Restoring rubberized cotton?

[kken]

i have an original CIDG pack made out of rubberized cotton however the material is VERY stiff... it's not cracking in anyways but it's very very stiff and has almost no flex whatsoever. is there any way to restore the flexibility at all? someone had suggested soaking it in watered down fabric softener for several days, that did nothing. i've searched these forums before asking so apologies if i've doubleposted an existing topic.

[Bob Hudson]

i have an original CIDG pack made out of rubberized cotton however the material is VERY stiff... it's not cracking in anyways but it's very very stiff and has almost no flex whatsoever. is there any way to restore the flexibility at all? someone had suggested soaking it in watered down fabric softener for several days, that did nothing. i've searched these forums before asking so apologies if i've doubleposted an existing topic.

 

It's not the cloth that's stiff: it's the rubber and the only methods I have seen for attempting to soften rubber would likely damage or stain the cloth. One suggestion you might test on a small area inside the pack is rubbing alcohol: put some on a cloth and dampen the fabric enough that it soaks through to the rubber. But even then I don't think it's going to do much - old rubber is a lot like old leather: it's a decaying organic material and there is no fountain of youth that will reverse the decay (well maybe Dr. Frankenstein could bring it back to life).

 

I have had the WWII USMC rubberized ponchos which had permanent fold lines from stored over the years and for display purposes at least I was able to some of those to soften up by draping the poncho over a step ladder and sitting outside in the sun for several days, but if it had been really stiff I doubt there'd have been any change.

[Bluehawk]

I believe that ^ to be the case as well... some types of rubber artifacts simply do not age well, and so the mission becomes keeping them in a situation and condition in such a way that they do not get moved very often... and are by no means used for anything other than preservation and display.

[Shenkursk]

Was just commenting to a friend recently that I would love to find one of those companies that makes custom scents for perfumes, car air fresheners, etc. Nothing takes me to my happy place quicker than the smell of musty canvas and decaying rubber. Just one of those "aaaahhhhh... the collection" things. My wife got me a bacon scented car air freshener a few years ago, but it is evidently out of juice as now it just looks like sun-faded slab meat on a string. Time to replace it, and 'old WWI gas mask' would be just perfect, but oddly nobody seems to make that flavor yet. One of these days!

 

Unfortunately for the item in question, Forum Support is absolutely correct. With old natural rubber, decay is a one-way street. Natural rubber is particularly sensitive to ozone in the air, which attacks the chemical bonds at a molecular level. This is why you see decay on old tires, rubber gaskets, etc. Attempting to reverse this is kind of like trying to 'unring' a bell. This is something that we need to be conscious of when setting up our collecting rooms. Many of us use air purifiers to keep the dust and other particulate matter down to a minimum, but many air purifiers produce ozone, making the ozone levels in your house or collection room artificially high, and accelerating the decay of any rubber items in the collection. If this is a concern, do a google search on 'ozone free air purifiers' and check out the specs on your model.

 

The trick is to spend your $$ (when possible) on items that have been stored in an environment that did not speed up the decay, and then continue to store them properly so that the next person will have access to nice stuff as well. Using the WWI gas mask analogy (classic case of a piece of equipment designed with rubber fuzed to fabric), I once did a search of our records and found that of the surviving masks that we have had over the years approx. 1 out of 50 remained soft and pliable. As long as that one is stored in a temperature and humidity friendly environment, it should continue to be nice for quite some time to come. The ones that are already 'attic-fried', well - C'est la vie.

[kken]

a friend had suggested using the cotton care nixwax product but i can't find it locally... suppose i can order it online. as i said, it's not cracking at all but the main cargo space and the outer pockets just seem to always hold its shape like it's always full. the shoulder straps and waist tie are stiff as plywood. but the main flap is still flexible. i've seen other rubberized cotton CIDG packs and M3/M5 bags where it was still flexible and pliable. just wanted to see if i could loosen it all up somehow... thanks very much for the insightful lesson.