STEP BY STEP NAPTHA BATH

[Mobile Vulgus]

nice color

I like the color. A very nice camel brown.

This week I dipped two hats, one a sort of lighter gray and the second one a darker gray and the Colemen fuel I used for the dip is now a swirl of gray goop! I, too, was shocked at how much goop came out into the liquid.

 

[Undertow]

The other night I posted a Stetson Soveregin; it looked great but; the hat had a bad odor to it; and the liner looked less than favorable; serious sweat stains. Honestly looked like someone took a leak in the hat; it looked that bad.

The Naptha bath did nothing for the liner; but I removed it and carefully uses Shout Advanced Heavy Duty Stain Remover[gel].

The Naptha bath did a great job cleaning the hat and the foul musty smell is gone. Looking at the hat when it came in, I would have never thought there was that much dirt in it. I wanted to post this picture of the dip container because I have dipped a few hats but never saw this much dirt come out of a hat.

All I need to do yet is install the white bow and size tag. Incidentially the bow was dark brown; filthy. Clorox and cold water made it like new.

I also posted the liner because now it looks 100%. I re-stitched it into the hat tonight. The product I used worked fantastic and the liner looks like new; it had no ill affect to the logo however I am sure there are some styles of liners where dammage can occure.

First of all, great pics! Isn't almost bizarre to see how much crap comes out of the felt once you've cleaned it?

Great idea with that Shout formula; I think I'll give that a try on some of my vintage Stetson liners as well. I tried the white vinegar approach, which worked, but the liner didn't come out quite as good as yours.

Just curious, was your liner originally glued in, or stitched?

 

[Cane Rod Maker]

Stitched liner

The liner was stitched; I replaced it in the same fashion, stitched and got pretty close to all the same origonal needle holes.

It was my second stitch job; it turned out great.

First of all, great pics! Isn't almost bizarre to see how much crap comes out of the felt once you've cleaned it?

Great idea with that Shout formula; I think I'll give that a try on some of my vintage Stetson liners as well. I tried the white vinegar approach, which worked, but the liner didn't come out quite as good as yours.

Just curious, was your liner originally glued in, or stitched?

 

[TheBeak]

Great thread with loads of good "clean a hat" info.

got one on the way that will need some attention, so I glad for the confidence builder.

Thanks again FL!

 

[Orangegrad]

This is a really helpful thread. I do have a question - can naptha shrink either the felt or the sweat?

 

[HatsEnough]

Naptha will not shrink the felt. It could add to drying out the leather sweat, but it won't shrink it.

I suggest putting a treatment on the leather before submerging it in naptha.

By the way, I have added a link to this thread in the "Just Places for Hat Repair" thread I just started.

 

[T Rick]

This is a tremendously helpful thread! Given me many ideas for a couple of hats in need of serious work.

Now, I hope these two Gentlemen don't mind, but I'd like to quote a recent Q&A from the "Ask A Question, Get An Answer" thread, as I feel they were also very helpful.

I'd like to clean several vintage fedoras I've purchased recently. Here in Cleveland we have a hat store that does clean and block. But I'm thinking that I might like to give this a try before paying someone else to do it. I suspect there are plenty of threads on the topic, but my search didn't pull up any. So if anyone knows of any threads (or wants to share their advice), please point me in the right direction. Thanks.

The first answer to your query is "how dirty are these vintage fedoras?" Some just need a real good brushing & others need a naptha bath. Search on "naptha" to get up to speed with that.
Do you have a good hat brush or the orange sponges for hat cleaning? If so, brush/sponge them real good. Get some talcum powder, apply that, work it into any stained areas then brush it out vigorously. Liners & sweatbands are a different story. I get antiseptic wipes like those in first aid kits & wipe out the inside of a new-to-me lid. There are leather cleaner/conditioner wipes out there that I use on the sweatbands. If the liners are really soiled, they come out & get a cold water/Woolite bath. HTH

Well, when Mr. Dean talks, I listen, and have once again benefited quite well from doing so. This morning (while I should have been packing for my road trip ), I used the talcum powder/brush method to remove the spotting from my Green Open Road. I now have a presentable, wearable hat! The liner is still in need of attention, will try some of the methods listed here.

