STEP BY STEP NAPTHA BATH

[gtdean48]

Looks hand blocked to me....

Hello all, after completely reading thru this thread as to how to do it , I pretty much understand it all, but I had a question and this poster's post raised two questions and I am hoping you can help me out .

I have been seeing alot of hats like this poster's on free bay and I was thinking of trying to : (1) clean some hats that I got at a deal on e bay due to my head size with this method of cleaning and (2) I was wondering if this poster , after the cleaning, did he transform this hat by hand or had a block to do it with as he dosen't state and I was thinking of trying to do the same thing ,tranform and shape it by hand .

Any thoughts here would be great , as I don't want to buy a hat try to do what he did ,then worse ,have to take it to a hatter and lay out more cash to have it reblocked.

All the Best , Fashion Frank

 

[alanfgag]

Hello all, after completely reading thru this thread as to how to do it , I pretty much understand it all, but I had a question and this poster's post raised two questions and I am hoping you can help me out .

I have been seeing alot of hats like this poster's on free bay and I was thinking of trying to : (1) clean some hats that I got at a deal on e bay due to my head size with this method of cleaning and (2) I was wondering if this poster , after the cleaning, did he transform this hat by hand or had a block to do it with as he dosen't state and I was thinking of trying to do the same thing ,tranform and shape it by hand .

Any thoughts here would be great , as I don't want to buy a hat try to do what he did ,then worse ,have to take it to a hatter and lay out more cash to have it reblocked.

All the Best , Fashion Frank

My advice is to avoid this route altogether. Be selective and buy hats that are intact and clean and learn how to steam and crease them to restore their shape and style. Hats in good condition will be more expensive than those that are soiled and damaged. But you will buy fewer of the better and in the end, the cost will be equal. Certain special felts - velours and older clear beaver felts, for example - are very difficult if not impossible to recreate today and are worth the cost of restoration at a custom hatter.

 

[mikespens]

Alan's point is valid, I'd also add that flipping hats for a profit is probably not worth the effort especially in your size. Small hats are pretty much a give away as it is. However if you do decide to clean a hat just because it needs to be cleaned, the gas bath process works and the hat will revert back to it's original crease with no problem provided it started out that way.

 

[fashion frank]

Alan's point is valid, I'd also add that flipping hats for a profit is probably not worth the effort especially in your size. Small hats are pretty much a give away as it is. However if you do decide to clean a hat just because it needs to be cleaned, the gas bath process works and the hat will revert back to it's original crease with no problem provided it started out that way.

Thanks guys for the info , so it would appear that he " hand blocked " the hat.

Also your right I'm not "fliping them just buying for myself .

Alan thanks for the advise I am trying to do that going forward, but I also notice that while I can buy good fedoras in my size all day long in really good condition, the stratoliners and whippets which is what I want to start buying , for some reason I don't see them offered to often in my size (6 7/8) which was why I was thinking for trying the conversion that the poster did in the post that I quoted.

Thanks again to both of you , and if any of the other experts could weigh in here that would be great.

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

P.S.
I just bought the coleman fuel today for $10.00 bucks and I just got this homburg for $ 14.00 bucks shipping included and it will be my first try at this.

 

[buler]

Fashion Frank, unless the other side of that Mallory is filthy, I don't understand what your trying to accomplish with the naptha bath. I do use naptha on hats, but only when they are really dirty and nothing else will clean them. First, I use a vacuum and brush. Next, if there are some spots/stains I try the K2r spot remover on them ( thread on K2r -> K2R SPOT REMOVER). If spots/stains appear greasy, I use GOOP hand cleaner. Only after all of this will I bust out the naptha. That homburg looks pretty clean. Not sure what a naptha bath is going to do for it.

I'm also against using water or water/detergent. I would only consider this if the sweatband is missing or trashed or I'm going to tear the hat down to the body only. Even then, I would soak and scrub it in naptha and not water.

B

 

[mando]

I just tried the naptha bath about 3 weeks ago. The felt is a light grey & it had a yellowing to it. I soaked the hat about 3hrs. It didn't clean the hat at all, but completely destroyed the sweatband. Once the hat was dry the sweat had shrunk up, and dried out. When you handled it, it would start cracking. Was in pretty good shape beforehand.

 

[fashion frank]

Again ,thank you to all who have responded so far .

I took some more pictures of the hat ,trying to show where the dirt is, I hope you can see it .

The brim edge has like some sort of a ("water"? ) stain in spots all around the very edge.

The hat over all is dirty but I don't know if the photos will depict it well enough, if you pull the band down a little and with a decerning eye you can notice that the hat is as a whole shade or a tad bit lighter behind the hat band.
Now hearing about the sweat band saga ,I am more leerie than before about doing this but I want to clean this hat up so again any insight before i do this would be awesome.

All the Best ,Fashion Frank.

