How To STRIP A JERSEY 101

[mfitz804]

6 minutes ago, Hockey Bob said:

My iron has a "cotton" setting on it

I typically wet the fabric, get lots of steam going and run it over a few times. (Never let it sit) 
To be extra careful, lay a t-shirt over the area 

Slow and steady - Regret is a wicked B*tch 

Just keep in mind, if your ironing through a T-shirt on top of glue, you may wind up with glue on the T-shirt. Use one you don’t care about.

[Hockey Bob]

Good call, 
I typically have old junk t-shirts that I use so that didn't cross my mind. 
Although, I don't recall ever seeing glue - I know others have said they did. 

[KB67]

5 minutes ago, Hockey Bob said:

Good call, 
I typically have old junk t-shirts that I use so that didn't cross my mind. 
Although, I don't recall ever seeing glue - I know others have said they did. 

Thanks guys. I’ll give it a shot 

[KB67]

45 minutes ago, Hockey Bob said:

Good call, 
I typically have old junk t-shirts that I use so that didn't cross my mind. 
Although, I don't recall ever seeing glue - I know others have said they did. 

Has anyone ever used a pressure washer to try and remove residue from a jersey? Do you think it would rip or tear the jersey? Maybe I’ll try it on a shirt or something first.....

[Hockey Bob]

Have not tried that, probably wouldn't 
Too much room for error for me 

[TMLFAN]

11 hours ago, KB67 said:

I wasn’t able to get to an Acklands Grainger store to get the fight back, so I picked up the one from Home Depot call Krud Cutter Graffiti Remover. Was the fight back and aerosol or just a normal spray? This one is just a normal spray like the Goof Off. Have you ever tried this one? Did you experience any colour bleeding with the product? 
 

I only have a small amount of residue left I haven’t been able to get out, and don’t want to risk damaging the jersey over such a small amount of residue. Here is what I have remaining, do you think the graffiti remover would do the trick?

 

Fight back is an aerosol.  I’m not sure if it would get it out or not but it’s an option if you want to try it.  Honestly it looks pretty much gone in the pics you posted so if I was in your position I would get the new numbers I want to put on and test fit them to the jersey to see what your left with.  Maybe what’s left now will be covered by the new stuff and you won’t have to worry about it.

[KB67]

22 minutes ago, TMLFAN said:

Fight back is an aerosol.  I’m not sure if it would get it out or not but it’s an option if you want to try it.  Honestly it looks pretty much gone in the pics you posted so if I was in your position I would get the new numbers I want to put on and test fit them to the jersey to see what your left with.  Maybe what’s left now will be covered by the new stuff and you won’t have to worry about it.

Boeser would be my 1st choice:

Then either Hughes or Horvat:

 

I did run into another issue tonight. I had decided that I was good with going with the Boeser Kit, and when I pressed the name bar down, the colours were not really close. The name bar is on black air knit, and it doesn’t really match well with the Adidas MiC black, the Adidas MiC material almost has a shine to it, while the air knit material looked totally dull, and almost brown when matched up against it, so now I’m going to be in a holding pattern into I can secure some Adidas material for a name bar. I may just end up seeing if I can get a super cheap black MiC practice jersey that I can cut up for name plates.....

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by KB67

[FrontYardSpecial]

Anyone ever strip felt numbers before? I had Liebe customize a Blues Winter Classic jersey a while back and the customization was pretty sloppy e.g. skipped stitches, stitched over size tag while sewing down nameplate, crooked sleeve numbers, etc. Thought I could deal with it since they’re the official team customizer but it’s one of my favorite jerseys and these things drive me nuts so now I’m hoping to have it redone. 

I intend on re-using the kit and already stripped the threads on the numbers and nameplate (no pulls or damage, I’m pretty good at stripping😏) but there are a few other things holding me up. 

After I stripped the threads, it turns out the edges of the sleeve numbers and captain’s C are somewhat stuck down. The back numbers basically fell off, barely any leftover glue residue whatsoever. I’m hesitant to use any chemicals like acetone or Goof Off because the numbers have a plastic-like backing and I don’t want to melt or dissolve it (or damage the felt). 

