Clean grease from my Akubra

[wenestvedt]

I have an Akubra Cattleman, and I love it. Yay! I somehow got grease on my coat the other day, and then on my hat (when I tucked it under my arm while inside a store). Boo!

The same grease came off my Columbia (nylon?) jacket after I tried Woolite (useless), OxyClean (more useless-er), and Zout (possibly the answer), followed by a machine washing in cold water.

How can I get these spots off my hat? I saw a recent thread on naphtha, but do I honestly go buy a quart of the stuff at Lowe's and soak my hat in it, or dab it on and wipe it off, or...? I tried searching the site but came up empty.

I am not a neat freak and am happy to have a lived-in looking hat, but these spots are obvious and ugly. :7( Thank you for any suggestions.

- Will

 

[buler]

You might want to try Goop hand cleaner. I've used it on a Stetson silverbelly and it worked great.

Good Luck

B

 

[wenestvedt]

Hey, could I use Purelle? It's all alcohol, so if I dabbed some on and blotted right away it might work. I seem to recall it being suggested as the way to get pine sap off when bringing in the Christmas tree.

 

[gtdean48]

I got felt tip marker out of a vintage felt hat with cigarette lighter fluid. HTH...

 

[J.T.Marcus]

The recommended first action is to rub corn starch into it (for several minutes if necessary), Let it stand for about thirty minutes, then brush it out. If you don't have corn starch, I have discovered corn meal works, too (It has corn starch in it.).

 

[wenestvedt]

Corn starch, eh? I'll try that, too.

Earlier I squeezed a blob of Purelle onto one of the smudges, scratched at it with my fingernail, and wiped it up before it all evaporated. It was a little better, so I repeated the experiment and this time I rubbed a bit at the stain. A lot of it came up, but what remain is now a little spread out (though much lighter).

So, for the record, Purelle isn't the answer. :7(

Later I will go check the garage and see what awful things (mineral spirits, etc.) I have out there.

- Will