 

[alanfgag]

I've not found a successful method for removing stains from rayon grosgrain ribbon. Perhaps someone else has had better luck.

 

[seabass]

Yea ribbon is tough to clean....
Brush out that Felt some times thats all thats needed...
My bird just did a tiny poop on my Borso feather weight,,,, clean Shamwow spotting than a clean damp rag circuler movement,,,, Walla Back in buisness
Bird's do there thing I should have known better...

be super careful with the white gas !

 

[splintercellsz]

What size is that Frank? I love it!

 

[mando]

You have the same staining I have on the brim binding. The naphta didn't help at all. I even scrubed the binding with a toothbrush while it was soaking. Then I sprayed the binding with a carpet cleaner and that didn't help either. I don't know what these stains are, maybe body oil from handling the hat. I know they do not want to come out. Maybe someone else here has a trick or two. I have to agree with Allen on being selective about vintage hats. You can spend alot of time & money and still not have anything to show for it.

 

[fashion frank]

What size is that Frank? I love it!

The hat is a 6 7/8 .

All the Best , Fashion Frank

 

[fashion frank]

You have the same staining I have on the brim binding. The naphta didn't help at all. I even scrubed the binding with a toothbrush while it was soaking. Then I sprayed the binding with a carpet cleaner and that didn't help either. I don't know what these stains are, maybe body oil from handling the hat. I know they do not want to come out. Maybe someone else here has a trick or two. I have to agree with Allen on being selective about vintage hats. You can spend alot of time & money and still not have anything to show for it.

Thanks for weighing in here and now that you have informed me that the stains on the brim edge did not come out with the dry gas treatment , it has me wondering even more now which route I should take to get this hat clean .

I was wondering if they use wire on the binding edge and if the hat at some point in time got really wet ,then if there are wires in the brim perhaps that would explain where the rust colored stains are coming from.

Other than that the whole hat is just a tad darker then it should be and when you slightly pull down the hat band you will notice the slight color difference and that is the level of dirt on the hat.

I must admit I am more puzzled now than when I began in terms of trying to clean this hat .

I am still more than open to any and or all suggestions as to how to proceed from this point on.

All the Best, Fashion Frank

 

[randooch]

Send it to Drew at Clean-a-Hat?

 

[fashion frank]

Send it to Drew at Clean-a-Hat?

I hear you but my was trying to clean it myself .
There is a hatter about 50 miles from where I live in Boston , they charge $ 25.00 for a steam cleaning and reblocking , although sometimes that can be a crap shoot in and of itself as if in the cleaning process the band for what ever the reason goes south it will cost me $50.00 more to have a new band put in and that's on top of the $25.00 for the cleaning ,as I stated earlier I only paid 14 or 15 with the s+h included ,so I don't want to rack up the price any more for this hat when all is said and done than I have to .

Again thanks for your input and I am hoping others will weigh in here and help me figure out the best approach to this problem.

All the Best ,Fashion Frank

 

[alanfgag]

You have the same staining I have on the brim binding. The naphta didn't help at all. I even scrubed the binding with a toothbrush while it was soaking. Then I sprayed the binding with a carpet cleaner and that didn't help either. I don't know what these stains are, maybe body oil from handling the hat. I know they do not want to come out. Maybe someone else here has a trick or two. I have to agree with Allen on being selective about vintage hats. You can spend alot of time & money and still not have anything to show for it.

Old grosgrain ribbon can be quite fragile - abrasion from a brush or hatter's sponge can quickly damage it. Felt is much more durable and it's thick dimensional quality makes brushing an effective means to make dirt and stains less noticeable. You might try to obtain a small amount of Picrin - a dry cleaning solvent - to experiment with for stain removal. I have also used acetone - which will dissolve many oil based stains but will also leave a lighter tone where it is used. Many times the results of cleaning are just as noticeable if not more so than the stain was originally.

Work with Q-tips. It is always good to speak to a hat softly and carry a small stick.

 

[randooch]

It is always good to speak to a hat softly and carry a small stick.

Eloquently spoken.

 

[alanfgag]

Eloquently spoken.

Thank you. I like to apply a rose to felt whenever possible.

 

[fashion frank]

More confused than when I started

First of all, I want to thank everyone who responed to this thread and my postings .

I only wish that more of the people in the know had responed so that I might get a clearer picture of what I should do with this hat , and I must admit that at this point I'm about ready to return the dry gas to walmart and just let the hat sit untill I can figure out just what exactly to do ?

I would however still like to hear any and all viewpoints in regards to the best approach to cleaning this hat.

All the Best , Fashion Frank

 

[Miamibruno]

I only wish that more of the people in the know had responded



First of all, I'm sad to say I'm not one of those in the know. However, there is a store in JP called Salmagundi that might be able to help. They are extremely friendly and they reblocked and rebound my Whippet and it looks fantastic.

Hope it helps.