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I might try light acetone inside the jersey directly on the back of the sleeve numbers. Just hope I don’t destroy the felt in the process. 

[KB67]

On 1/5/2020 at 10:59 PM, KB67 said:

Boeser would be my 1st choice:

Then either Hughes or Horvat:

 

I did run into another issue tonight. I had decided that I was good with going with the Boeser Kit, and when I pressed the name bar down, the colours were not really close. The name bar is on black air knit, and it doesn’t really match well with the Adidas MiC black, the Adidas MiC material almost has a shine to it, while the air knit material looked totally dull, and almost brown when matched up against it, so now I’m going to be in a holding pattern into I can secure some Adidas material for a name bar. I may just end up seeing if I can get a super cheap black MiC practice jersey that I can cut up for name plates.....

 

Ended up sending all (3) of MiC Warm Up Jerseys to Central Crests in Vancouver, as they have the MiC material for the name bars, and they turned out fantastic. Material is a 100% match.

 

Boeser Skate Jersey

Hughes Military Jersey

Horvat “V” Jersey

Hughes 70’s Stick in Rink

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by KB67

[Phil the Thrill]

Wow. Those are terrific. Came out great. 

[KB67]

5 hours ago, Phil the Thrill said:

Wow. Those are terrific. Came out great. 

Thanks. Had a bit of a mishap with the Acetone when working on the Military Jersey. When I was working the adhesive off the back of the jersey, the Acetone worked it’s way through the towel I had inside the jersey, which I thought would be enough to prevent it from going through, which, it wasn’t. The Acetone soaked through, and with the crest on these military being like a rubberized paint, it started eating away at the logo, causing significant damage. I was able to repair it fairly well, with of all things, White Out, the colour match was perfect and the texture was very similar. So, just a PSA for anyone else working on one of these, putting something else in between in addition to a towel, I ended up wrapping my large cutting board in the towel, then put that inside the jersey, and that did the trick. Here’s a before and after of the damage:

 

[JJM4]

I've missed all the communications of the past month in here, and I gotta say it's pretty nice progress you've made on those Canucks.  Great work, they came out awesome.

I too have one jersey I regret having soaked acetone through into a twill crest on the front.  It's left a mini shadow in the white of a North Stars crest.  I can live with it, though I could probably just replace the white twill if I ever need another project.

 

 

[2011BruinsIn7]

I successfully stripped my first Jersey recently and am waiting for it to return home from the customizer. It was a great learning experience: the strip was easy, but the residue removal took FOREVER. I have an old retail 1.0 (Boston home) I’d like to have stripped and cleaned, but would prefer to just ship it out and leave it to a professional.

Are there any shops that would strip and clean a jersey, but return it to me blank? I’m less concerned about turnaround time - I just want it to come back clean.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions!

[furiousd]

There's a guy on FB who specializes in jersey restoration.  He's done some pretty tricky jobs, and I'm sure he'd do a normal strip.  I've never used him, but I think you're probably looking at about 80 bucks minimum with shipping.

[mdwsta4]

On 3/10/2020 at 10:10 AM, furiousd said:

There's a guy on FB who specializes in jersey restoration.  He's done some pretty tricky jobs, and I'm sure he'd do a normal strip.  I've never used him, but I think you're probably looking at about 80 bucks minimum with shipping.

I’ve used him for a project I didn’t want to mess with. Solid results, reasonable prices. Would use again

Edited March 11, 2020 by mdwsta4

[KB67]

1 hour ago, mdwsta4 said:

I’ve used him for a project I didn’t want to mess with. Solid results, reasonable prices. Would use again

Did you ever ask him about removing the crest from the Adidas Practice Jersey at all?

[mdwsta4]

3 hours ago, KB67 said:

Did you ever ask him about removing the crest from the Adidas Practice Jersey at all?

