A cautionary tale...

[Baron Kurtz]

horrors.

This why i've never even tried to clean a hat in liquid.

bk

 

[EricH]

I second all the other emotions expressed here. Perhaps it is time to pull out the dye and "go all the way" with the stain. Good guys wear black sometimes.

 

[MrPumpernickel]

Yikes! That's like a train wreck, just...can't...look...away...

 

[DanielJones]

Be sure to keep us posted on Steve's results as well. A lesson learned by all.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[BellyTank]

...next time.

I bid on that hat on eBay.co.uk last year.

Shouldn't one remove the ribbon/s and sweatband before bathing in a solvent?
I would have thought that in a solvent, it would be possible for colour from the sweatband leather to transfer to the felt.

Bugger!

B
T

 

[Hondo]

*shudder*

Give me a double shot of bourbon!!!!

 

[Jerekson]

...goodness gracious me...

 

[Davidson]

Less disastrous, but happened to me today!

I just took possession of a not-so-special 3X OR, nevertheless my first OR, so a bit special to me. It seems there is always some dirt around the old cattleman crease, so it went in the naphtha first. No problem. It's no so vintage, so it was a bit stiff, so I put it in the alcohol next. Wasn't 30 seconds, stuff (brown bits and clouds the color of the sweatband) start showing up

Frantic work to rescue it worked fairly well, although some touch up is still needed. In this case the culprit was the plastic or rubber coating they put on the cloth part of the sweatband (the bit that is sewn to the felt. The stuff was soluble in alcohol. Oh yeah, one of the other of these two tends to take off the lettering on the sweat too. Like, partially in this case, the Open Road lettering

I'm starting to think soaking in either of these two chemicals without first removing the sweatband is a false economy, in either time or money, at leastfor me, others will have their own experiences.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Oh, my Lord. I can only imagine how gutted you must be over this. I tried my first hat dip (on a Stetson black homburg I obtained for about $11) last week. The felt and ribbon came out nicely, but there wasn't much improvement in the liner. I guess I need to go the Woolite route with it. I was practicing as I have a stingy brim that belongs to my brother-in-law that I offered to clean up for him. It was his fathers and is pretty grungy. I've been working on converting Dennis to hats; even bought one for him on eBay to get him hooked!

Thanks for posting the hard-learned lesson, and do let us know the ending.

Condolences,
Tom

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

So very sorry Rick. That must have been the ultimate of a buzz-buster. I am so bummed for you.

 

[DanielJones]

Bump...

Did you ever get this hat restored? Just curious.[huh]

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Rick Blaine]

Not yet, I sent it to our friend (Mr. Steve Delk, lately missed 'round here) in Mississippi right before his Adventurebilt Hat Co. got the call to do the lids for the Indy 4 movie. So I understand he may have been busy with other things. I have to motor down to Baton Rouge in a few weeks & was thinking about contacting him to see if I might pay a call on the way.

 

[Rick Blaine]

... never heard from Delk nor saw the hat again...que sera.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Man Rick that hat did not take well to cleaning
I always send my hats out to pros they are all to
valuable to me. I would be to nervous to do that
To one of my 40's Mallory's

 

[T Rick]

Well thanks for posting the link (in the other thread) to this story Rick, it was a learning experience for myself and I'm sure other noobs (as I'm sure it was back over 3 years ago when this happened). Sorry to hear it never returned, that leads in to a whole other area we probably don't want to delve into in the thread (plenty to read about Steve and his situation in other threads). Shame such a nice hat hat such a disappointing end.

 

[Rick Blaine]

H2o under the bridge

I doubt anyone could have resurrected that poor thing. I regret never having never had the chance to replace it with another Spanish Stetson, but who knows, eh?

But I must say it was my first & only naptha disaster (knock wood) and I have dunked dozens.