# Removing Scorching



## Back yard (Feb 27, 2008)

I have about 20 shirts that got scorched is there a quick way of removing the scorch marks. Should I wash them. The person said if that works shes fine with it.


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## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

Back yard said:


> I have about 20 shirts that got scorched is there a quick way of removing the scorch marks. Should I wash them. The person said if that works shes fine with it.


OK.. first.. how... what color were the shirts. are you sure they are scoed and not just color change from the press. what temp were you using.


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## Back yard (Feb 27, 2008)

White shirts. Silkscreened and when I ran them thru the dryer they got scorched.


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## Back yard (Feb 27, 2008)

Should I just try washing them with a small amount of bleach


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## acmeprinting (Jun 4, 2007)

I had some light scorching on a couple of my white shirts and washing them seemed to help it. I don't recall using bleach so I recommend washing them without bleach first and see how they look.


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## Back yard (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks I'll let you know


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## Back yard (Feb 27, 2008)

Thanks I heard there was something you could spay on it. I just washed them with a small amount of bleach. The scorching seems to be gone. Thanks for all the help. Ben


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

ImageIt said:


> Hydrogen peroxide is the active ingredient in commercial scorch removers and is considered an "oxygen bleach". It can be put into a spray bottle.
> 
> fred


I just use hydrogen peroxide and run the shirts back thru the dryer. Works like a champ, and it's saved me a couple of times.


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

We use White Vinegar in a spray bottle, spray the scorch and put back thru dryer. Works good and is cheap.


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

Uncle John said:


> We use White Vinegar in a spray bottle, spray the scorch and put back thru dryer. Works good and is cheap.


Does it stink after drying?


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

LOL, No some people use it as a in the washer for all cloths, when dry theres no smell at all.


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## Back yard (Feb 27, 2008)

Wow, this is my first post as I am new THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!! Ben


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## INKSCREENS (Jan 28, 2008)

White Vinegar and Water 50% mixture.

Make sure you dab as much of scorching off otherwise you will get a dark brown ring around the moisture. 

Let dry, and yes it does stink. Spray some febreeze and good as new.


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## quatto (Oct 9, 2007)

white vinegar works, so does peroxide, I've also heard things about lemon juice, although i'd strongly recommend you rinse any organic remedies out COMPLETELY before drying, since organics leave a brown stain of their own when heated (remember using lemon juice as invisible ink as a kid?)


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## dirty fingers (Mar 11, 2008)

I know you fixed this problem already but,
there is this stuff called "scorch out" it comes in a bottle and you spray it on the shirt, send it thru the dryer and it is as good as new with no smell.


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

We bought some, open the bottle and smell, it's vinegar. Sure you get a spray bottle, but we have those, no smell or dark rings, 20 years doing this...hope it helps


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## quatto (Oct 9, 2007)

Uncle John said:


> We bought some, open the bottle and smell, it's vinegar. Sure you get a spray bottle, but we have those, no smell or dark rings, 20 years doing this...hope it helps



haha yes! when all else fails, smell it! there's about a zillion "specialty" products being sold to people in the arts and crafts industry that are simply repackaged everyday household chemicals.

Don't buy Speedball pen cleaning fluid, its just Windex! In fact, don't buy windex, it's just ammonia.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

I just scorched shirts for the first time.
I have white vinegar here at the shop. Do you guys mix it with water and then spray it on, then run it through the oven?
Does hydrogen peroxide mixed with water, sprayed on, work better? 
What ratios do you mix?


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

We use just straight Vinegar spray it on and run back thru dryer don't get the shirt to wet just a mist.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

John, and it doesn't smell like vinegar? I'm cautious to give this client shirts that smell bad.


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

I heard it works but I guess I didn't believe it, until I saw it. And wow, hydrogen peroxide does remove scorching for sure! These were baby blue AA shirts that were scorched really badly, sprayed them pretty well with straight hydrogen peroxide, put them through my oven, and boom, they look like I never screwed them up! Now I won't have to explain to the client tomorrow that I burned 15 of his shirts :]


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

Well, you know what I mean, straight out of the bottle... 3% from the drug store.

