Hat Rescue with photos

[retro50]

but I would be worried about the dye in the leather bleeding thru and staining a light colored hat. Any ideas there?

Signed,
Lotstalearn Yet

A quality sweatband is designed to be sweated onto and to get wet. And, in a quality hat, their should be no worry of the die from the sweatband running. Ergo, wet away! I have soaked mine (hat and sweat) many times with no die bleed.

 

[Magus]

Tres Generaciones is almost too good for margaritas!

My question has always been, what do you do with the
leftover naptha? I don't want to burn my house down
after cleaning my hat.

I let it settle in the cleaning container for a day so all the bad stuff goes to the bottom, then carefully strain off the top layer through layers of cheesecloth in a funnel back into the can to be used again. The remaining stuff....ummmm....well...its good for starting a good campfire. And will kill a tree stump like no-bodies business.

 

[Magus]

...Naptha? Do you mean camping fuel? Like that Coleman stuff? Can that be right?

Naptha can be bought at a good paint store by the gallon. I have never used Coleman gas...though I have heard it works.

...In steaming a hat, how do you get the bit on the outside of the sweatband without this dastardly leather damage?

Always flip the leather sweatband down out of the hat before blocking. yes...I learned it the same way you did...by frying one with the steam.

Another gent answered the wet band bleeding color issue. But that method does work for a gentle hat stretch.

 

[shortbow]

A thousand vintage thanks, Gentlemen. Now a couple more just to set my aging pate at ease. The naptha after it dries in the hat is safe for one's skin/hair? And no residual odour?

Gracias otra vez.

 

[Magus]

A thousand vintage thanks, Gentlemen. Now a couple more just to set my aging pate at ease. The naptha after it dries in the hat is safe for one's skin/hair? And no residual odour?

Gracias otra vez.

A good air dry for 8 hours or so and it all evaporates. I have not had any leftover stinkiness at all. In fact quite the opposite. All stinkinessesessss are removed by the process

 

[retro50]

Naptha can be bought at a good paint store by the gallon. I have never used Coleman gas...though I have heard it works.

To clarify, as I am a furniture finisher by trade; the naptha you buy from a paint store is actually designated as "VM&P Naptha". This is not a fuel, but a paint solvent. Now that I know of what naptha you are talking, I assumed the fuel naptha and currently have a hat soaking in Coleman fuel. Seems to be lifting the grime, but if not thorougly clean by morning, the hat goes with me to the shop and gets the VM&P treatment!

 

[Magus]

To clarify, as I am a furniture finisher by trade; the naptha you buy from a paint store is actually designated as "VM&P Naptha". This is not a fuel, but a paint solvent. Now that I know of what naptha you are talking, I assumed the fuel naptha and currently have a hat soaking in Coleman fuel. Seems to be lifting the grime, but if not thorougly clean by morning, the hat goes with me to the shop and gets the VM&P treatment!

Ahhhh... Yes. I never quite was comfy with the Coleman white gas idea...and just headed to the paint store, indeed it is the VM&P Naptha.

Someone earlier had asked if the treatment harmed the plastic patch/liner in the liner. It never has with me...to date

 

[frijoli]

To clarify, as I am a furniture finisher by trade; the naptha you buy from a paint store is actually designated as "VM&P Naptha". This is not a fuel, but a paint solvent. Now that I know of what naptha you are talking, I assumed the fuel naptha and currently have a hat soaking in Coleman fuel. Seems to be lifting the grime, but if not thorougly clean by morning, the hat goes with me to the shop and gets the VM&P treatment!

FYI Coleman fuel and Naptha ARE THE SAME THING.

Clay

 

[retro50]

FYI Coleman fuel and Naptha ARE THE SAME THING.

Clay

Well, almost. The VM&P naptha is not quite as pure and has a lower flash or evaporation rate. It is somewhere between Varsol and Xylene it its evaporation rate. The Coleman fuel flashes more like acetone: almost instantaneously. Coleman fuel would not work quite as well as a paint thinner as it would come out of solution too fast and defeat the purpose as a reducer. I have used it many a time. But yes, Coleman fuel and white gas naptha are the same thing.

 

[frijoli]

Well, almost. The VM&P naptha is not quite as pure and has a lower flash or evaporation rate. It is somewhere between Varsol and Xylene it its evaporation rate. The Coleman fuel flashes more like acetone: almost instantaneously. Coleman fuel would not work quite as well as a paint thinner as it would come out of solution too fast and defeat the purpose as a reducer. I have used it many a time. But yes, Coleman fuel and white gas naptha are the same thing.

I smell an engineer. Coleman fuel actually contains about 2% xylene and 2% toluene. Effectively the same. I should have clarified a little.

Clay

 

[retro50]

I smell an engineer. Coleman fuel actually contains about 2% xylene and 2% toluene. Effectively the same. I should have clarified a little.

Clay

But regardless, let's see what happens to my hat by morning - whether it's still in one piece or not. Should be. Xylene is the major component of such "cleaning" products as Goof Off, and toluene is the major carrier for the other more aggressive components of lacquer thinner, which itself would irreversibly damage the hat by eating the gold lettering off the sweat band, dissolve any adhesives, maybe even take the embossing off the liner. Toluene would probably be a good cleaner in itself. The choices are endless. Anyone ever take a hat to a dry cleaners?

Me, an engineer. Nope. Just a geologist turned furniture finisher many years ago.

 

[Magus]

FYI Coleman fuel and Naptha ARE THE SAME THING.

Clay

GLAD TO...opps...dang caps....know.

 

[shortbow]

Great thread, thanks again for the good info. Where else could you learn this stuff?:eusa_clap

 

[retro50]

Well, unfortunately I did not quite get the desired results with the naptha bath. The hat, therefore, now resides at the local hatters where it will receive a thorough cleaning, steaming & re-shaping, followed by a new ribbon and brim binding. This is a 1940's Royal Stetson Whippet which I bought at a local vintage clothing store for $30. The ribbon and binding are all faded, but the rest of the hat is immaculate, except for grime and tobacco stench.