Anybody have any good methods of ridding Featherweight cases of mildew. There isn't a lot, but I can see some spores. I've left it out in the sun for the moment. I saw somewhere else here that it was recommended to wipe out interior with 1/2 bleach 1/2 water, but I would think the bleach would ruin the fabric lining.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated. :)

If you put "mildew smell in featherweight case" into the search function above, there are several suggestions. Good luck with it!

Thanks! I have some actual mildew spores as well and they are what was worrying me.

Oh dear! I hope you can get them out!!

How about good old Lysol spray. It kills molds and won't bleach out the fabric.

My case still stinks a little after baking the case in the summer sun for weeks during the mid day.....Done the lysol, baking soda, ect...I'm thinking about replacing the fabric.

No spores that I can see...just a bit of odor.

thanks

If you can't use bleach, spray with vinegar.

Thanks for all the ideas. I have it baking in the sun right now, but I'm going to get a 200W light bulb for tomorrow.

I read somewhere that you could put a bar of "Safeguard" in to get out the smell.... but that doesn't rid you of the mold.... you might try Lysol followed by the Safeguard. and see if that doesn't work..

When our van broke down right after we moved over to the Oregon coast and bought our house, The back door on the van had not been totally closed and we didn't know it. And since it seemed to rain over there all the time, rain and moisture had gotten inside that door and the red carpeting inside half the length of the van was MAJORLY MAJORLY moldy and mildewed even up the side of the one wall. I called EVERYWHERE to find out how to get rid of it. And this is what we were told by a car lot that does detail work... Try to dry it out if you can first and then Get a spray bottle and fill it 1/2 way up with regular old rubbing alcohol and the other half of water and go and spray everywhere on the carpet that has the mold and mildew. Wear face mask, and brush it off and then spray it again Let it dry and repeat if needed. This particular car dealer I called says that is what they do to all the cars and trucks that have mold or mildew in them.
We had mold growing inside one of our closets at the top of the stairs right next to our front door that we rarely even open and one day my husband was in there and saw the whole right side and half of the back wall in it moldy...yelled to me to get the mold spray and I did and sprayed it and wiped the walls down and to this day have never had anymore mold in there nor is there any in the van that we are still driving and this was back in 2003. So give it a try...it can't hurt and you can buy the alcohol at the dollar store.

Airwick's solution (no pun intended!) sounds great! After you get rid of the mold spores, you might want to put a pair of Odoreaters brand charcoal shoe insoles inside the case. That's what I do. The charcoal keeps the case sweet-smelling and also cushions the machine.

I've got lots of alcohol around. I'll give that a try tomorrow. I was actually wondering if something like that would work. It's essentially the basic ingredient of hand sanitizers.

Thanks!

While stationed in the UK I bought a old curio cabinet that smelled to high heaven. I scrubbed it with everything you can think of. Dragged it in and out of the sun. Still if it was closed up it would stink,,,just not as bad. When we packed out I put some bunches of dried flower inside of the cabinet so they wouldn't get crushed. To my surprise when I unpacked the cabinet a few weeks later it didn't stink.
Now if I run into something like that I clean it and then put a bowl full of potpourri in it and close the door for a few weeks.

200Watts sounds a bit hot, you won't want to start a fire. Why not try the slow bake approach. Dave, the "Those fantastic FW's" author, suggests about a 25w light bulb mounted to a wood board, and be sure it doesn't come in physical contact with the sides anywhere. propping the lid closed (except for the cord coming out) for several hours. He suggests checking on it as well, & not leaving it unattended for fire safety. Just cut your board a bit smaller than the bottom of your case, mount a ceramic "lampholder" to the wood, wire it with a lampcord with a plug (wire must be rated for the wattage of the bulb you plan to use). Screw in your lightbulb, set it all in the case, plug it in, pull the chain to turn on the light & close lid... but Please don't use a 200 Watt bulb! I believe he also used a diluted mixture of bleach & water as a fine mist spray prior to the lightbulb treatment being put in place.
Similar to: http://www.lightinguniverse.com/prod...72785&cse=1658 Home depot/Lowe's has these for less I'm sure. You could probably get one @ a Habitat Restore cheaply. I advise the pull-chain variety if you don't like the arc when plugging & unplugging things.

Thanks for the ideas!

to restore mildew in antigues not sure about case. But if you take charcoal (plain) and close it ,we used to this with old books and some storage boxes.

I put several dryer sheets inside and left it for a week, ten opened and set in direct sunlight for several days. It worked and got rid of all the musty smell. Keep a dryer sheet in the bottom now. hope that helps.

