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G-1 bad odors--freeze them out

galvestonokie

Active Member
Hi all.

thought i would share a bit of information, and i don't recall seeing this one on the site before. in an earlier post, a funky smelling G-1 that was/is my favorite. i tried airing it out in severe heat (on the Arabian peninsula summer), lots of exposure in direct sunlight in addition to the heat.

i also thought about what someone here described--that (most) odors were caused by bacteria. the sun and heat got about 70% of the odors. i wondered then about freezing them, thinking that prolonged freezing temps should be pretty lethal to bacteria.

i didn't know for sure but tried it. made a place for the said jacket in my freezer section. left the jacket in for 2-3 days. seems to have done the trick. re-froze it a couple of times and odors seem to be gone.

Bob
 

handworn

Active Member
I think I'd be careful of that. Frozen food doesn't taste as good because when the water inside the cells freezes, it expands and bursts the cell membranes. That could be ruinous to a jacket. Of course, I don't know that there's water inside the skin cells of the leather, but there might be.
 

John Lever

Moderator
There shouldn't be any water in leather so freezing is OK. I always do it to older dirty jackets before bringing into the house. Cold shock is the only sure way to kill bed bugs that are pesticide resistant. There has been a huge rise in infestations over the past few years, once you have them I believe the problem can be difficult to solve.
It's also good to kill woodworm this way if the freezer is big enough.
Just remember not to flex the jacket when it is frozen as this could crack the leather.
 
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