How to remove odors from a hat?

[Allenworsham]

I have 2 felt fedoras in good shape from the late 1940's to early 1950's that belonged to my Grandfather who passed in 1959. They had been stored in a hat box since his death up in a garage. The box got a bit of water damage to it and the hats have strong musty smell, but there is no mold, mildew, rot or bug issues and the felt is clean. I have taken the hats in and have had them steamed and shaped as well as replacing the ribbon on one of them.

I have read online a number of suggestions which included just letting them air in the sun, spraying with Frebreeze, spraying them with White Vinegar, put the hat in a sealed tub with Baking Soda or Cat Litter or Activated Charcoal, and the most aggressive one was to soak the hat in Naptha/Coleman Fuel. Now the hats are in good condition apart from the musty smell and the felt is completely clean so no grime or crud in the felt. I have tried airing out the hats for awhile as well as trying the hats in a sealed tub with baking soda. I have also tried spraying them with some white vinegar and some Febreeze, but the hats smell musty Febreeze. I saw a couple of videos online of people dunking and swishing some dirty hats in Naptha/Coleman Fuel which cleaned the hats pretty good, but my hats are clean with no grime and crud on them and I am very concerned with the ribbons on these hats as one ribbon is an original silk wrap that is flimsy already.

So any help or suggestions with this would be much appreciated.

These are the 2 felt hats

 

[Guardian Enzo]

You might want to try putting the hats in a sealed bag with an unsealed container of coffee grounds. Coffee is an amazing odor absorber.

 

[theoldnorthwest]

I put mine in one of my hat boxes along with an open bag of coffee grounds, works great if you don't mind your hat smelling like coffee.

 

[tommyK]

Newspaper can help too. Wrap them in newspaper and seal them in a garbage bag full of more newspaper for a week or two. an open box of baking soda couldn't hurt as well.

 

[-30-]

A large garbage bag enclosing each hat with sufficient new newsprint within and without; wait three days; enjoy.

As far as the hatbox is concerned, re water damage/deforming, the use of more (warm) water to make the cardstock

become clay-like to allow the reforming of same by hand. The water can be administered with the aid of a spray bottle;

sponge; or towel, applied to selected areas; the rapid drying of which to be by the use of a hair dryer, after which,

the above "de-odourising", should apply.

Regards,
J T

 

[Stanley Doble]

You might want to try putting the hats in a sealed bag with an unsealed container of coffee grounds. Coffee is an amazing odor absorber.

Is that how the Wide awake hat was invented? Ha ha ha

 

[WesternHatWearer]

To be honest, you may not see any mold or mildew but your culprit is more than likely microscopic mold or mold spores.
A major key to removing this mold-ish odor will be to remove the hats out of moisture filled environments and moisture filled storage containers. I would suggest new hat boxes to store these hats in along with placing the hats and boxes in a drier room. I would also recommend placing a desiccant packet (such as those used in firearm safes or firearm cases) within the boxes you store these hats in.

You may also wish to clean these again by one of the following methods:

1. A solution for cleaning color clothe/materials: Mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of a powdered non-chlorine bleach containing sodium perbo- rate or potassium monopersulfate with one pint of water. Use the water temperature recommended for the fabric or color. Sponge or soak the stain. Let stand 30 minutes or longer, then rinse well. Old stains may need to soak over- night. From: http://www.clemson.edu/psapublishing/pages/FYD/HEL73.pdf and http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/HE/HE63300.pdf

2. Using Fel-Naptha Laundry bar to scrub the hats with and then set to dry at room temperature. Taken from: http://www.city-data.com/forum/house/1559332-moldy-smell-wool-hat-2.html

3. You may seek to use a commercial mold removal agent such as Microban Disinfectant Mold Killer. Info about Microban may be found at http://www.jondon.com/chemicals/microban.html

It is essential to keep these hat from any moisture once you have cleaned them otherwise the problem will continue.
You may also add cedar, baking soda, coffee, newspaper or even sliced apples to your hat boxes to help absorb odor, but the problem must be treated in the hat and moisture must be minimized to prevent further complications.

