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[Zombie_61]

Does anyone have a recommendation for another photo sharing site. Tapatalk says the problem is an outdated plugin at fedora lounge. Tried Flickr to no avail.

After the big Photobucket debacle of 2017 I moved to Imgur. There was a very minor learning curve involved in learning how to embed photos on forums like this, but so far Imgur is faster and easier to use than Photobucket ever was.

 

[Desert dog]

Thank you.

After the big Photobucket debacle of 2017 I moved to Imgur. There was a very minor learning curve involved in learning how to embed photos on forums like this, but so far Imgur is faster and easier to use than Photobucket ever was.

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[MWoolley]

This is an interesting hat, a definite keeper! Barrister is an odd brand, probably a "jobber" brand made in Danbury CT in the late 1950s. We have seen some of these made by the big companies for sale as entry level hats sold in department stores. The store name on the price tag is probably no help without a city/state on it. I'd spiff it up and keep it as a conversation hat. Is it your size?

Thanks for all the info that's what I was looking for. It's a 7 3/8 but is a little big but still fits.

 

[drmaxtejeda]

Naptha doesn't smell like gasoline. It smells like (and probably is) dry cleaning fluid.

View attachment 135538

I bought "gasolina blanca", as they call it in Mexico. It cleaned the hats very well, costs about half of the price of Nafta, is easier to obtain, and the smell dissipates faster.

I already cleaned five hats. I left each one in for an hour, but some small stains remain. I also left one overnight, to see if that will make a difference, but I just took it out and it is still wet.

Curiously, the small bumps and ondulations in some of the hats seem to have diminished in size and frequency.

The old beater I used as a test subject is an old beater no more, because I took it to my hat repair guy, who sewed the liner back in and reblocked it, along with five other hats. Now it looks like a brand-new dobbs stingy, although the sweatband is still stiff and cracked.

By the way, Jim, I wish I had told you I was going to steam the sweats on some of the vintage hats before I did it. Now the leather is all cracked, just like you said it would be. It is a mistake I will not repeat.
Amazing how the original felt is still there, though, underneath all the gunk and wrinkles.

Does anyone know how to get sweat stains out of a ribbon? Those didn't even diminish on the hat that has them. My wife says she has a special cleaning liquid that will do the job. If successful, I will post a picture.

I will steam the clean hats again to see if that will make a further improvement on the felt, remembering to keep it away from the sweatbands. :/

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[Tukwila]

I have not had good luck with ribbons and liners. White Gas doesn't clean them as well as it does felt, and other things I've tried (like laundry detergent and OxiClean) faded out the colored printing on liners and faded the ribbons.

 

[scottyrocks]

I bought "gasolina blanca", as they call it in Mexico. It cleaned the hats very well, costs about half of the price of Nafta, is easier to obtain, and the smell dissipates faster.

I already cleaned five hats. I left each one in for an hour, but some small stains remain. I also left one overnight, to see if that will make a difference, but I just took it out and it is still wet.

Yes, white gas is what I would call lighter fluid. Use it in my Zippo. Never thought to clean a hat with it, though.

 

[drmaxtejeda]

Yes, white gas is what I would call lighter fluid. Use it in my Zippo. Never thought to clean a hat with it, though.

Eric cleans his with white gas.

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[deadlyhandsome]

Yes, white gas is what I would call lighter fluid. Use it in my Zippo. Never thought to clean a hat with it, though.

It’s just a volatile solvent that can be used for several applications. It’s a life saver when you get grease on a light colored hat. It still scares me when I use it.


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[Tukwila]

Eric cleans his with white gas.

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It's what we all use, and it really does rejuvenate the felt. Naphtha/white gas has been used for many decades in the dry cleaning industry and in cleaning hats.

The only difference I've seen when hatters clean a hat is that some take the hat apart first and then reinstall the sweatband and ribbons after cleaning the felt with the white gas/naphtha.

I balance the need to clean the felt versus the apparent drying out effect, or stripping of oils, the white gas has on the leather sweat. I've seen no problem with ribbons or size tags.

 

[drmaxtejeda]

It's what we all use, and it really does rejuvenate the felt. Naphtha/white gas has been used for many decades in the dry cleaning industry and in cleaning hats.

The only difference I've seen when hatters clean a hat is that some take the hat apart first and then reinstall the sweatband and ribbons after cleaning the felt with the white gas/naphtha.

I balance the need to clean the felt versus the apparent drying out effect, or stripping of oils, the white gas has on the leather sweat. I've seen no problem with ribbons or size tags.

Is it only white gas that dries out the leather in the sweat, or does Naphta dry it out also? And would rubbing the leather in the sweat with honey leather conditioner remedy the drying out?

