STEP BY STEP NAPTHA BATH

[FedOregon]

Here are the 3 hats drying. The grey Champ at 12:00; next, going clockwise is the grey Borsalino long hair finish with undertones of emerald green; and finally, the Royal Stetson, which is grey with blue notes to it.... kind of a blue smoke? color. They're looking real clean!

.

 

[bond]

Nice set up .
Just to add my two cents to this topic . I normally only soak the dirtiest of hats in gas and only briefly to avoid any risk to damaging sweat or liners. A quick swish around with a few scrubs to the felt w a plastic scrub brush while hat is on a block(out of gas) is helpful too. An hour or so usually works. Let it air dry outside for a few hours to get rid of residual fumes.
Lastly I use cheap air filter masks to filter the gas before adding back to the can to reuse. This helps remove the dirt residuals from cleaning.


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[moontheloon]

Nice set up .
Just to add my two cents to this topic . I normally only soak the dirtiest of hats in gas and only briefly to avoid any risk to damaging sweat or liners. A quick swish around with a few scrubs to the felt w a plastic scrub brush while hat is on a block(out of gas) is helpful too. An hour or so usually works. Let it air dry outside for a few hours to get rid of residual fumes.
Lastly I use cheap air filter masks to filter the gas before adding back to the can to reuse. This helps remove the dirt residuals from cleaning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

a cheap coffee filter works nicely as well when returning the fuel to the can

 

[FedOregon]

I got a Knox 15 delivered yesterday. I brushed it out but it still had a dirty look to it and a black mark near the front crease. So at 10 pm last night I went to the only store in town that had camp fuel and got 4 gallons @ 7.87 each, and some cheap coffee filters.

First thing this morning I dumped all the white gas over the Knox and then did a light brushing with a toothbrush, and a little swishing here and there. Maybe 35 minutes total in the gas.

It took a lot longer to filter all that gas and get it back into the gas cans, hahaha.

There was quite a bit of dirt that came out of the hat, and the black mark on the front is gone now, too. And the felt is much more velvety... the color looks close to the pics I've seen of the Whiskey beaver felt Winchester puts out; maybe a little darker. The copper ribbon matches perfectly.

Before Pic of front crease and the black mark/line:

.

 

[Michael R.]

I got a Knox 15 delivered yesterday. I brushed it out but it still had a dirty look to it and a black mark near the front crease. So at 10 pm last night I went to the only store in town that had camp fuel and got 4 gallons @ 7.87 each, and some cheap coffee filters.

First thing this morning I dumped all the white gas over the Knox and then did a light brushing with a toothbrush, and a little swishing here and there. Maybe 35 minutes total in the gas.

It took a lot longer to filter all that gas and get it back into the gas cans, hahaha.

There was quite a bit of dirt that came out of the hat, and the black mark on the front is gone now, too. And the felt is much more velvety... the color looks close to the pics I've seen of the Whiskey beaver felt Winchester puts out; maybe a little darker. The copper ribbon matches perfectly.

Before Pic of front crease and the black mark/line:

.

Doug , thats a beauty ! It looks like it could be natural or maybe granite on my monitor , but yesterday it looked like Oxblood . The rust ribbon I guess made the color change . Glad the Naptha cleaned it so well . Nice Hat !

 

[Frunobulax]

I got a Knox 15 delivered yesterday. I brushed it out but it still had a dirty look to it and a black mark near the front crease. So at 10 pm last night I went to the only store in town that had camp fuel and got 4 gallons @ 7.87 each, and some cheap coffee filters.

First thing this morning I dumped all the white gas over the Knox and then did a light brushing with a toothbrush, and a little swishing here and there. Maybe 35 minutes total in the gas.

It took a lot longer to filter all that gas and get it back into the gas cans, hahaha.

There was quite a bit of dirt that came out of the hat, and the black mark on the front is gone now, too. And the felt is much more velvety... the color looks close to the pics I've seen of the Whiskey beaver felt Winchester puts out; maybe a little darker. The copper ribbon matches perfectly.
.

Looks good, Doug. And nice price on the naphtha. I usually pay $10-$12/gal.



Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[FedOregon]

Doug , thats a beauty ! It looks like it could be natural or maybe granite on my monitor , but yesterday it looked like Oxblood . The rust ribbon I guess made the color change . Glad the Naptha cleaned it so well . Nice Hat !

Looks good, Doug. And nice price on the naphtha. I usually pay $10-$12/gal.

Thanks, guys! I'm getting more comfortable with the naptha, and this hat deserved some TLC after a long life of hard use. I've got some more Lexol on the sweat now.

Walmart has Coleman fuel for $12-something but this other brand right next to it for $7.87 so I took the last 4 off the shelf.

 

[moontheloon]

looks great Doug... looked great before ... looks even better now
wonderful piece

 

[FedOregon]

looks great Doug... looked great before ... looks even better now
wonderful piece

Thanks, Anthony. I'm loving this one. I pulled the liner out as the threads were breaking all around anyway. The inside of the hat is finished almost as good as the outside.

