How to get starch out

[Lee Barner]

of a pair of old BDU's? bought a like new pair of BDU pants at a yard sale and they had the heaviest starch I ever saw in them. soaked in vinegar and water over night and no help. washed them twice in warm water and soap. very little help. any advice is welcomed. thanks in advance. Lee

 

[Alk8944]

If it didn't come out of the material by simply washing in water then it isn't starch! Must be some other type of sizing. Take them to a dry cleaner, that will probably do it. Then wash normally to get rid of the dry-cleaning fluid stench!

 

[SMSgt]

A couple of weeks in the field ought to do it.

 

[soFlaNative]

Dragged behind the fantail at speed will work.

 

[CH4]

Let it soak under a cold shower.

 

[Lee Barner]

I'm too darn old and tired to go to the field and don't have anything with a fantail. LOL Lee

 

[cherrypointmarine]

I was also going to say it ain't starch . Ask any old Marine about starched utilities , it comes out in the wash . I had utilities that would stand up by themselves they had so much starch , but wash them and out it would come . As a matter of fact , and AJ will back me up , on a summer day at Cherry Point NC , you'd sweat and the starch would roll down your arms . So whatever you have on those utilities , it's some grade a nasty stuff .

 

[BC38]

of a pair of old BDU's? bought a like new pair of BDU pants at a yard sale and they had the heaviest starch I ever saw in them. soaked in vinegar and water over night and no help. washed them twice in warm water and soap. very little help. any advice is welcomed. thanks in advance. Lee

All I've got is wash them several more times, maybe try using hot water?

 

[soFlaNative]

Does water bead on the material?
Maybe someone laid on extra heavy waterproof treatment?

 

[AJ]

I was also going to say it ain't starch . Ask any old Marine about starched utilities , it comes out in the wash . I had utilities that would stand up by themselves they had so much starch , but wash them and out it would come . As a matter of fact , and AJ will back me up , on a summer day at Cherry Point NC , you'd sweat and the starch would roll down your arms . So whatever you have on those utilities , it's some grade a nasty stuff .

Marines, starched Utilities???? I know guys that were so squared away that they "broke starch" twice a day. The were usually married and their wife did them, so in the morning one set and when the went home for lunch another set. Never have seen starch that would not wash out A hot day at MCAS Cherry Point (on the flight line at 90+ degrees and close to 100% humidity) would sure get the starch out of the utilities and you!

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Maybe an upset wife/laundry slave used a flat sheen spray varnish in protest!

Ivan

 

[yeti]

Just wash them a few times and all will be satisfactory.

 

[Jeff423]

FWIW: About 30 yrs. ago some laundries around military bases offered a service where they would put "permanent" creases in uniform pants. They put some kind of a resin on the pants and clamped them in a fixture until they dried - heat might also have been used. At the time I thought the resin was only used on the front and back where the crease was - not the whole leg, but I did not do an exhaustive study.
I don't know if this is still available today.

 

[Kinman]

Dragged behind the fantail at speed will work.

While working out of Danang, RVN on an old LCU that was how we did our laundry. Tied it all together and dragged it behind the boat, we did have access to fresh water and after the first experience of wearing it without a fresh water rinse we decided a rinse would help, just throw it in the shower we had installed and stomp around on it. It sure put a neat fade on the color, probably at least half the color removed after a few drags. The Vietnamese laundry that did our clothes if you were based ashore put so much rice starch in the clothes that you had to make a fist to shove your hand down the sleeve. They must have boiled the clothes in 55 gal barrels with a cup of soap and a shot of cheap perfume. I quite wearing skivvies after the first week in country, the rash was bad, going commando helped immensely.

 

[AJ]

"The Vietnamese laundry that did our clothes if you were based ashore put so much rice starch in the clothes that you had to make a fist to shove your hand down the sleeve."

That was the way the laundries stateside did ours. The method you describe we called "Breaking Starch". It was a pain.

In-Country we had Mama-Sans and they did our laundry without starch, unless you requested it. That cost you a couple of extra packs of cigarettes.

 

[Kinman]

That was the way the laundries stateside did ours. The method you describe we called "Breaking Starch". It was a pain.

In-Country we had Mama-Sans and they did our laundry without starch, unless you requested it. That cost you a couple of extra packs of cigarettes.

