Cap Cleaning

[RayR]

Please share with me your thoughts and experiences with Crusher Cap cleaning. In particular with the Flighter style which has the cover attached to the body of the hat and can't be removed to wash.

I have a khaki and a gaberdine Flighter that both could use a bit of cleaning to get out dirt and water (looking) stain marks. I am concerned about messing up the inner lining of the cover. I also see occasional, what appear to be, grease marks...darker spots.

Can you safely iron these? How would you do it? Basically, If I were wearing these in service, how do I keep it maintained? :geek: :?:

Also, Any good ways to fix moth holes in Khaki besides sewing, which leaves an obvious stitch?
For wool, I am considering something that worked on WWII RAF Great Coat's...get a very small bit of the original wool from a hidden corner, chop it super fine, and mix with white (or similar) glue. Put in place and let it dry. If done properly, it makes the hole disappear. I have also had a tailor put in a stitch...a solid repair. And there is the "reweave" option where they can actually hand weave the hole closed...Very Expensive and I have not tried it. Hard enough to find someone who can actually do it.

 

[a2jacketpatches]

I use a product for cleaning my airbrushes, MEDEA Airbrush cleaner. Just last week had a dirty ribbon bar, soaked it with this stuff for about an hour, then blasted it with the airbrush loaded with water. I know you probably don't have an airbrush but the stuff works wonders anyway. A great pre-treater for the washing machine as well, better than anything you've ever used. It'll remove those light oil spots from fabric, blood, etc. I've used it to clean countless items over the years and would be my first thought on a light colored crusher. Just pre-treat it and rinse with water. Maybe even use a spray bottle to blast the stain in place of the airbrush. This stuff is used to break down dried acrylic paint but tears up everything else without removing color or damaging the fabric. Really is a miracle cleaner.

 

[RayR]

I use a product for cleaning my airbrushes, MEDEA Airbrush cleaner... Really is a miracle cleaner.

Thanks, sounds too good to be true. I will give it a go!

 

[RayR]

I use a product for cleaning my airbrushes, MEDEA Airbrush cleaner. Just last week had a dirty ribbon bar, soaked it with this stuff for about an hour, then blasted it with the airbrush loaded with water. I know you probably don't have an airbrush but the stuff works wonders anyway. A great pre-treater for the washing machine as well, better than anything you've ever used. It'll remove those light oil spots from fabric, blood, etc. I've used it to clean countless items over the years and would be my first thought on a light colored crusher. Just pre-treat it and rinse with water. Maybe even use a spray bottle to blast the stain in place of the airbrush. This stuff is used to break down dried acrylic paint but tears up everything else without removing color or damaging the fabric. Really is a miracle cleaner.

...but how do you handle soaking when the cover is not removable? And what about the plastic, or rather, gum protective lining inside the cover?

 

[a2jacketpatches]

I don't mean soak the whole cap in the stuff, but I would spay the entire fabric portion and then blast the spots. It works well with the airbrush using high pressure, about 100 PSI but you may get similar results with a spray bottle on stream setting. Then I would just dunk the whole cap in warm water to rinse and let it drip dry, good time to form it as well.