And I only make rocket fuel on the weekends.


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

Brent, can I use your *hydrometer* during the week to measure the specific gravity of 
my rocket fuel. LOL


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## brent (Nov 3, 2006)

Yeah, i've swished the stuff around my mouth before at the command of my mother when I was a child, and put it on scrapes and stuff. Very happy it can fix at least one printing mishap.

And Uncle John you can use my hydrometer, sure.


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

It's surprising how good peroxide works at eliminating the scortch marks. I've saved a few shirts that way. Cheap and effective. How may things can you think of these days that fit that description? Not many.


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## TCT (Mar 14, 2008)

You can buy a spray called "scorch-out", spray it on, put it through the dryer again and you would never know it happened in the first place. It is always nice to have a bottle lying around to get you out of a jam!


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## sinergy74 (Apr 24, 2008)

How do you get scorch marks off colored shirts. I did a small run of purple shirts and looks like the scorch is around the image.
Can you get it out with washing them or?

Frank


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## JiveKooly (Apr 17, 2007)

Is there a way to prevent scorching all together, instead of the quick fix? Id rather it just not scorch. im really not interested in spraying vinegar on my tee shirts lol


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

JiveKooly said:


> Is there a way to prevent scorching all together, instead of the quick fix? Id rather it just not scorch. im really not interested in spraying vinegar on my tee shirts lol


Simply don't overheat the garment. Monitor your dryer carefully. Take readings of the temperature of the ink just as it's coming near the end of the tunnel. It's not necessary to get the shirts up to 400 degrees to get a cure. Once the ink hits around 320 degrees, all the way through the ink layer, it's cured. You're better off keeping the shirt in the dryer longer, but at a lower temperature that will bring the ink temp up to 320 or so long enough to cure all the ink, than to run the dryer as hot as it will go, then turning up the speed. I keep my surface temp around 320-340 tops, but make sure it's been in there long enough, then do a stretch test. I also try to print with the thinnest ink layer I can, mainly to get a soft hand, but also to make sure I'm not having to heat up a real thick layer of ink. My dryer isn't the best, and it tends to fluctuate a little, but I haven't had problems with ink cure, and very rarely with scorching, and then only on whites. For some reason, I have to bump up the temperature on white shirts to get the temperature right. Maybe the infrared rays reflect off the white more? Beats me. Then, a spritz of hydrogen peroxide, and back through the dryer fixes it.


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## Steelheader100 (Jan 18, 2007)

I don't know why anyone would want to use vinegar because of the smell when plain old hydrogen peroxide cut 50% with water works great, no smell. As far as scorching colored shirts goes I think your probably flat out burning them. I've never had a problem with colored shirts only whites and that seems to not be a problem anymore since we switched to a gas dryer.


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## suju (May 2, 2008)

I've had the scorching problem when I've used my phoenix phire heat press and not a dryer. Does the hydrogen peroxide work the same for scorching caused by a heat press? And since I don't use a screen print dryer, can I just spray on the hydrogen peroxide and toss into my clothes dryer? I've also had a bit of a problem with a blue polyester soccer jersey. It's not quite a brown scorch, but you can totally see the square shape of my heat press. Has anyone run into this problem?

thanks


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## spankthafunk (Apr 9, 2007)

I would think you could use the hydrogen peroxide method with the heat press, because heat is heat and scorching is scorching. It problay wouldn't work if you were burning the shirts pretty badly though and couldn't get the burn out altogether. You can also just spray with the peroxide and toss in the washing machine, that's what I do.


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## LCE (Jan 18, 2007)

I just want to THANK all of the great information in this thread! I just scorched a dozen shirts for an order that is due to the customer on Friday morning. After reading the info in this thread, I went to Rite Aid and bought a 16 ounce bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide. Got home a few minutes ago and sprayed the shirts and ran it through my dryer again.....It's like MAGIC! Scorched marks are gone! Thanks to everybody that contributed to this topic!

