sure I'd pass the plumber's licensing exam, and I was game to take it. Whether Dad ever investigated that possibility for me or not is something I never knew. I remember Dad telling his brother-in-law: "Joe could pass the master plumber's licensing exam right now" and watching his brother in law start to bluster, curse, and sputter. Great times back then, when a plumber was a plumber. No PVC pipe, copper had to be sweated using silver brazing if used in YC limits, and PEX was not even a figment of anyone's imagination. Now, it seems like anyone can do half-assed plumbing with PEX and 'Shark Bite' fittings.
I am a traditionalist, and refuse to use PEX for anything in my own house. It's copper piping with neatly sweated joints for potable cold, hot and heating system water, screwed black iron for propane and larger diameter hydronic heating service piping, and rigid PVC for waste disposal (with return loop venting), rigid PVC condensate drainage from the A/C evaporators. Screwed black iron for compressed air service piping. Proper pitch and pipe hangers on all of it. Swagelok fittings and neat bending on any tubing run for compressed air or gauge lines. Anytime I make up piping, I hear my old man, and make sure the piping is well run. Dad used to tell me good piping, properly run, should look 'like it grew there'. Dad loved getting onto powerplant jobsites with me and seeing the piping and the work I was doing. Stuff beyond his wildest imagination when he saw schedule 160 chrome moly pipe with welded joints, and runs of instrument tubing neatly run with Swagelok fittings.