I got the 200W figure from the McCallum website, but then on another website quoting the same person the wattage was 150. He recommends a mechanics cage light but I was more to your way of thinking with a ceramic base.

I think however, I'm going to try the alcohol spray first and see if that takes care of it. Or maybe alcohol and a lower wattage heat source. If it were anything else, I'd just douse it with bleach.

Thanks again everyone, for all your suggestions. I'll let you know how my experiments turn out.

Sunshine & febreeze will do the trick.

vinegar.....having lived in the SOUTH for many years and even on the Med in Italy everyone knows you use vinegar to kill mold spores...it even removes the stains from cloth!

and 200watts...really....I think 25 or even 40 would be more than enough...any more than that and the heat could damage the fabric lining and destroy the glue that is holding it!

but I would skip it and spray with water/vinegar, set in sun and then add the charcoal odor eaters!

I keep a "dryer" sheet in mine when closed for any amount of time...I would spray with lysol and then wipe carefully til gone..

Car flooded years ago. I put old newspapers crinkled up in the floorboard. They did the trick. There were not any spores, yet, just an awful smell.

Try stuffing it with crinkled newspaper. Change the paper frequently. The smell will absorb into the paper. (Also, when we had a flood in this area in 1976 - farmers suggested straw or hay in the cars to get the smell out of it.) Just a suggestion, haven't tried it, but a we had a musty smell in a small refrigerator freezer, stuck the paper crumbled all around, and when you take the paper out -- the musty smell is in the paper not the freezer. No chemicals. Just a thought.

Why don't you try using Arm and hammer backing soda wash in hot water. I have a side table that is really old and stunk really bad and I washed it with it and set it in the sun and the smell went away. Just a note about mold make sure you use rubber gloves as you can get sick from it.

I have a mild allergy to mold and mildew which is why I need to get rid of it. So far the vinegar seems to be doing something. It's still damp and sitting in the sun so I won't know for a while, but I suspect there will still be some residual odors. It's a shame because I know it was a single owner and she is a beautiful little Centennial in really good shape for her age and I got her for under $200 with most of the original attachments and instruction book. The only problem is the case.

try putting a piece of charcoal in the case for awhile I keep a piece in my case all the time to keep the mildew smell away

I picked up a complete (including table), well used and very smelly Featherweight Centennial for $99 at a local charity shop in 2009. I read everything I could and the best info came from the car guys. A friend told me recently that the odor in the case is from an animal based glue used on the cases made in the US. Here is what I have done...housed it in our loft space, open case during the coldest time of winter. Bake it in the heat on the hottest driest days. After that treatment and being closed up during our humid season the mold spores reappeared. In frustration I took a bleach wipe to it and have had no problems since.

Keep several unwrapped bars of soap in the case. They will absorb the odor.

I'm going to try the bleach wipe in mine! Thanks for the info!

That's what I do for closed areas etc. at my shore place after the winter but I was concerned with bleaching the interior lining of the case. Does it affect it?

I used the diluted bleach wipe-down in my case, and it didn't discolor at all... Helped a lot with the stink.

I used Fabree and set it out in the sun for a few days. You can also just open the empty case and use Fabree. It worked for me.

If it is just the smell that bothers you ,take a small cotton ball or end of a q-tip and put a small drop of oil of peppermint on it. This will have to be placed inside of the machine where it will not interfere with the mechanism and can be retrieved at a later time. I had a rat crawl into the squirrel cage fan of my truck and die, in the hot summer. Even when the body was removed the smell was horrendous. Using the peppermint made it bearable until the smell went away. This oil can be bought in the pharmacy section of most stores.

When I first bought mine it had that "smell". I went to Dave McCollum's FW maintenance class and learned what to do. I did the light bulb thing for 8 hours and did the bleach/water mixture also. Elmer's white glue really works patching tears in the fabric or where it's coming off the wood anywhere on the case. We did the shoe polish shine and it's beautiful when done. He recommended making small bags of muslin/scrap fabric and fill with shredded Dial soap. I have 3 in my case that I refill every so often. Then somewhere I read that those silicone packages you get in shoes, purses, electronics, etc. are good to place in the box when closed to help with the moisture--the enemy of the old horse glue used on the cases when made. Good luck and it does work so you can have a nice smelling case.

Set a can of freshly open coffee in the box.
This method is used in cars that have had decomposed bodies in them and it works very well.

newspapper will help take the smell out also

I cleaned my good with Murphy's oil soap and then let it sit in the sun all day for two or three different times. I then wrap net around Irish Spring soap and kept in the case when close. I have 5 three with cases and this worked on all of the cases.

How about charcoal? I know it will remove some of that meldew smell. Good Luck.