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[Tukwila]

Is it only white gas that dries out the leather in the sweat, or does Naphta dry it out also? And would rubbing the leather in the sweat with honey leather conditioner remedy the drying out?

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Here in the U.S., naphtha and white gas are the same thing.

Some suggest treating the sweat with leather conditioner both before and after the gas bath. I have done this and see no protective result in applying it beforehand. I do apply a small amount of conditioner after the hat is dry. I used to use Lexol, but now use the antique leather conditioner made by Pecard.

Lexol appears to be water-based, while the Pecard Antique conditioner is wax/oil/grease based and it takes less product and also takes a lot more time to soak into the leather without leaving an oily residue. But I find it safer to use after I had a seemingly good sweat in a late 50's Royal Stetson shrivel up and deteriorate after using Lexol on it.

I also generally do not apply the conditioner to both sides of the sweat. I only apply it to the finished side of the leather that contacts your head when wearing the hat.

 

[drmaxtejeda]

Here in the U.S., naphtha and white gas are the same thing.

Some suggest treating the sweat with leather conditioner both before and after the gas bath. I have done this and see no protective result in applying it beforehand. I do apply a small amount of conditioner after the hat is dry. I used to use Lexol, but now use the antique leather conditioner made by Pecard.

Lexol appears to be water-based, while the Pecard Antique conditioner is wax/oil/grease based and it takes less product and also takes a lot more time to soak into the leather without leaving an oily residue. But I find it safer to use after I had a seemingly good sweat in a late 50's Royal Stetson shrivel up and deteriorate after using Lexol on it.

I also generally do not apply the conditioner to both sides of the sweat. I only apply it to the finished side of the leather that contacts your head when wearing the hat.

Wow. Very useful information, Doug. I have to clean a lot of hats. It is repugnant how much crud comes out of them. Dirt, but also a brown oily stuff that sinks to the bottom of the tub. It looks like globs of grease, but instead of floating, it sinks.
Thank you for taking the time to answer.

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[Tukwila]

Wow. Very useful information, Doug. I have to clean a lot of hats. It is repugnant how much crud comes out of them. Dirt, but also a brown oily stuff that sinks to the bottom of the tub. It looks like globs of grease, but instead of floating, it sinks.
Thank you for taking the time to answer.

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No problem, Max. I gleaned all of this from information here and by cleaning about 10 hats over the past couple of years.

Yes, there is often detritus left at the bottom of the tub when you clean dirty hats. Dirt, grease, oils, salts from sweat, hair, skin cells, etc, etc, etc, can all be cleaned from a hat.

I am not a super clean freak about this, and I balance the need to clean versus my desire to keep the hat as close to original as possible. I only clean if the hat is really dirty, has stains I can't live with, and/or the felt is wonky because of being dirty, squashed and what I call over-creased to what I want from the hat.

When I cleaned my daughter's Knox Tom n Jerry, it really wasn't that dirty, but it had stains she wanted out. I wouldn't have cleaned it if it were my personal hat. And then I messed up and used a mixture of OxiClean and water that was MUCH too strong and it left a worse, white stain from the mixture. But hardly any dirt or detritus was found in the tub of white gas after cleaning and I funneled it back into the gas can without filtering.

 

[drmaxtejeda]

No problem, Max. I gleaned all of this from information here and by cleaning about 10 hats over the past couple of years.

Yes, there is often detritus left at the bottom of the tub when you clean dirty hats. Dirt, grease, oils, salts from sweat, hair, skin cells, etc, etc, etc, can all be cleaned from a hat.

I am not a super clean freak about this, and I balance the need to clean versus my desire to keep the hat as close to original as possible. I only clean if the hat is really dirty, has stains I can't live with, and/or the felt is wonky because of being dirty, squashed and what I call over-creased to what I want from the hat.

When I cleaned my daughter's Knox Tom n Jerry, it really wasn't that dirty, but it had stains she wanted out. I wouldn't have cleaned it if it were my personal hat. And then I messed up and used a mixture of OxiClean and water that was MUCH too strong and it left a worse, white stain from the mixture. But hardly any dirt or detritus was found in the tub of white gas after cleaning and I funneled it back into the gas can without filtering.

I have to find a better way to filter it back than the coffee filters.
My compadre (my son's godfather) owns a car-part store. I will ask him.

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[AbbaDatDeHat]

Here in the U.S., naphtha and white gas are the same thing.

Some suggest treating the sweat with leather conditioner both before and after the gas bath. I have done this and see no protective result in applying it beforehand. I do apply a small amount of conditioner after the hat is dry. I used to use Lexol, but now use the antique leather conditioner made by Pecard.

