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Oh, I see our friend Fig went back and deleted the thread wherein he laid out his experience. Without that post, my above post might leave one scratching his or her head.
Yes.
I was asking because I have seen reference to soaking hats in kerosene or naptha? lighter fluid? to remove (what I am guessing) is the black matted fur (oil/dirt/dust/etc) stains from hats. ie: where you pinch the crown, or grab the brim, or however you manage your hats over the years.
If you "restore" not "renovate" a hat - properly - with experience - and proper equipment (good steam not Jiffy) than no chemicals are ever needed - and it is simply a shortcut & a gimmick. Besides, I cant imagine an organic material like fur to ever respond well in the long run to a caustic solvent.
So yes, that is my wonder - and my question is just to ascertain validity.
Soaking a hat in Naptha is akin to taking your business suit to the dry cleaners. The Naptha (or white gas) is an excellent solvent to remove the dirt and oils from the felt. The hat generally is stripped of the liner, ribbon, and sweatband as those obviously do not enjoy a soak in such solvent, particularly the leather. The hat is gently scrubbed and then removed and placed on a "hat spinner" which as the name implies, spins the solvent out of the hat. This is the same process everyone knows from your standard clothes washer on spin cycle. The liquid is pulled out by centrifical force. Hat then "air dries" on a wire rack.
After cleaning, the hat needs blocking (with heat/steam) on a block and brushed as it spins...sometimes oils are used. Then the hat is flanged under the sandbag (heat) to set the brim. The "guts" are added as well, the liner, sweat, and ribbon trim. It takes a skilled craftsman to properly do this.
Using Naptha is not a bad thing. It is a solvent, and as such needs to be properly used/handled.
... Even after mercury was banned, the process still had to take place with something so, my point would be the hat is born with chemicals involved, so why the "issue" with chemicals afterward?
I am not a hatter.
I choose to restore hats with a method that I have been practicing for years.
I have done every quality and every brand of fur felt under the sun. In my experience, I have found that using a more tapered method to restoring hats with simply steam and brush tension - will allow the hat to return to the function it was built for - while preserving the finish and promoting the integrity of the fiber.
I am not dismissing other practices - I was requesting more information on this individual's process.
You "restore" hats, but you aren't a hatter.
You aren't "dismissing other practices," but you say those "practices" are "shortcuts and gimmicks."
I am not a hatter. I restore hats.
That is my opinion, not a dismissal.
As I said earlier, in response to a post you deleted, that you give us reasons not to take you seriously. The post quoted above is all the more reason. You won't even own your own words. But, you know, that's just my opinion.
As I said earlier, in response to a post you deleted, that you give us reasons not to take you seriously. The post quoted above is all the more reason. You won't even own your own words. But, you know, that's just my opinion.
I am not a hatter. I restore hats.
That is my opinion, not a dismissal.