The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I've recently bought an old Hardy canvas fishing/game bag that has some mould/mildew staining. Any ideas on how to clean and proof it please?

The simplest method is to firstly make sure it is completely empty, then put some biological washing liquid and hot water in a bucket and give it a good going over with an old fashioned scrubbing brush.
This can be messy, so if you don’t want The Riot Act read to you and if I can pass on a tip here; put on ’marigolds’, an overall and do it outside if possible, using something like the top of your wheelie bin as a work surface!

You might have to spend a little time to allow the bio. to do its work, then scrub with clean, hot water and rinse several times. I did a canvas rod hold-all like this and to soften the canvas after washing, thoroughly work in some saddle soap whilst still wet, also with a scrubbing brush. Peg on line to drip dry, then bring indoors and allow to dry out upside down where air can freely circulate (outside if the weather is fair) for at least a week. When dried out, the canvas came up like brand new, but be careful that your washing mixture is not too strong or the item may lose a little colour.

To re-proof, any proprietary waxed jacket or clothing proofer will do.

Hope this is of some help..

wm+

Thanks chaps Watermole I too have the 'line of wheelie bins outdoor work bench' very useful for those jobs you just dare not take inside like sorting lug worms, riddling various freshwater baits etc etc. I've missed out the fact this bag is more like webbing than canvas. I assume it's post war Hardy using what was available but that's just a guess. I'll let you know how it comes out.