In country, if you were assigned to the base. You put your dirty laundry in your laundry bag and it came back starched and perfumed wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string, almost like stateside. Yeah "Breaking Starch"...Mama-Sans cleaned your hooch and if you asked would clean your boots, no polish. Our facility had been the Navy Hospital, large Quonset huts that had air conditioning if you could keep it running. It also had all the interconnecting sidewalk system covered with a roof which made the rainy season much easier to deal with, you could easily walk to the mess hall or anywhere on base and stay under cover. The rooms "Hootch" in the long Quonset huts were just plywood partition with a common ceiling, no door just an opening. There was a set of double bunks in each hootch, it was easy to have a room of your own.

 

[AJ]

In country, if you were assigned to the base. You put your dirty laundry in your laundry bag and it came back starched and perfumed wrapped in brown paper and tied with a string, almost like stateside. Yeah "Breaking Starch"...Mama-Sans cleaned your hooch and if you asked would clean your boots, no polish. Our facility had been the Navy Hospital, large Quonset huts that had air conditioning if you could keep it running. It also had all the interconnecting sidewalk system covered with a roof which made the rainy season much easier to deal with, you could easily walk to the mess hall or anywhere on base and stay under cover. The rooms "Hootch" in the long Quonset huts were just plywood partition with a common ceiling, no door just an opening. There was a set of double bunks in each hootch, it was easy to have a room of your own.

What RVN were you in? Covered side walks, A/C ?? We lived in tin roofed plywood structures that were 16' X 24' with screening and no A/C. If we were lucky we were able to scrounge some fans. Boiling hot in the daytime (about 120 or so) and cold at night with a fan (75 or so). No partitions just one large open area. Real Hooches. Lucky were you folks!!

 

[Kinman]

What RVN were you in? Covered side walks, A/C ?? We lived in tin roofed plywood structures that were 16' X 24' with screening and no A/C. If we were lucky we were able to scrounge some fans. Boiling hot in the daytime (about 120 or so) and cold at night with a fan (75 or so). No partitions just one large open area. Real Hooches. Lucky were you folks!!

I was attached to the 1098th Medium Boat Company, our facility was in the harbor of Danang not far from Deep Water Pier and adjacent to the Navy's shallow water pier. The Company area was located in the old Navy hospital, right across the highway from MAG16 Marine Helicopter base and down the road a few miles from China Beach. We were a couple miles away from Marble Mountain. For reasons I do not know they closed down the Navy hospital and moved the USS Sanctuary hospital ship into the harbor. All injured personnel were delivered via helicopter to the Sanctuary or possibly to the Air Force hospital at Danang field. It was a busy place.
I was stationed aboard an LCU which had a crew of around 10-12, it was a liveaboard craft and life was much easier onboard than back in the company area, we performed missions hauling artillery rounds and pusher charges up and down the coast as using highways for this purpose didn't go over very well. From Danang we would travel North or South about thirty miles or so from either Tan My or Chu Lai, then the stuff was hauled by helicopter to firebases. We had the added benefit of being to come and go wherever we wanted while not hauling materiel, unlike company area stuff like guard duty, etc. This is a shot of a few Navy boats, very similar to what the Army used.

 

[soFlaNative]

What RVN were you in? Covered side walks, A/C ?? We lived in tin roofed plywood structures that were 16' X 24' with screening and no A/C. If we were lucky we were able to scrounge some fans. Boiling hot in the daytime (about 120 or so) and cold at night with a fan (75 or so). No partitions just one large open area. Real Hooches. Lucky were you folks!!

I was attached to the 1098th Medium Boat Company, our facility was in the harbor of Danang not far from Deep Water Pier and adjacent to the Navy's shallow water pier. The Company area was located in the old Navy hospital, right across the highway from MAG16 Marine Helicopter base and down the road a few miles from China Beach. We were a couple miles away from Marble Mountain. For reasons I do not know they closed down the Navy hospital and moved the USS Sanctuary hospital ship into the harbor. All injured personnel were delivered via helicopter to the Sanctuary or possibly to the Air Force hospital at Danang field. It was a busy place.
I was stationed aboard an LCU which had a crew of around 10-12, it was a liveaboard craft and life was much easier onboard than back in the company area, we performed missions hauling artillery rounds and pusher charges up and down the coast as using highways for this purpose didn't go over very well. From Danang we would travel North or South about thirty miles or so from either Tan My or Chu Lai, then the stuff was hauled by helicopter to firebases. We had the added benefit of being to come and go wherever we wanted while not hauling materiel, unlike company area stuff like guard duty, etc. This is a shot of a few Navy boats, very similar to what the Army used.

That's all well and good but how did you get the starch out?

 

[Lee Barner]

tried everything we read about, everything suggested on here. off to the dry cleaners. they said they could get it out, whatever it is. will know Tuesday. thanks for all the help. Lee