LCE


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## phorq (Sep 17, 2010)

I'm another believer after reading this thread and trying it! Thanks so much for the info!


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## fab art (Apr 18, 2011)

hydrogen peroxide mixed with water, sprayed on the scorch marks and run back through the dryer works great.


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## dhoffroad (Oct 21, 2010)

will the hydrogen peroxide affect the print any ?


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## fab art (Apr 18, 2011)

dhoffroad said:


> will the hydrogen peroxide affect the print any ?


It shouldn't. Because the print is already dry and you spraying the diluted hydrogen peroxide onto the scorched area or the shirt.


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## kfintoni (Mar 5, 2009)

I had two scorched shirts and tried hydrogen peroxide and nothing different. I got a squirt bottle and mixed 50/50 with water and then put it on the heat press to dry it and nothing. I am going to try the vinegar but just want to make sure I am not doing it wrong. 

Thank you ,
Karen in MA


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## D3L0C4T3D (Jan 23, 2012)

Vinegar may work but I would use peroxide instead. Once you spary with vinegar you.now have to wash the shirt

Sent from my SPH-D710 using T-Shirt Forums


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## Uncle John (Mar 11, 2007)

Vinegar once dry doesn't smell, I use it in my rinse cycle when washing cloths. Takes all the soap out and no smell after drying.


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## dhoffroad (Oct 21, 2010)

Don't mix it with water. The store bought stuff is like 3% just use it straight, that's what I did and it worked great.


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## IntegriTees4life (Oct 9, 2013)

Just putting my 2 cents in as I just learned a lesson using red Gildan Heavy 100% cotton shirts. I am using a flash heater for curing as I don't yet have a conveyor dryer. I positioned it about 4" over the shirt and using a heat gun to check that temp got up to 320 - 340, it took about 35 sec. per shirt. The first 4 shirts looked scorched as all the exposed fabric that was under the flash heater was darker than the rest of the shirt. I panicked, found this thread and mixed the hydrogen peroxide/water, like is suggested, came back down to spray it on and the shirts were already lightening up. Apparently, this shirt darkens under the heat and then as it cools, it lightens back up. I'm guessing it's the dye in the shirt as they are brand new, either way, hope this might help someone else in the same situation.


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## Ripcord (Sep 2, 2006)

The areas of a white shirt that are treated with hydrogen peroxide will turn yellow when exposed to sunlight. It happens almost immediately, so fast you can watch it turn color. Try it as an experiment before you do all the shirts.

I haven't tried vinegar or the store bought stuff. I might give that a try because my heat press always leaves a little discoloration with inkjet transfers. The customers don't notice it because it's very faint, but I hate it...


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## unikprintshop (May 14, 2014)

Hi, 

Question for all you guys believer.. I am hoping that I will become one too after I try your tricks tomorrow... but I was wondering if the client can ever notice or know that we put peroxide hydrogen? I mean, would he ever notice, would the shirt not look good at some point after being washed? or could the peroxide affect the print? or could the scorched area show again ever? ... I just want to make sure to offer something good to my clients, but also will try this for the future when things do run as straight as they should...


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## Printor (Apr 16, 2015)

By using these tricks you are just basically bleaching the scorch marks to try to save the job. if you scorched the fabric, some damage has been done only time will tell how much. always inspect the first garment when switching to a light color or to a different fabric. Especially watch those light baby blue colors and safety colors, with many brands, those dyes scorch easier than white and the scorch remover tricks are likely to leave bleachy blochy light spots in shirts when inspected in bright light.


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## JohnnyFive (Nov 9, 2015)

Here's a laughable post....printed a shirt a few weeks ago, personal shirt....scorched it so bad in some places (not the whole printed image) that today went to put it on and it ripped to shreds. Was like ripping notebook paper in a few places. Rest of the image apparently hadn't gotten scorched. I don't have a conveyor dryer, so i have to cure in a bootleg fashion. Pretty sure that's why I got bootleg results. But was just looking around at scorch based topics and figured I'd share.


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## ArferMo (Jul 18, 2010)

It this going to become the new distressed look


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