But I've added two hats to the list to go to FL with me, the Open Road and the dirty Strat I plan to send to Art for work. Was going to have him clean it, but now I want to try myself first (he was presumably going to use the wet method, and deconstruct the hat- while that's great if it needs it, I certainly prefer NOT to remove the sweat IF I can get it presentably clean without doing so.

To that end, I'll show a couple of before pics again, and ask if y'all think the Naphtha method will work on these stains, or if I'd be better off wet? These are similar to the stains on the OR, though they were much less severe, and covered only a small portion of the hat. I plan to first try the talcum powder method, though it will take hours if it is going to work on this one, and I need to pack everything up and hit the road. So, progress reports from FL later, but please give your opinion on the most effective/least destructive cleaning method for this (has anyone removed similar stains successfully? If so, what method did you use? Do you know what type of stains these are?).

 

[bond]

In my hat shop the other day a man from down south said he used to use cornmeal on dirty hats for removing dirt,probably surface type, then brush off.
Also when ever I get a new vintage hat in the mail I use either pure lemon and or tea tree oil to Wipedown the sweats and plastic liners, to remove prior owners dirt, or smell or cooties!
Makes the hat smell fresh too.

 

[Chepstow]

This is a tremendously helpful thread! Given me many ideas for a couple of hats in need of serious work.

Now, I hope these two Gentlemen don't mind, but I'd like to quote a recent Q&A from the "Ask A Question, Get An Answer" thread, as I feel they were also very helpful.


Well, when Mr. Dean talks, I listen, and have once again benefited quite well from doing so. This morning (while I should have been packing for my road trip ), I used the talcum powder/brush method to remove the spotting from my Green Open Road. I now have a presentable, wearable hat! The liner is still in need of attention, will try some of the methods listed here.

But I've added two hats to the list to go to FL with me, the Open Road and the dirty Strat I plan to send to Art for work. Was going to have him clean it, but now I want to try myself first (he was presumably going to use the wet method, and deconstruct the hat- while that's great if it needs it, I certainly prefer NOT to remove the sweat IF I can get it presentably clean without doing so.

To that end, I'll show a couple of before pics again, and ask if y'all think the Naphtha method will work on these stains, or if I'd be better off wet? These are similar to the stains on the OR, though they were much less severe, and covered only a small portion of the hat. I plan to first try the talcum powder method, though it will take hours if it is going to work on this one, and I need to pack everything up and hit the road. So, progress reports from FL later, but please give your opinion on the most effective/least destructive cleaning method for this (has anyone removed similar stains successfully? If so, what method did you use? Do you know what type of stains these are?).

if I get a hat that is dirty with stains and dust has its origin I do not know, I only take a hard brush and remove first the coarse dust. I then steaming the hat carefull, as steam has a purifying effect. I spray with a atomizer the hat well one with a mix solution of soapy water and chemical alcohol such as ethanol. For cleaning I use white foam it is possible to see how much dirt will cling to it. In this case, the foam acts like an eraser. With this method I've yet to get any clean hat. then put the hat with steam back into shape and let dry. For Leather Sweat Band i used
a silicon Oil that cleans an protectet the band. Apply polish away and well. For liners i used warm, not hot soap water.
You can use foam for dry cleaning to, for dust specially

 

[buler]

For those that use naptha, these funnels with a built-in filter are a great way to clean up and reuse the fluid.

B

Shurhold filter funnel

Racor filter funnel

 

[Mario]

You may laugh at this but I'm using a standard kitchen funnel and coffee filters to clean my naptha. Takes some time before the fluid has passed through the filter but it works like a charm.

