Club Obi Wan

Hi Folks

I have just a quick question....

I'm about to give my AB a Naptha cleaning, outdoors,
with cheesecloth and gloves (As is suggested). It's finally come up to
freezing after a month of -30 eh.

My approach will be to work in a counter clockwise fashion
under and over the brim which after 3 years has built up a bit of
character "you might say"

I've heard that removing the liner is a good idea, which I'm not 100%
clear on as to why (My liner is an older satin) which should be OK.

When I'm done the brim, my thought is to either put it on my block or to hold it in one hand and then work the side's and top of the crown.

In approaching it this way...I will very likely touch the ribbon which has me just slightly concerned. I'm not sure if the ribbon will respond the same way as the felt. Will it be discoloured or made to shrink?

The reason I ask is that Naptha (Camp Fuel) is a solvent.
Sooooo....are there any suggestions.

I don't want to tear my AB apart and would like to conduct a practical and safe cleaning. If it's too much I may just send it back to Steve for a much needed bath.

You know what's weird.. I have no fear of tearing apart my Akubra but when it comes to my AB...It seems to be another matter 8-[

Warm Regards
Kilgour Trout

I hate to be a smart***, but are you sure bathing the thing in fuel is a wise thing to do, both for your fedora's health, and your own? :

Yeah, that sounds like an...uh...interesting thing to do to your hat. I've read about using a damp cloth to clean your hat, but I was assuming they meant damp with water, not anything any more volatile. Did you read about this somewhere?

Dean

Guys, if you send your hat back to Steve for a cleaning, it'll get a naptha bath. It's been used by hatters for ages. In fact, if you look through a copy of Scientific Hatfinishing and Renovating (written in 1919) there's a whole section on the gas bath. As much a nutter as he is, my friend Rob is right on the money with using naptha to thouroughly clean his hat. If your hat is heavily sweat stained and dirty, naptha will get it out.

But it's NOT a good idea to use the stuff if you DON'T know what you're doing. Rob's been doing a lot of hat work, so he has more than a clue of what he's doing, epsecially by doing it outdoors with plenty of ventilation. For the most of you, you're best sending your hat back to Steve or to a qualified hatter for cleaning. That, or stick to your water and washcloth

Rob, as for your ribbon, I've no idea how the ribbon would be affected by the naptha. The times I've cleaned a hat, I've taken it completely apart. I've cleaned a ribbon in water and Woolite, and one ribbon did shrink a bit, even though it was cold water and I let it air dry.

Ah, my bad! Hmm, I guess you learn something new everyday!

I suppose this gives us a new reason to carry a zippo in our Westeds... so that when our Fedora gets stained with sweat at the end of the day, we give it a quick douse, and we're good to go!

I've cleaned several vintage hats with naptha with no ill results. The sweatband stays supple & doesn't dry out. Also it evaporates leaving no residue behind. If you need to, apply a little Picards to your sweatband after the hat dries. I had soaked my 70 year old Dunlop fedora and it got rid of the cigarette smoke smell perfectly. It appears that the hat was never worn but was stored in a smokers house. Another hat had severe sweat stains in the satin liner and it came nearly white again. When done you will find that all the dirt your hat collects will be drawn out and settles to the bottom of the bucket. You'll be surprised how much dirt a hat can actually collect. Go figure.
Anyway, I would go for it. Just be sure to do it outside & let it dry thoroughly outside as well in the sun. You shouldn't experience any shrinkage either.
Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Dan

Hey Folks

Thanks for the feed back. Thanks especially to Bink and Daniel, not to
mention Andykev and Ren Fisk who discussed this back in 03. Yikes, have I been around or what? No...don't answer that!
There's even a query by our own Fedora on using
Naptha.

Man...the archives are great on our site!

Anyway...I think I should be OK then and will begin by testing this approach on a thoroughly worn and well loved Akubra I have.

I also have a length of darker Akubra Deluxe ribbon I can test it
on to get a sense of Naptha behaviour. Like Bink mentions, it's good to have a test hat that you can try things on.

I will be very interested in what happens to the ribbon but also to the level of stiffener in the hat I know it's likely to draw it out from
the wetting.

So...I'll report back

P.s....Just a note, I'm pretty sure lighter fluid and Naptha are different.
I should go and read the bottle of Zippo I have but it's 3:41 Am and I really should go back to bed eh. It's just One of those colds that wakes you up and makes you look at your computer.

Night, night...see you in the mornin

Kilgour

From what I understand they are the same thing. Basically Coleman camping fuel, that can be had just about any place is what you're needing. I have used it with great success. But, a thread over at the Fedora Lounge was started because one of the folks there tried naptha soaking a vintage Open Road & butchered it. It was because of the dye in the sweatband if I remember correctly. I'll see if I can find that thread to post here tomorrow. It took his light tan hat and stained it black in places. Now, there may have been other issues at work there but I'm pretty sure your Federation will be safe. Like I said, I have done it with great success.

Cheers!

Dan

Dan..I thought I was the only crazy one up at 4 AM

Are you on a night shift? night owl? or like me and just struggling to get through the night?

Thanks for the FL prompt. It would be very interesting to see what they said for the sake the folks over here.

Many thanks for following up again.
Talk soon
Kilgour Trout

P.s. WoooooooHoooooo I'm Finally a Dig leader!!
I never thought it would happen? I've been posting since 03-04 but
could never think of enough praddel to get here sooner

I really need to post a lot more "One Word" responses eh

Cheers

Interesting! I try to learn something new every day, so today's covered! Thanks!

It's just One of those colds that wakes you up and makes you look at your computer.

More evidence of that "computer virus" that's going around!

KT,

Here is the thread from the Fedora Lounge. I think this story is the exception since so many have cleaned their hats (felt, sweatband, ribbion & all) without any ill effects.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=19231

There are numerous naptha stories with great success over there, you just have to search them out.

Cheers!

Dan