A bit of help needed with naptha...

[fluteplayer07]

I recently won a hat from eBay, and the seller recommended a naptha bath for the brim. The term keeps popping up as I look around, so after looking it up, I found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naptha
It doesn't sound to me like something I'd want to bathe my Vint. Stetson in. Or have I confused it with this?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha
The latter of the two sounds much more likely, but I have been wrong before. Anyone care to help a fairly new guy out? I'm a tad bit nervous to try this out on a whim, as most of my DIY projects (ie. the fenced off or still smoking ones) usually make a bad situation worse.

Thanks!

 

[cptjeff]

I recently won a hat from eBay, and the seller recommended a naptha bath for the brim. The term keeps popping up as I look around, so after looking it up, I found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naptha
It doesn't sound to me like something I'd want to bathe my Vint. Stetson in. Or have I confused it with this?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha
The latter of the two sounds much more likely, but I have been wrong before. Anyone care to help a fairly new guy out? I'm a tad bit nervous to try this out on a whim, as most of my DIY projects (ie. the fenced off or still smoking ones) usually make a bad situation worse.

Thanks!

The second contains the first. You want to use the first.

The stuff is indeed quite flammable and dangerous, but it evaporates out of the hat afterwards. Napatha was the original dry cleaning fluid, it's what you want to use. You do not want to have any flames or sparks nearby when working with it.

Do a quick search, there are how to threads already on the board.

 

[rmrdaddy]

I thought this was a pretty good tutorial from Magus myself:

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=31647

 

[fluteplayer07]

Thanks for all the help! Much appreciated.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

I followed these instructions to clean a couple of old hats with good results:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=45396

 

[Stan]

Hi,

Naptha used to be known as White Gas, as in gasoline. That was long ago before so many different things were added to the fuel we know today as gasoline.

The best source these days is Coleman Camp Fuel.

Later!

Stan

 

[fluteplayer07]

I'm still a bit nervous about doing it. The entire hat... It seems like it could harm the liner or sweat. But no one else appears to have trouble with it, so maybe I'll pick up a can on the way home tomorrow. Or just send it to be professionally cleaned.

 

[Stan]

Hi,

No, not the entire hat.

You remove the liner, sweatband and hatband first.

Only the felt goes into the bucket of naptha.

That's the cleaning step of cleaning and blocking.

After I clean one, I block it back to an open crown using a hot block. Others use wooden blocks.

One does have to reinstall the sweat, or replace it. It's the same with the hatband and liner. Sometimes one can re-use those things, sometimes one has to replace some or all of it.

I'd suggest starting out with a hat you don't care about to learn the necessary skills.

Oh, and depending on what's soiling the hat, if it's run of the mill dirt (as in Earth) and human sweat, I do well with water and a little Woolite. For something like grease, sometimes a drop or two of Dawn works, too.

I try the water-based solvent tricks before I run off to the bucket of Coleman fuel.

I thought you were simply trying to source Naptha and wondering if it was OK to use on the felt itself.

later!

Stan

 

[fluteplayer07]

I... think calling a professional is a bit easier. Thanks for the input, though!

 

[Mario]

Stan: There is no need to strip the hat. Some like to remove the sweat, the binding, the liner and the ribbon while others (including myself) leave the hat as it is and dunk the whole thing in the Naptha. It may be a good idea to give the sweat a Lexol treatment after the bath but that really dependends on the state of the sweat. I never had any problems with destroyed parts, be it the liner or the sweat or whatever.

 

[Stan]

Hi,

I've had a couple issues with substances in the leather of the sweatband bleed into the felt when leaving the sweat installed. That created more of a cleaning issue than the original soiling I was attempting to remove.

Once I learned how to sew in a sweat from having to replace some here and there, I now just strip the hat all the way down before cleaning.

I'm glad to hear, though, that you've not had this one happen to you!

later!

Stan

 

[gtdean48]

I take out the liner but only flip the sweatband out so it is not next to the felt. Naptha has diluted any liner markings. JMHO...

 

[Sam Craig]

sweat no-sweat?

Stan,

Do you replace sweats by hand?

That seems like it would be an incredible job!

I've seen where you can buy a good replacement leather band for a decent price and there's a hatter about two hours from me who will replace a sweat for about $20, which seems like a good deal, but I never really thought about doing it myself.

I don't mean to get off topic here, but isn't it a big challenge?