Lexol appears to be water-based, while the Pecard Antique conditioner is wax/oil/grease based and it takes less product and also takes a lot more time to soak into the leather without leaving an oily residue. But I find it safer to use after I had a seemingly good sweat in a late 50's Royal Stetson shrivel up and deteriorate after using Lexol on it.

I also generally do not apply the conditioner to both sides of the sweat. I only apply it to the finished side of the leather that contacts your head when wearing the hat.

I totally stoped using Lexol on sweats when i read of your seemingly good sweatband disentigrate after conditioning in an older thread.
I use Pecard Antique Leather Dressing on all my sweatbands and ALL my (i’ll say it) vintage leather jackets. Eeek!!
It has brought back to life some unbelievably shot looking jackets.
Also, i now use, on those special sweatbands, Pure Anhydrous Lanolin used by breast feeding mothers for chapped..err...nipples. $9 for 1.4oz tubes Walmart baby section.
B

 

[Tukwila]

I totally stoped using Lexol on sweats when i read of your seemingly good sweatband disentigrate after conditioning in an older thread.
I use Pecard Antique Leather Dressing on all my sweatbands and ALL my (i’ll say it) vintage leather jackets. Eeek!!
It has brought back to life some unbelievably shot looking jackets.
Also, i now use, on those special sweatbands, Pure Anhydrous Lanolin used by breast feeding mothers for chapped..err...nipples. $9 for 1.4oz tubes Walmart baby section.
B

Pecard makes other leather conditioners, too, and I have a regular oil/grease/wax conditioner from them as well as some stuff that is similar to Lexol. IMO, the water based stuff is meant for finished leather like my dyed and shiny leather jacket.

Just as an FYI to FL members, the Pecard leather conditioner I use WILL DARKEN untreated leather. So if you apply it to the backside of a leather sweatband, it will soak in and turn it dark. I have only used it on one untreated backside of a leather sweatband, the aforementioned 50's Royal Stetson.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Pecard makes other leather conditioners, too, and I have a regular oil/grease/wax conditioner from them as well as some stuff that is similar to Lexol. IMO, the water based stuff is meant for finished leather like my dyed and shiny leather jacket.

Just as an FYI to FL members, the Pecard leather conditioner I use WILL DARKEN untreated leather. So if you apply it to the backside of a leather sweatband, it will soak in and turn it dark. I have only used it on one untreated backside of a leather sweatband, the aforementioned 50's Royal Stetson.

Thanks Doug. Yes Pecards will darken all leather as it is absorbed. With time the leather will return to a very slightly darker shade. I have used it on all manner of boots and jackets. At first they are dark and “greasy” for about 72 hrs then the greasiness leaves. I used it on a 45 yr old natural (undyed unfinished) light tan jacket i bought new. It looked several shades darker at first then returned to lovely in a short time.
There’s a lot to leather restoration and those jacket guys know the ropes.
I’ve treated the front and back of sweatbands with the Pecards just testing.
I doubt i’ll do the backsides anymore, it’s hard to work it in and then you have to worry about possible bleeding onto the liner etc.
B
Ps: the Smithsonian uses Pecards...so...

 

[scottyrocks]

It’s just a volatile solvent that can be used for several applications. It’s a life saver when you get grease on a light colored hat. It still scares me when I use it.

Good to know.

I got axle grease on my tawny fawn Fed IV. Got it completely off with little effort using naptha on a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

So we have options!

 

[drmaxtejeda]

I totally stoped using Lexol on sweats when i read of your seemingly good sweatband disentigrate after conditioning in an older thread.
I use Pecard Antique Leather Dressing on all my sweatbands and ALL my (i’ll say it) vintage leather jackets. Eeek!!
It has brought back to life some unbelievably shot looking jackets.
Also, i now use, on those special sweatbands, Pure Anhydrous Lanolin used by breast feeding mothers for chapped..err...nipples. $9 for 1.4oz tubes Walmart baby section.
B

Both ordered from Amazon. Oh, my poor brother in law.

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[Rockwater]

Thanks Doug. Yes Pecards will darken all leather as it is absorbed. With time the leather will return to a very slightly darker shade. I have used it on all manner of boots and jackets. At first they are dark and “greasy” for about 72 hrs then the greasiness leaves. I used it on a 45 yr old natural (undyed unfinished) light tan jacket i bought new. It looked several shades darker at first then returned to lovely in a short time.
There’s a lot to leather restoration and those jacket guys know the ropes.
I’ve treated the front and back of sweatbands with the Pecards just testing.
I doubt i’ll do the backsides anymore, it’s hard to work it in and then you have to worry about possible bleeding onto the liner etc.
B
Ps: the Smithsonian uses Pecards...so...

Hey Bowen, I have treated the backside of sweats without bleeding into the felt by placing sections of paper towel between. A bit of wax paper or a cling wrap behind the paper would be double protection.