Jiffy Hat Steamer

[jviss]

On soaking a crown, I would work my way up to that. First steam, then try a very fine misting of water (distilled, always), then a more heavy misting, and so forth.

I'm no expert, that's just my intuition for a conservative approach.

 

[jviss]

Now to find a nice piece of mahogany or oak to make a platform for my aluminum head block. I want something with a long tongue on it, with a slot cut in it as a hand hold, and to hang it up when not in use. I probably have something in the basement, else a stair tread from Lowes or Home Depot.

This is the eBay image:

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Eric, if you haven't already, check out Kevin's youtube videos. He's a lifelong hat salesman, now at JJ Hat Center in NYC. They are long, but entertaining. He has at least one on stiffening hats. The secret ingredient: hairspray. You can buy hat stiffener for a lot more money, but why bother?

I have glanced at the vids. I will have to add this one to view during my upcoming travels. My perception is that Hair Spray lakes weather durability. My hats get worn in weather and it would be nice not to have to freshen the hat as frequently as my wife does her hair. I will watch and perhaps experiment. My brother makes guitars (hobby for him) and has a ready stock of shellac and can custom solutions. This may be yet another experiment.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

On soaking a crown, I would work my way up to that. First steam, then try a very fine misting of water (distilled, always), then a more heavy misting, and so forth.

I'm no expert, that's just my intuition for a conservative approach.

Agreed. Prior Proper Planning Promotes Prodigious Performance.

 

[jviss]

Excellent posts about your progress with the Jiffy Steamer. Inspired I ordered some Jiffy cleaner for mine. I use only distilled water, but my Jiffy Cleaner has started sputtering. Since entropy is real, I suspect time has built up some residue from my frequent uses. The steamer works, just has an occasional sputter.

Black flakes - some mineral residue. ?? If they disappear with cleaning - all good.

Before my crown blocks arrived, I successfully used a stainless steel cooking pot on the inside, small diameter, and worked the felt sides with a metal spoon on the outside. It worked mostly, but was a lot of effort. The crown blocks work much better. But now I can see that I need crown blocks in different sizes and even different tapers. Never ends!

I will stay tuned as I am curious to see your block set-up at work.

Cheers. Best, Eric -

Did you get and use your Jiffy cleaner?

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Did you get and use your Jiffy cleaner?

Yes I did.

I have a J-1 cleaner. It had started some sputtering. Not an old unit, but I do use it.

The acid based liquid cleaner was advertised to remove deposits and mineral build up. Unplugged I poured about half the solution into the water cup area. This is where I normally put the plastic water jug on my steamer. I left it for 2 hours and rinsed the area thoroughly. I was picking the steamer up and pouring the cleaner and rinse water out. Many times. I rinsed away some discolored water and small particulate. Not much - but some.

I did take the hat nozzle off and soak in cleaner. Only for 20 minutes. This may have been the majority of my sputtering problem as particulate rinsed out. I attached the head carefully as any errors with this element and I am not sure how to recover. (Next time I will clean the hat nozzle first. I will not use as much cleaning fluid as I believe it was overkill.)

Works like new!

Cheers, Eric -

 

[jviss]

Yes I did.

I have a J-1 cleaner. It had started some sputtering. Not an old unit, but I do use it.

The acid based liquid cleaner was advertised to remove deposits and mineral build up. Unplugged I poured about half the solution into the water cup area. This is where I normally put the plastic water jug on my steamer. I left it for 2 hours and rinsed the area thoroughly. I was picking the steamer up and pouring the cleaner and rinse water out. Many times. I rinsed away some discolored water and small particulate. Not much - but some.

I did take the hat nozzle off and soak in cleaner. Only for 20 minutes. This may have been the majority of my sputtering problem as particulate rinsed out. I attached the head carefully as any errors with this element and I am not sure how to recover. (Next time I will clean the hat nozzle first. I will not use as much cleaning fluid as I believe it was overkill.)

Works like new!

Cheers, Eric -

Excellent, Eric. Thanks for the update. BTW, I saved my used cleaner, I will try re-using it, even though I bought the three bottle package. I poured the whole bottle in. My nozzle is new, so no issue there.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Excellent, Eric. Thanks for the update. BTW, I saved my used cleaner, I will try re-using it, even though I bought the three bottle package. I poured the whole bottle in. My nozzle is new, so no issue there.

Good call, I should have saved the cleaner to re-use in our iron or suit steamer.

I have not used any tap water in my Jiffy. Only distilled water. I will try to keep track of how much distilled water I use before I need to clean it again.

I have a Rowenta Steamforce Iron (dw9280) and I cleaned that out at the same time. Working like a charm!!!!

Eric -

 

[M Hatman]

Distilled white vinegar works wonders for removing mineral deposits in streamers (and coffee makers and glasswear).
Often hardware stores carry a "strong" cleaning white vinegar for very reasonable prices......

 

[belfastboy]

I have been experimenting with my Jiffy Steamer. With heavier felts in order to give better steam penetration/saturation I have been shrouding the felt in a heavy duty plastic garbage bag. Envelope the felt and tuck around the nozzle to limit steam escape. It works really well, almost akin to 'melting' the felt. It blocks much more easily.

 

[belfastboy]

I have been experimenting with my Jiffy Steamer. With heavier felts in order to give better steam penetration/saturation I have been shrouding the felt in a heavy duty plastic garbage bag. Envelope the felt and tuck around the nozzle to limit steam escape. It works really well, almost akin to 'melting' the felt. It blocks much more easily.

A great benefit to finding another hatter here in Vancouver. We have met twice now to chat, exchange ideas, help each other out. Nice to some company in this endeavour. He has a different market than I so we truly do not compete.

 

[Bamaboots]

Distilled white vinegar

It's all I've ever used for that purpose, Mark. When I first got my old J1, I put it on the deck and let vinegar run through it for some time. It burped out some nastiness for awhile. Likely had never been cleaned.

 

[BobHufford]

Not sure I needed a second one, but it would be handy to have one at the other house. With a $15 winning bid and local pick-up, how could I not? Just need to get a hat nozzle.

 

[belfastboy]

Not sure I needed a second one, but it would be handy to have one at the other house. With a $15 winning bid and local pick-up, how could I not? Just need to get a hat nozzle.

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Great score!

 

[Pkyoakum]

Jiffy Steamer sells cleansing solution for their hat steamers, but seems over priced. Can you just use vinegar and water to descale instead of spending lots of money on their product?

 

[belfastboy]

Jiffy Steamer sells cleansing solution for their hat steamers, but seems over priced. Can you just use vinegar and water to descale instead of spending lots of money on their product?

I use distilled water in mine so scaling isn't an issue. But it probably works out cheaper to buy their cleaning solution periodically over buying the distilled water.

 

[Bamaboots]

Can you just use vinegar and water to descale instead of spending lots of money on their product?

Yes.