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Hat smell...

lc1484

One of the Regulars
Messages
152
Location
San Francisco
the threads about baking soda are true...it works..

of the hats I've won on ebay, some smelled of tobacco or must...I put it in a box with a box of arm and hammer baking soda and left it in the box for over a week, the longer you leave it in there the more it gets the smell out, then letting it sit in the sunlight after helps too....
 

Dreispitz

One Too Many
Messages
1,164
Many vintage hats dating pre mid/end 1950ies do have a distinct smell. I did not come across anything else, but hats that do smell like this.

It is not a regional thing, since US, as well, as some European hats have the same odour.

Must be connected to the felting, stiffening or finishing prozess.

Any clue, what this substance could be?
 

Slim Portly

One Too Many
Messages
1,283
Location
Las Vegas
I have one vintage hat that came to me smelling of cats and cologne, or possibly cats who wear cologne. I don't wear that one often.
 
Messages
10,524
Location
DnD Ranch, Cherokee County, GA
Slim Portly said:
I have one vintage hat that came to me smelling of cats and cologne, or possibly cats who wear cologne. I don't wear that one often.
*yucky* Don't blame you Slim. I have heard that if you store a hat with newspaper such that the ink doesn't get on the hat, the newspaper will wick away odors. Never tried it. I have used baby powder on a musty smelling vintage lid to good results.
 

suitedcboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,348
Location
Fort Worth Texas or thereabouts
My nose tells me that vintage hats have the aroma of three things: aging leather, cardboard box, and felt.
Some have odors that come from previous wearer such as tobacco smoke and fragrance of hair care products.

The old cardboard box odor seems to take over in several of mine.
Most of these odors seem to fade from heavy wear by me. My odors apparently kick the butts of the others and they pack up and leave.

If you continue to keep your lid in the vintage box, by all means get a plastic bag and keep the hat in the plastic bag inside the box.

I let the odors go away from fresh air exposure and avoid odor treatments other than brushing with a steam dampened hat brush. Spray odor treatments in my experience just overlay what odor is there with a new floral odor and I have never known quality felt hats to smell like flowers or cinnamon, etc.
 

barrowjh

One Too Many
Messages
1,398
Location
Maryville Tennessee
Lavender

Lightly clean a vintage hat box (wipe it down with a damp (not wet) cloth or paper towels, then keep a sachet of lavender in it. Every time you get into the box, squeeze that sachet and shake it up some. I have found that hats not properly stored will develop a musty smell (separate from the animal fur smell), and often this smell goes hand-in-hand with insect damage to the felt. It takes a deliberate effort to make that smell go away, and of course, cleaning the felt with naptha (careful, no naptha on the sweatband!!!) will help this process along.
 

rumblefish

One Too Many
Messages
1,326
Location
Long Island NY
Dreispitz said:
Many vintage hats dating pre mid/end 1950ies do have a distinct smell. I did not come across anything else, but hats that do smell like this.

I know what you're referring to...
...Gets stronger when steaming them?
 

Lefty

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,639
Location
O-HI-O
Fletch said:
Let's hope they're not leaching mercury!

I was talking to Gary White about mercury, and he brought up the fact that the sweats were tanned using chrome. The hat industry seemed determined to put some sort of toxic chemical into every worker.
 

Brian Sheridan

One Too Many
Messages
1,456
Location
Erie, PA
The ones I have bought thankfully haven't had the "old codger" smell on them. What is weird is the "old codger" smell on the big band CD's I borrow from my local library. P-U!
 

Brad Bowers

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,187
Hmm, I'd never really noticed a difference in smell between vintages of hats.

Kind of :eek:fftopic:, but the other day my wife was grooming the cats, and she had a large pile of fur left over from the brush. I immediately grabbed it, and worked it under hot water with my hands to start the felting process. It felted better than I expected. For some reason I decided to sniff it, and it smelled just like hat bodies when I block them.

In other words, fur smells like fur smells like fur, no matter the type of fur is used. But I'm also talking modern fur, too.

Brad
 

ScottF

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,755
barrowjh said:
Lightly clean a vintage hat box (wipe it down with a damp (not wet) cloth or paper towels, then keep a sachet of lavender in it. Every time you get into the box, squeeze that sachet and shake it up some. I have found that hats not properly stored will develop a musty smell (separate from the animal fur smell), and often this smell goes hand-in-hand with insect damage to the felt. It takes a deliberate effort to make that smell go away, and of course, cleaning the felt with naptha (careful, no naptha on the sweatband!!!) will help this process along.

Good pointers. I hate to toss out smelly boxes, but I'm not putting my hats back in them.

Scott <=== off to get his lavender sachets.
 

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