All The Gear No Idea
Well-Known Member
Yes, I messed up my expensive new(ish) oilies by brushing against the tip of the tube of Sikaflex I had been using. It was late in the day and the light was failing, so this misdemeanour went unnoticed until the following day and after the stuff had cured. Exasperating!
So I scraped off all I could, ending up with several small white marks, the largest being about a centimetre in diameter.
I set about gently scraping these with my thumbnail, being careful not to damage the fabric. A little more Sikaflex came away.
I was advised to try leaving the jacket in the freezer and then repeating this exercise, but the tiny amounts remained firmly fixed after this attempt
Then on a very small area, I tried in succession, Fairy liquid, cellulose thinners, white spirit and then methylated spirit. None of thes made any difference whatsoever.
In despair I went and had a look in my cupboard for some Isporopryl alcohol, but this had run out. Looming in the back of the cupboard was an old bottle of UPVC window cleaner. I thought it would be worth a shot. So I set about the same small patch and applied a small amount of this stuff with a cloth and gently rubbed it in. Lo and behold, the Sikaflex began to dissolve, albeit rather slowly. Once again I gently rubbed the affected area with a finger nail and repeated the light saturation of the offending patch. Within a minute or two, all that remained was a very very slight stain which you could barely see. One more go removed the stain entirely. I set about all of the other marks and my coat is now back to A1 condition. Who would have believed it? UPVC cleaner! I have no idea what is in this stuff, but there's definitely a whiff of Isopropryl alcohol about it.
If you ruin a good garment like I did, you could try and contact the manufacturer to see where you could get some of this 'gear' and to get them to confirm if it is safe to use on your chosen garment.
I've no idea if they still trade at this address, but the bottle has MW Building Plastics LTD, Unit 2, Brookmead Industrial Estate, Croydon, CRO 4TS written on it.
Good luck, but enter into this entirely at your own risk.
So I scraped off all I could, ending up with several small white marks, the largest being about a centimetre in diameter.
I set about gently scraping these with my thumbnail, being careful not to damage the fabric. A little more Sikaflex came away.
I was advised to try leaving the jacket in the freezer and then repeating this exercise, but the tiny amounts remained firmly fixed after this attempt
Then on a very small area, I tried in succession, Fairy liquid, cellulose thinners, white spirit and then methylated spirit. None of thes made any difference whatsoever.
In despair I went and had a look in my cupboard for some Isporopryl alcohol, but this had run out. Looming in the back of the cupboard was an old bottle of UPVC window cleaner. I thought it would be worth a shot. So I set about the same small patch and applied a small amount of this stuff with a cloth and gently rubbed it in. Lo and behold, the Sikaflex began to dissolve, albeit rather slowly. Once again I gently rubbed the affected area with a finger nail and repeated the light saturation of the offending patch. Within a minute or two, all that remained was a very very slight stain which you could barely see. One more go removed the stain entirely. I set about all of the other marks and my coat is now back to A1 condition. Who would have believed it? UPVC cleaner! I have no idea what is in this stuff, but there's definitely a whiff of Isopropryl alcohol about it.
If you ruin a good garment like I did, you could try and contact the manufacturer to see where you could get some of this 'gear' and to get them to confirm if it is safe to use on your chosen garment.
I've no idea if they still trade at this address, but the bottle has MW Building Plastics LTD, Unit 2, Brookmead Industrial Estate, Croydon, CRO 4TS written on it.
Good luck, but enter into this entirely at your own risk.
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