And yesterday when I got the hat I was thinking, "man, I wish this felt was as nice as my wife's Cavanagh." Well, now it is! Real velvety and maleable.

 

[RJR]

I got a Knox 15 delivered yesterday. I brushed it out but it still had a dirty look to it and a black mark near the front crease. So at 10 pm last night I went to the only store in town that had camp fuel and got 4 gallons @ 7.87 each, and some cheap coffee filters.

First thing this morning I dumped all the white gas over the Knox and then did a light brushing with a toothbrush, and a little swishing here and there. Maybe 35 minutes total in the gas.

It took a lot longer to filter all that gas and get it back into the gas cans, hahaha.

There was quite a bit of dirt that came out of the hat, and the black mark on the front is gone now, too. And the felt is much more velvety... the color looks close to the pics I've seen of the Whiskey beaver felt Winchester puts out; maybe a little darker. The copper ribbon matches perfectly.

Before Pic of front crease and the black mark/line:

.

That is a beauty.

 

[Redfokker]

I got a Knox 15 delivered yesterday. I brushed it out but it still had a dirty look to it and a black mark near the front crease. So at 10 pm last night I went to the only store in town that had camp fuel and got 4 gallons @ 7.87 each, and some cheap coffee filters.

First thing this morning I dumped all the white gas over the Knox and then did a light brushing with a toothbrush, and a little swishing here and there. Maybe 35 minutes total in the gas.

It took a lot longer to filter all that gas and get it back into the gas cans, hahaha.

There was quite a bit of dirt that came out of the hat, and the black mark on the front is gone now, too. And the felt is much more velvety... the color looks close to the pics I've seen of the Whiskey beaver felt Winchester puts out; maybe a little darker. The copper ribbon matches perfectly.

Before Pic of front crease and the black mark/line:

.

You are inspirational. I thought it took hours soaking in the gas, only 35 minutes and such a result. I want to see this one in person, and maybe a little fondling too. I wonder what the gas would do to straw, probably not a good idea?

 

[KarlCrow]

You are inspirational. I thought it took hours soaking in the gas, only 35 minutes and such a result. I want to see this one in person, and maybe a little fondling too. I wonder what the gas would do to straw, probably not a good idea?

i 'think' any clothing i ever spilt gasoline on stank of it afterwards.

 

[FedOregon]

You are inspirational. I thought it took hours soaking in the gas, only 35 minutes and such a result. I want to see this one in person, and maybe a little fondling too. I wonder what the gas would do to straw, probably not a good idea?

I wouldn't try this on straw, Mike.

I have seen no real advantage to soaking the hat for extended periods of time. The dirt and grime itself comes out almost on contact and any stains that aren't out in 30-60 minutes aren't coming out... in my limited experience anyway.

I always treat the sweat with Lexol and let it dry before I soak my hat in naptha. Not sure if it helps or not but I've been noticing that a lot of my hats need to have some conditioner applied. I've already gone through over half of the 500 ml/16.9 ounce bottle I bought about a week ago!

 

[FedOregon]

i 'think' any clothing i ever spilt gasoline on stank of it afterwards.

Automobile gasoline, yes. Naptha, or camp fuel, or white gas, as it is variously known, evaporates quickly and as it is so clean and refined, leaves no odor.... the felt smells of new felt and the leather sweat smells like leather after 2 to 3 hours drying out on my back deck.

 

[KarlCrow]

Automobile gasoline, yes. Naptha, or camp fuel, or white gas, as it is variously known, evaporates quickly and as it is so clean and refined, leaves no odor.... the felt smells of new felt and the leather sweat smells like leather after 2 to 3 hours drying out on my back deck.

so i hear, but it's unavailable here, so as far as i can tell on google, except in a sealed refill canister at about $10 per 500ml canister.

 

[AbridgedPause]

I'm presently doing a naptha bath for one of my brown hats. I read in earlier posts that you can re-use the naptha but it has to be within the same colour scheme.
I'm not sure if my brown hat is considered a "dark" or "light" colour. I've seen much darker browns but then again, it's pretty dark compared to a grey or fawn coloured hat.
How would you label this hat? Dark or light? What other coloured hats can I bathe in the same naptha fuel?

 

[Frunobulax]

I'm presently doing a naptha bath for one of my brown hats. I read in earlier posts that you can re-use the naptha but it has to be within the same colour scheme.
I'm not sure if my brown hat is considered a "dark" or "light" colour. I've seen much darker browns but then again, it's pretty dark compared to a grey or fawn coloured hat.
How would you label this hat? Dark or light? What other coloured hats can I bathe in the same naptha fuel?

It doesn't matter. The dye doesn't come out, it just cleans the dirt and grime out. Think of it this way - does your dry cleaner use different equipment for light and dark suits?

Just filter it between uses.