I want to say I brought it up and he was stumped as well. Honestly, it was about a year ago so I don't recall. Pretty sure I did though

[TMLFAN]

15 hours ago, mdwsta4 said:

I’ve used him for a project I didn’t want to mess with. Solid results, reasonable prices. Would use again

Same, he got out stuff my usuall methods with acetone/goof off wouldn't budge.  

[Princess of Whalers]

Jersey challenge.

I picked up this signed Fedorov Ultrafil jersey in unworn condition.  As many of you will instantly spot, the font is wrong on the name and the "1" has a missing serif.  I would like to correct that with new numbers and a name sized to accommodate the signature.

I happened to have a 3.5 inch "Fedorov" from a white jersey kit. I will need to size it down just a smidge.

I am simply not a personality type to leave it as it is.

So what is the consensus on the best way to get heat-set twill off that will not damage the signature or cause runs in the Ultrafil?  I really appreciate hearing some opinions.

I'm slightly confused because the thread starts out with vinyl heat-set numbers. Is there a way other than gently pulling with the iron-on adhesive?

I did buy a white LaFontaine circa 1991 Sabres jersey the other day, one with really oversized customization, to practice on.

[Brilliant!]

Turn it inside out and try to pull the material directly behind the numbers away from the twill. If it does, you might be able to get it off clean. The downside to all of this is that even if it all does come off, you might not have a perfectly clean back. And since everything is totally inaccurate, there's no guarantee that the new and correct set will cover everything up. You could use a solvent to get any possible residue off but then you run the risk of damaging the autograph. I've cleaned up old ultrafil successfully before in some cases and then I've also made things much worse in others. It's definitely a crapshoot.

[Princess of Whalers]

Thanks, Brilliant.

After I put my daughter to bed, I decided to test one number.  It came off easily enough with very slow, gentle pulling that I stripped half the numbers.

The Utrafil suffered no damage. As you can see in the photos, they all left an almost uniform white residue.  I'm hoping full-size (12') men's letters will cover it.

I used slimcutta's advice on a blunt seam ripper to to do the stitching.  I just quickly filed and sanded one down that I had

I'm going to try cleaning inside the residue boundary.  I still can't tell if these were sticker numbers or iron-on, the uniformity suggests the later.  They weren't the best quality in any case.

I decided I can live with only correcting numbers if the residue is not gently removable with a careful spot solvent because even custom cut, the letters will be at a totally different orientation.

 

[Hockey Bob]

14 hours ago, Princess of Whalers said:

I decided I can live with only correcting numbers if the residue is not gently removable with a careful spot solvent because even custom cut, the letters will be at a totally different orientation.

There is no way a road red Ultrafil should have any difficulty cleaning that up.
If someone else does not respond today I will reach out to you via PM and we'll get that one cleaned up.
Seriously, that will come clean.

[Brilliant!]

Before you dive into the world of solvents, try something relatively easy. Get an old t-shirt that you can cut up the side. Once you do, put one of the sides over the removed area and hit it with a hot and steamy iron. Use some pressure and keep it moving constantly. That should...SHOULD remove a lot of what's there now. 

[Phil the Thrill]

Not sure if this is the best place for this, but I wanted to share it somewhere...

Back in 2013 I had EPS do a 2007-2010 Toronto Maple Leafs home 2.0. When I received it back, the outer edges of the back numbers only had a greenish hue to them. For a variety of dumb reasons such as not wanting to pick a fight with Josh, I never sent it back to them. I've sort of just forgot about it until today when I decided to strip it. This is what was on the other side:

And the nameplate.

I'm almost certain this is the adhesive reacting with the blue jersey. I've never seen anything like this before. Other than a couple spots small spots of glue that'll come out no problem with Acetone, the jersey is super clean and there is no previous signs of whatever this green residue is.

[Van67]

Any advice on how to get this residue out? I've gone three rounds of VLR and one round of acetone. Tried the handheld steamer, which did absolutely nothing. I'm getting worried that any more chemicals will take some of the blue out of the jersey . A new kit will cover some, but not all. The spot on the fight strap is especially stubborn.