 

[buler]

You may laugh at this but I'm using a standard kitchen funnel and coffee filters to clean my naptha. Takes some time before the fluid has passed through the filter but it works like a charm.

No laughing. I currently use coffee filters too. But I'm going to switch to one of these filter funnels.

B

 

[Mario]

Yes, sounds like a good idea. I have to confess that I never knew such things existed. I just googled around a little and have already learned that those funnels are called 'Nutsche' in German (even to my ears a rather funny word). Something new every day! Thank you for the tip.

 

[zetwal]

To that end, I'll show a couple of before pics again, and ask if y'all think the Naphtha method will work on these stains, or if I'd be better off wet? [...] Do you know what type of stains these are?

Personally, I think that the pox in your pics shows a chemical change to the fiber on a microscopic level. I would be very surprised if you are able to remove those "stains" entirely with anything at all.

Still, I do wish you luck and look forward to your report. Please, prove me wrong!

 

[SteveAS]

You may laugh at this but I'm using a standard kitchen funnel and coffee filters to clean my naptha. Takes some time before the fluid has passed through the filter but it works like a charm.

Ditto.

Regarding the filters buler posted, they seem very convenient, but I wonder if they'd remove the sediment as completely as does a paper coffee filter. The tech specs on the Racor filter indicate that it removes sediment down to .005 inches. According to Wikipedia, very fine sand is smaller than that, so I'd bet the sediment we find at the bottoms of our soaking buckets would pass through the screen.

 

[Mystic]

I was in a Lowes home improvement store yesterday and remembered this thread.

Looked for Naphtha, to see if they carried it. I found a "VM&P Naphtha" 1 gal. can that was a paint remover/dissolver for oily paints.
Only one clerk around, he wasn't familar with the product. I don't know if VM&P is the brand name or means something about the product.

Does this sound like the Naphtha that can be used for cleaning hats. It just didn't sound like the right "Naphtha" product to me.

I didn't think about the Coleman camp fuel. I'll have to check that next time I'm in the store.

 

[buler]

I was in a Lowes home improvement store yesterday and remembered this thread.

Looked for Naphtha, to see if they carried it. I found a "VM&P Naphtha" 1 gal. can that was a paint remover/dissolver for oily paints.
Only one clerk around, he wasn't familar with the product. I don't know if VM&P is the brand name or means something about the product.

Does this sound like the Naphtha that can be used for cleaning hats. It just didn't sound like the right "Naphtha" product to me.

I didn't think about the Coleman camp fuel. I'll have to check that next time I'm in the store.

That's exactly the stuff I get and use.

B

 

[Mystic]

That's exactly the stuff I get and use.

B

ALRIGHT !!!

thanks........ I'm getting closer to sacrificing one of my ebay hats to the 'Hat Cleaning Gods' in a bucket of naptha and see if it appeases the 'Musky Odors and Tough Stains Gods'.

 

[buler]

ALRIGHT !!!

thanks........ I'm getting closer to sacrificing one of my ebay hats to the 'Hat Cleaning Gods' in a bucket of naptha and see if it appeases the 'Musky Odors and Tough Stains Gods'.

Just heed all warnings of this stuff being highly flammable and the fumes being bad for your health.

B

 

[John in Covina]

Personally, I think that the pox in your pics shows a chemical change to the fiber on a microscopic level. I would be very surprised if you are able to remove those "stains" entirely with anything at all. Still, I do wish you luck and look forward to your report. Please, prove me wrong!

Naptha is a dry cleaning fluid that will remove grease and oils along with some of the dirt that is attached to the grease / oils. It won't remove some organic water based stains. So spilled foods and some components of sweat like salt won't be removed entirely. They need water to get them out as they don't disolve in naptha.

Same thing with dry cleaning clothes, foods such as wine or soda remains and gets cooked when the item is pressed making a really bad stain. You have to tell the dry cleaner where you have such spills so not to cook them into the fabric.