 

[belfastboy]

I got a Knox 15 delivered yesterday. I brushed it out but it still had a dirty look to it and a black mark near the front crease. So at 10 pm last night I went to the only store in town that had camp fuel and got 4 gallons @ 7.87 each, and some cheap coffee filters.

First thing this morning I dumped all the white gas over the Knox and then did a light brushing with a toothbrush, and a little swishing here and there. Maybe 35 minutes total in the gas.

It took a lot longer to filter all that gas and get it back into the gas cans, hahaha.

There was quite a bit of dirt that came out of the hat, and the black mark on the front is gone now, too. And the felt is much more velvety... the color looks close to the pics I've seen of the Whiskey beaver felt Winchester puts out; maybe a little darker. The copper ribbon matches perfectly.

Before Pic of front crease and the black mark/line:

.

Beautiful job.

 

[AbridgedPause]

As a follow-up to my previous post.
My first naptha bath turned out mostly fine with my brown hat. It was more of a test and I used a brown wool felt hat that was pretty dirty and that I wouldn't be heartbroken about if it went wrong. A lot of dirt and dust came out and there was even some yellow oil-like stuff floating in the naptha at the end. I filtered it and stored it back in the canisters. My hat took 8 hours to fully dry before the smell went away and it was pretty unnerving, hoping it would go away. The smell is not unlike Zippo fluid for anyone wondering. My hat came out a lot softer (less rigid) in the end. I'm not sure if this is a side effect of the naptha itself or maybe only on wool felt products. I know wool isn't very rigid to begin with (one of the reasons I dislike that type of fabric), but I know the my hat was more stiff prior to the naptha bath. Then again, maybe it was all that dust and dirt keeping it hard. I was able to stiffen it back using a Bickmore stiffener (6 coats!).

My wife just bought a second-hand Akubra "The Boss" in Sand colour and I had had such success and confidence (from this thread) about doing the naptha bath that I decided to clean this one out the same way. The hat is 5 years old and was hardly worn by the previous owner. There was a lot of household dust on it though and a few grass stains, plus the previous person's sweat in it, so we really wanted to clean it and disinfect it. I read plenty about leather sweat bands drying out in the naptha process but the sweatband on her hat was really in mint condition so I didn't think I had to worry. I put the hat in the naptha bath for 2 hours; 1 hour per side. There was a lot of dust and some oil again that came out so the cleaning was worth it. But as soon as I took the hat out, I noticed that the leather sweatband was turning white and some of the gold paint for the writing was chipping off. I really wasn't expecting that considering that the sweatband was originally like-new. I thought this only happened on much older hats with bands already dried out and cracked with age. I feel terrible about this. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to put some life back into it?

Of the four pictures: the first two are of the hat before the naptha bath. The last two are of the sweatband with all the white discoloration after the naptha bath. Believe me, the band looks worse in real than in the picture.

 

[RJR]

As a follow-up to my previous post.
My first naptha bath turned out mostly fine with my brown hat. It was more of a test and I used a brown wool felt hat that was pretty dirty and that I wouldn't be heartbroken about if it went wrong. A lot of dirt and dust came out and there was even some yellow oil-like stuff floating in the naptha at the end. I filtered it and stored it back in the canisters. My hat took 8 hours to fully dry before the smell went away and it was pretty unnerving, hoping it would go away. The smell is not unlike Zippo fluid for anyone wondering. My hat came out a lot softer (less rigid) in the end. I'm not sure if this is a side effect of the naptha itself or maybe only on wool felt products. I know wool isn't very rigid to begin with (one of the reasons I dislike that type of fabric), but I know the my hat was more stiff prior to the naptha bath. Then again, maybe it was all that dust and dirt keeping it hard. I was able to stiffen it back using a Bickmore stiffener (6 coats!).

My wife just bought a second-hand Akubra "The Boss" in Sand colour and I had had such success and confidence (from this thread) about doing the naptha bath that I decided to clean this one out the same way. The hat is 5 years old and was hardly worn by the previous owner. There was a lot of household dust on it though and a few grass stains, plus the previous person's sweat in it, so we really wanted to clean it and disinfect it. I read plenty about leather sweat bands drying out in the naptha process but the sweatband on her hat was really in mint condition so I didn't think I had to worry. I put the hat in the naptha bath for 2 hours; 1 hour per side. There was a lot of dust and some oil again that came out so the cleaning was worth it. But as soon as I took the hat out, I noticed that the leather sweatband was turning white and some of the gold paint for the writing was chipping off. I really wasn't expecting that considering that the sweatband was originally like-new. I thought this only happened on much older hats with bands already dried out and cracked with age. I feel terrible about this. Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to put some life back into it?

Of the four pictures: the first two are of the hat before the naptha bath. The last two are of the sweatband with all the white discoloration after the naptha bath. Believe me, the band looks worse in real than in the picture. View attachment 86712 View attachment 86713 View attachment 86714 View attachment 86715

Treat the sweatband with Lexol.