Ridding cotton tent cloth musty smell?

[andybysea]

I have got hold of a Messager French 70's cotton tent, plan is to use the material which is egyptian cotton, earth brown, and water just runs off, to make a windproof smock(well my mate's girlfriend is). The trouble is as its so old and been in storage for so long, it has managed to take on the smell of old webbing(the smell you got in a army surplus store of the time).Would washing it in say nix wax wash then reproof be ok for tent cloth, or airing it for a fare while outside be a better option?

 

[mrcharly]

Air, wash in soap flakes (or nikwash cotton or techwash).

Don't expect it to be as waterproof when used as clothing. Old cotton tents leaked if you touched the wet fabric.

 

[andybysea]

cheer's, if the weather was decent(although i do live in Scotland so that's rare) i would defo go down the air out option, as there is a lot of material probably cost me a small fortune if i went down the techwash option to do it all, not had much luck with pure soap flakes in the past the washing machine was nearly bubbling over, may use the bath tub. yep i know about touching the cloth, used to use it as a family tent as kids,although that mainly occured once the outside was wetted out, want it mainly as a windproof.

 

[QDanT]

cheer's, if the weather was decent(although i do live in Scotland so that's rare) i would defo go down the air out option, as there is a lot of material probably cost me a small fortune if i went down the techwash option to do it all, not had much luck with pure soap flakes in the past the washing machine was nearly bubbling over, may use the bath tub. yep i know about touching the cloth, used to use it as a family tent as kids,although that mainly occured once the outside was wetted out, want it mainly as a windproof.

and I though you painted your self Blue with Woad !

I've still an old Vango Force 10 Mk4 (Orange) cotton tent/cotton fly and every few years, on a dry camp,
I'll paint the fly sheet with Thompson's Water Sealant, works fine for me and prefer it to Fabsil
Danny

 

[Macaroon]

cheer's, if the weather was decent(although i do live in Scotland so that's rare) i would defo go down the air out option, as there is a lot of material probably cost me a small fortune if i went down the techwash option to do it all, not had much luck with pure soap flakes in the past the washing machine was nearly bubbling over, may use the bath tub. yep i know about touching the cloth, used to use it as a family tent as kids,although that mainly occured once the outside was wetted out, want it mainly as a windproof.

It's more the UV light that'll get it back to fresh - ish, I'd hang it somewhere for a few days. Liquid soap works a lot better than flakes in the washing machine, cheap as chips in the supermarket.

 

[ChrisWebb2020]

I've found hanging stuff up outside for the day with a light application of a milton solution does the job.

Also helps with getting rid of mildew and mold.

 

[Rabid]

would covering it in bicarbonate of soda neutralise some of the smell?

 

[andybysea]

Cheer's Guys think i will try the liquid soap and airing outside,just to dry it.