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Web Gear Cleaning


Acadien359
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Hello everybody,

 

A few tips I've discovered over the years, most purely by accident, as a result of finding militaria in old barns, attics, garages, and other places where it can get really dirty over the years.

 

DUST. Concerning very dusty web gear, I've found that a dry, stiff bristle brush is ideal for cleaning dusty gear. Only problem with this idea is that while it cleans the dust off and greatly improves its appearance, it also tends to rub quite a bit of dust into the fabric as well. Last week end I picked up a decent, well-marked NASCO 1944 pistol belt which was very dusty. After giving it the brush treatment and seeing that there was still room for improvement, an idea hit me. Why not use the small hand-held brush attachment on a vacuum cleaner? Works like a champ. Not to mention the bristles on the vac brush are softer and less injurious to the fabric. The idea will probably work good on dusty GI shoes such as roughout service shoes and M1943 boots.

 

RUST. We've all found nice web gear with rust stains from hanging on a nail in a barn for 60-plus years, or with little rust "freckles" from where other gear hardware had laid on the fabric. WHINK rust remover is a good solution, especially on light stains. However, there are several precautions: [1] works best on gear which has already been used and has a certain degree of fading [best not to use on unissued gear since the fabric has to be thoroughly flushed with water to remove the WHINK, which will result in fading]. And be sure you thoroughly flush the treated area with water to remove all the WHINK, otherwise it will rot the fabric. [2] Some dye types do not react well to WHINK and will actually change color. Only gear I've ever had this problem with is khaki/OD #3 gear with a slight greyish tint--a lot of WW2 USMC web gear is made of this color of canvas. Best to experiment on some trashed out pieces of gear or fabric before working on a nice piece of gear.

 

STAINS. Water stains on canteen covers, that light [and sometimes dark] brown staining, or freckling, or just plain staining, that seems to spontaneously generate on khaki uniform twill over the years...finally found a solution to that problem. Any of the powdered oxidizing solutions you can find in the laundry department of your local grocery store works great! It takes a little trial and error to figure out how best to use the stuff, and, as mentioned with the WHINK treatment, best not to use this idea on unissued gear, or gear with a nice dark color. However, it works great on gear or clothing which is already used and/or somewhat faded. Thoroughly soak the piece in question in warm water, take it out, dump in a couple of scoops of oxy powder, and put the item back in for about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes it might take several treatments to remove all stains, and some stains might need a direct application of powder. And don't forget to thoroughly rinse after the treatment is done, and air dry the item.

 

GREASE. Not much I've found that will take care of bad grease stains on cotton webbing. However, I have found that on nylon web gear, such as M1967 and ALICE, foaming bathroom spray does a good job of removing grease stains. Only problem is--don't spray ink stamped US/contract markings, as the foam does an equally good job of removing the markings! As above, thoroughly rinse after the treatment and air dry.

 

Anyway, hope this helps out, and if anybody has any other ideas, comments, or improvements, let's hear 'em!

 

Thanks Alan

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  • 1 month later...

Very good informative post. I can attest to similar results about Whink, while it does work, it can lead to color changes (fading).

 

Regards,

stijn

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  • 1 year later...

Hi,

 

Just wanted to add some information. I recently acquired an 1872 canteen with a canvas duck cover. One of the previous owners had marked his name on this vintage canteen (cover) in yellow paint. It ruined the appearance of the cover, but I was afraid to try and remove the lettering. I decided to try some masking tape to try and "lift" the lettering off of the fabric. With patience I was able to remove most of the yellow paint without damaging the fabric.

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