Ew! Armpit stink!

More advice here:

Some tips previously mentioned.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=29417&highlight=funk

Carbon tetrachloride - hazard

bburtner@moran said:

If you can find it, carbon tetrachloride willl do the trick!!!

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Carbon tetrachloride (tetrachloromethane, CCl4) is a probable human carcinogen - as a research chemist I wouldn't advise using it.

Tailor Tom said:

I recommend looking for a cleaner that offers an Ozone process. When I was involved with touring shows, the performers would sweat heavily under the stage lights. We would send out the one-of-a-kind, very expensive, costumes for this treatment, and it worked wonderfully, even one jeweled and sequined garments.

You might also try a "fabreeze" type product as well. I would turn the garment inside out to spray and let air completely. Although usually fragrance enhanced, several days of airing should solve this.

Many stage shows, costume shops, theaters, etc. use a little known trick.... Vodka ! Vodka in a spray bottle, turn the garment inside out, spray and let air out. The alcohol draws out the smell and dries relatively quick. Cheap Vodka works great, as you wouldn't want to spritz away quality liquor anyway.

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I have little insight on Ozone. It's carcinogenic and can make certain fabrics fragile after using. My wife is in the business of selling machines that remove odors.

Try using a solution of water and baking soda. It does leave a powdery residue though.

You know, if it really stinks that much, well, just give up, better let it go! [huh]

That's the best i think.

I do offer my sympathies!

A circa 1956 wool college cardigan I bought really, really had the funk — click here for pic.

Firstly, I tried Febreeze but it just temporarily masked the smell, then it came back.

Then I tried washing the cardigan's armpits with wool/delicates washing liquid, three times in all, but the pong still returned.

In the end, I completely removed the silk linings from the sleeves of the cardigan and liberally doused the armpits with a roughly 50/50 mix of white wine vinegar and water, left it for an hour, and then washed the pits again with the wool/delicates washing liquid. That sorted the smell out!

In addition to the vinegar..you may want to try Biokleen

I have heard good thing about this product... http://biokleenhome.com/products/household/laundry...

I hope this helps.....and is not a stinky idea..

Not to naysay the vodka people. But I expirimented head to head. Bought a wool shirt from a fellow lounger. Bad bad armpit reek. I will give him the benefit of the doubt as to awareness of it

I tried vodka on one arm, baking soda solution on the other.

Wanted to do a second application but my functioning alcoholic roommate drank all my vodka.

made him buy another bottle and did a second application.

Vodka did nothing.

but as said before, baking soda does the trick every time I have had to deal with vintage rank funk.

This is an ancient thread, I know but it's got some excellent info AND it is relevant to what I wanna share.

My recently acquired leather jacket, although near new, smelled of sweat so badly that it wasn't wearable! I've managed to clean out the lining with baby wipes to some extent but the odor was still present and the leather shell stank to high heaven. It was gross.

Was about to give baking soda or vodka trick a try before throwing it in the washing machine but as I was contemplating my next course of action, sitting in front of a fan, I realized the air is blowing the stench all around the room, amplifying it to the extreme. It hit me then, man, there can't be like infinite amounts of stinky molecules inside, right? I mean, they gotta wear off or something otherwise we'd have an infinite source of... Stench!

So, what I did was I applied a heavy coat of Pecards to the armpit area first and then I hung the jacket on a doorknob and left a huge, powerful fan blowing air at it for the whole day. Seemed like a stupid idea at first because this stank up the whole apartment even worse - BUT - I just inspected the jacket and the stench is actually barely noticeable, both on the inside and on the outside which is... Pretty amazing, especially considering how bad it was.

I'm not sure if it's gonna come back so I'll leave the fan running for the rest of the day & tomorrow, but this method just might work. The jacket has been sitting in a wardrobe for years stinking this much but at this point it's actually perfectly wearable.

So this is another method to add to the list, one that's least drastic and one that so far seems to work. To what extent, we'll see but I'll report back tomorrow what's been achieved.

Monitor said:

... It hit me then, man, there can't be like infinite amounts of stinky molecules inside, right? I mean, they gotta wear off or something otherwise we'd have an infinite source of... Stench!....

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LOL

I'll add to the ozone treatment idea. If it is a bacteria problem, which I believe can be re-activated with moisture and/or heat, which is why the smell can come back, then you'll need to kill all that. This is how they sterilize estate tobacco pipes without doing any damage to the wood or stem. 24 hours in an ozone chamber will kill anything that could be the culprit.

https://envronozone.com/vehicle_odors/odor_ozone_dry_cleaning.htm

Throw in trash.