Save your old hats!

[Alex175 784]

I like hats, mostly your standard style baseball cap, but I've collected a bunch of all types over the years.  From hats for my favorite sports teams (go Broncos and Red Sox!) to promo hats from my company as well as from industry friends, and my one nice going out hat (a newsboy cap I bought with my winnings in Vegas one year). I'm also someone that starts to sweat the minute I do the slightest bit of labor, and the type of labor I am doing, typically yard work or in the garage, is not always cleanest form of labor.  That means that all of the cool hats I have collected over the years had one thing in common.  They got dirty, and they got dirty quickly.

 

For years as a hat would get to where it was too dirty to wear in public it would get shelved with the thought of "I hope one day I can figure out the right way to clean them."  Like with any project though procrastination often won the battle, at least until this past weekend.  While cleaning the house I found one of my treasure troves of ball caps and decided enough was enough, I got on YouTube and looked up the ancient art of stripping clothes.  I'm sure more than a few of you are aware of the process for stripping clothes, but it was an entirely new concept to me.  So I ran to the store after work to grab the supplies, thankfully checking with my wife first as we already had some of them, and then practiced the craft this weekend.  Thankfully my laundry room has a deep stainless steel sink, so I used that for the process instead of a bathtub and it worked flawlessly.  By the end of the weekend I washed 19 hats, of that there is only 1 that still doesn't look great, and 3 more that are fairly sun faded but otherwise quite clean.  The other 15 however look practically brand new!

 

Now, for anyone who is interested in this process itself, here's what I did.

 

"Recipe"

• 1/8 cup Arm & Hammer Laundry Booster
• 1/8 cup Borax
• 1/8 cup Oxyclean
• 1/2 cup Clothes washing detergent (specifically I use Gain liquid detergent)
• Couple splashes of white vinegar

 

Steps

1. Fill the sink with hot water
2. Add the various ingredients, not all are needed, the base recipe is the detergent, borax, and laundry booster.  I added vinegar and Oxyclean to help mitigate odors that had built in the hats from sitting.
3. Let sit for about an hour, I then scrubbed each hat lightly with a soft bristle brush to help remove any material on the hat, especially the salt lines from sweat
4. After scrubbing let sit an additional 2-4 hours
5. Drain sink and rinse hats one by one
6. Hang to dry

 

The first batch I only did 3 hats, in different colors, styles, and materials.  I only did 3 as a test so in case they got ruined I didn't lose a lot of hats.

Here's a hat by hat, first the before, then the after.

 

 

 

 

It seems like wherever there was a massive buildup of sweat/salt, it was then easier for the hat to be sun damaged.  I think by cleaning my hats with this method earlier and often it will help to keep them looking new and fresh for much longer.  This process will now be a regular part of my laundry that I will do every few months.

 

Here's the sink during the progress

Fresh hot water, all loaded up

 

Added cleaners and mixed

 

After an hour of soaking.

 

 

Also I bought this fantastic little "drying rack" from Ikea years ago, and it is finally coming in handy. Never used it much before but it's perfect for drying hats.

 

And that's it.  Sorry for the long post but I was really excited by what I was able to do in getting these hats cleaned up and able to be worn regularly again.  It was a lot easier than I expected, and I am super happy with the results.  I figured there might be other people that have thought to do this, and if so I hope my information helps!

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

I just toss mine in the warshin' musheen.

 

 

[WHX?? 48,815]

Thanks Alex 

A ball cap in our tractor bunch is always part of the uniform of the day so we are all cap heavy. 

 

24 minutes ago, Jeff-C175 said:

I just toss mine in the warshin' musheen along with my wallet which my wife finds and takes that Jackson earmarked for a supporter...

 

 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,299]

For years before Mrs. El could not travel, we would attend her family reunion in S. W. Pa. There was always a Bingo game or some other game going on between eating and visiting. One year we leave on the way back to her aunt's house, she pulls out this white plastic things and says I won this you have any idea what it is? I said a white plastic thing. I got the look. She asks her aunt . Her aunt smiles and says that is a holder to wash baseball caps. Put the cap in the plastic load in dishwasher and you end up with a clean hat.

[pfrederi 17,739]

Gimme Caps... Back 2001 just moved up here only had a L-107 but lots of acreage to me.  Went to local JD dealer bought a new JD GT235.  Didn't negotiate paid tag price $5k.  Wrote the check as he was finishing paper work I commented on the JD caps on the shelf said one would be nice for my wife...His comment "Hats are $7" 

[TonyToro Jr. 1,427]

I’m gunna try it for some of my hats especially for this one

 

 

 

 

 

(its suppose to be dark green)

[The Freightliner Guy 1,327]

1 minute ago, TonyToro Jr. said:

I’m gunna try it for some of my hats especially for this one

 

 

 

 

 

(its suppose to be dark green)

wht the heck has that been through has it been pooped on lol man thats dirty 

[TonyToro Jr. 1,427]

Just now, The Freightliner Guy said:

wht the heck has that been through has it been pooped on lol man thats dirty 

Nope just a few years of hot sweaty summers lol

[pacer 3,171]

So one time I asked the bride if she thought putting my cap in the washing machine would be OK----- Heavens NO!! put it in the dishwasher ..... she was right ... of course!!

[squonk 41,118]

Commercial dish washers are great for cleaning all sorts of stuff if it fits in the machine!  

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

5 hours ago, squonk said:

Commercial dish washers are great for cleaning all sorts of stuff if it fits in the machine!  

 

Kohler engine blocks?  I bet!  ...

 

 

[squonk 41,118]

6 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Kohler engine blocks?  I bet!  ...

 

 

Along with pump castings, ceiling vents, hand tools ect..

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

4 hours ago, squonk said:

Along with pump castings, ceiling vents, hand tools ect..

 

Hmmm... now ya got me thinking... next time I see a dishwasher at the street...................

 

 

[pfrederi 17,739]

1 hour ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Hmmm... now ya got me thinking... next time I see a dishwasher at the street...................

 

 

 

 I have made good use out of an free Kitchen stove out tin the workshop.  Hot water for dishwasher would be a problem....

[Jeff-C175 7,202]

33 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

Hot water for dishwasher would be a problem....

 

I do have a hot water faucet on the back porch I could tap into.  Make a mobile cart for the DW and run a hose to it from the porch.

 

I also have a coal fired hot water heater!  Basically a small pot belly stove with a water jacket... That would take some doing to produce the quantity of HW that would be needed though!

 

 

[squonk 41,118]

Final rinse temps on a commercial washer is 180-195° Gets thing nice and clean!