Billingham bag cleaning

[bence8810]

Hello,

I have two billingham bags, bought them used. I have washed both of them with great result using soapy water and a soft brush on the tough spots.

The first bag was an f4.5 from 1992 and it has a sewn in insert that I had to remove as it had lost its foam somehow. It sort of evaporated and left the textile behind only which provided no cushioning to my gear. It was like i had a few flaps of textile inside, the foam has catapulted from it somehow without any cuts etc. I removed the insert and cleaned the bag, which resulted in my shower room turning black from all the foam particles that were deposited in the bag all over. The bag was perhaps never used, it looks brand new and the foam disappeared from all the standing I guess. It's all good, bought a separate Etsumi insert that fits very snug and provides good care to my gear.

The second bad is a Hadley small and it does have the factory insert that's removable and is in great shape, minus the smell. The bag was rather dirty but looks great after the soapy bath.

What I don't know is what i need to do to the insert to clean it up. I was thinking about just putting it on the sun (minus the bag of course, leather won't appreciate that) and have the heat take the smell out.

However, I wanted to ask if anyone had any better suggestion to clean the insert? I don't want to wash it as I am afraid the water doing damage to the sponge.

Billingham lately has removed the Clean and Care page from their site and I can't remember what was the suggestion there originally.

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Sparrow]

... mine went in the washing machine last time it got really grubby and came out like new thankfully. Usually I just vacuum the inside to get rid of the dust and grit

 

[Ranchu]

That surplus smell can be removed from surplus by soaking overnight in a water/vinegar solution, then rinsing in clean water. Maybe 3 oz of vinegar per gallon or so. Might give that a shot.

 

[Michael Markey]

Mine gets slung in the back of the Land rover along with the horse blankets and stuff so it gets grubby.
Like Stewart I vacuum the inside.
The outside gets wiped over with a damp cloth.

 

[bence8810]

Thanks guys. Ill give the vacuum a try and will air it in the sun for an afternoon. Will report back.

The bag itself looks beautiful, cleaned it with soapy water and a soft brush, looks almost new!

Ben

 

[peterm1]

When cleaning my Billingham bags my practice is to remove the removable inserts first and then used warm soapy water (made with a liquid soap designed for washing woolen fabric etc) and using a sponge (or if needed a nail brush for tough marks) I give the exterior a good going over. It does not take long. Perhaps 10 minutes tops.

After I am satisfied with the cleanliness I then use warm clean water to wipe the bag down one last time to leach out any residual soap. (Some soap residues are sticky and tend to attract dirt if allowed to stay in a fabric).

To dry the bag I stuff it full of dry bath towels (still minus the inserts) so it keeps it shape as it drys. This works well and encourages quick drying. As the bags are trimmed with leather I do not dry them in the sun and nor do I use artificial heating. I just put the bags that have been washed in a warm dry and airy place still stuffed with towels - e.g. hanging on a hook from an internal door. Towards the end I remove the towels for the final drying period. Finally when all is dry if I think its needed I use a small brush or rag to carefully wipe a little leather dressing onto the leather which can otherwise become a bit dry and brittle over time if not cared for - I have one old bag I bought second hand which is like this.

As to the insert I don't think I have ever had to clean mine but if I were to do so I think I would just use the same soapy liquid then dry it in a like manner.

Using this routine I need to clean my bags perhaps once every one- two years. I am pretty fastidious (wife says anal) so they don't get all that dirty as in use, I tend to try to place them down in spot that is clean to avoid getting them too filthy if I can help it. When marks have occurred I think I have managed to remove them all except perhaps for one small ink mark from a ballpoint that somehow got onto the bag.

 

[bence8810]

When cleaning my Billingham bags my practice is to remove the removable inserts first and then used warm soapy water (made with a liquid soap designed for washing woolen fabric etc) and using a sponge (or if needed a nail brush for tough marks) I give the exterior a good going over. it does not take long. Perhaps 10 minutes tops.

After I am satisfied with the cleanliness I then use warm clean water to wipe the bag down one last time to leach out any residual soap. (Some soap residues are sticky and tend to attract dirt if allowed to stay in a fabric).

To dry the bag I stuff it full of dry bath towels so it keeps it shape as it drys. This works well and encourages quick drying. As the bags are trimmed with leather I do not dry them in the sun and nor do I use artificial heating. I just put the bags that have been washed in a warm dry and airy place still stuffed with towels - eg hanging on a hook from an internal door. Towards the end I remove the towels for the final drying period. Finally when all is dry if I think its needed I use a small brush or rag to carefully wipe a little leather dressing onto the leather which can otherwise become a bit dry and brittle over time if not cared for - I have one old bag I bought second hand which is like this.

As to the insert I don't think I have ever had to clean mine but if I were to do so I think I would just use the same soapy liquid then dry it in a like manner.

Using this routine I need to clean my bags perhaps once every one- two years. They dont get all that dirty as in use, I tend to try to place them down in spot that is clean to avoid getting them too filthy if I can help it.

Peter, what you describe above is precisely what I did to my bags minus the towel part. Didn't think of that, good idea for the first hour or so.
I also dried mine inside, it's pretty hot out in Tokyo and Humid during the rainy season so it would either get too much sun (when the sun's out) or get murky and stuffy from the humid air.

The last bag I washed (just this weekend) was pretty very dirty actually with loads of spots on it's beige exterior. I was at it for like 30 minutes with the soapy water.

The internal smelled bad too, I guess the previous owner mush have smoked. He also didn't care for it much so the leather is a bit cracked here and there.

However, after soapy bath it looks almost new, minus the leather part and some corners that are worn, but the stain came out nicely. I actually ended up filling the bag with warm soapy water about halfway up, put the bag down into the bath and just rotated my hand inside trying to rub every corner of it inside too. To my surprise, when i lifted the bag, it wasn't dripping despite the 2-3 Liters of water being inside. Billinghams are really made to last!

The remaining bit is the insert like I said, it's clean but smells awful. I'd hate to try water on it, I think it has sponge inserts and they could get dislocated or deformed but i may be wrong.

It's sitting on the sun under the wife's careful watch as it may turn to rain anytime during the rainy season.

Hope for the best. Will post some pre-post photos soon.

Thanks,
Ben