Here is a like FEMA's directions for dealing with mold: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/rebuild/recover/fema_mold_brochure_english.pdf

 

[g.durand]

I've found the naphtha or Coleman fuel bath doesn't remove odors, although it probably kills bacteria that may be a contributing factor. I use a diluted white vinegar solution on the sweatband where the musty smell sometimes seems to be the strongest, but that doesn't get rid of the odors completely. Then I expose the hat top and bottom, inside and out, to several hours in the sun, finally letting it sit in the open on a hat tree at room temperature in a dry, well ventilated environment for eight or nine months. After that, the musty, mildew smell is just about gone.

It may just be the airing out over time is the thing that does the trick.

 

[gtdean48]

I store my good lids with cedar disk or packets, whatever they sell at Wally-world in the closet section.
Keeps moths away & gives cedar aroma to the hats....
I've removed heavy pipe smoke smell with newspaper in the bag trick already explained.

 

[suitedcboy]

Is there a way any of you have gotten the old hatbox smell out? I have a couple of hats that I can't detect any bad odors but the hat has the odor of the hatbox cardboard. Newspaper for 3 weeks seem to only add a faint aroma of the print ink w/o getting the old cardboard odor out.

 

[beetleything]

Johnsons baby powder.

Sprinkle - leave for a little while and then brush off.

Soft as a baby's bum and twice as fresh.

 

[Fed in a Fedora]

When I asked this same question, I was advised to use some baking soda sprinkled in a plastic bag. Close it up with the hat inside for a few days. This cleaned up a smelly hat within a few days quite nicely.

Fed

 

[Bertie.Wooster]

Well, other obsession of boaters have brought me other obsession. Now it is British school woollen caps.

I acquired one quite cheaply off a classified website and it has that musty attic smell. I have tried to wash it in mild dish detergent or foam soap in lukewarm water multiple times but the smell doesn't go away......

Any suggestions? My mother says drop it off at the drycleaners but I want to try my own way first.

There also is a white patch in the middle with the logo, which seems to be white fabric? It is quite stained so I am wondering how I could clean one.

If you are not sure what type of hat I am talking about it is the photo below.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151433546@N06/35025609562/in/album-72157681897579973/

 

[Hurricane Jack]

Place the cap in a box with one of those static cling dryer sheets & close it up. Leave it closed up for a few days, place the box outside in direct sunlight if you can. Static cling dryer sheets are great for removing odors & heat from sunlight seems to help even more.

Sorry, can't offer any advice on the patch.

 

[facade]

For some reason this thread made me think of the german's attempt to match the killer joke;

My dog's got no nose!

 

[art_deco_fan]

Hello fellow loungers, fire has recently claimed part of our home, including some of my most prized hats. That being said, for those that did survive, how do I deal with the smoke damage? I remember a mention on a thread a while back about the use of naphtha for cleaning. Any info for cleaning the smell and in some cases soot and tarry nonsense would be much appreciated.

 

[Bamaboots]

Hello fellow loungers, fire has recently claimed part of our home, including some of my most prized hats. That being said, for those that did survive, how do I deal with the smoke damage? I remember a mention on a thread a while back about the use of naphtha for cleaning. Any info for cleaning the smell and in some cases soot and tarry nonsense would be much appreciated.

Very sorry about the fire and your losses. Hope that your only losses were material. Naphtha cleaning should help you out. There are a lot of different threads here in that regard. Most of us use camp stove fuel as it's much less expensive than what's available in the paint and supply areas of the box stores.

Google naphtha cleaning, ending your query with fedora lounge and a bunch of info will show up.

 

[art_deco_fan]

Thank you for the confirmation, does this apply to straws as well?

 

[Bamaboots]

Thank you for the confirmation, does this apply to straws as well?

Whew! I have no experience cleaning my straws other than with a damp clothsponge using a mix of vinegar and distilled water. I would imagine any soaking of a straw would require a re-block. Seems there is some information somewhere on the lounge about oxalic acid being used to clean straws but I have no experience with this.

 

[Frunobulax]

Hopefully, a naphtha bath and a good airing will restore your hats. As a random thought, though, give ServPro a call and see if they'll part with any advice.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.