Ironing leather

IndyBlues · Post by **IndyBlues** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:14 pm

Hey folks, I was wondering if anyone has ever had experience ironing their Indy jacket?? I have a Wested with the cargo pocket flaps curled up pretty bad on the ends, and one action pleat that is sort of rolling outward that I want to try and flatten.
Not sure if the ironing idea is the way to go, but have any of you folks had this problem and corrected it?
Thanks in advance,
'Blues

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:17 pm

I don't think that's the best idea. Put a few phonebooks on it overnight and see how that works.

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:18 pm

Unless you live in a really small town, then that won't work so well.

In that case go down to the local church and borrow their Bible fo the job.

Flattery · Post by **Flattery** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:24 pm

What type of leather is it?

I put two t-shirts over one of the rear flaps on my lambskin jacket (no steam) and it worked out fine. I didn't make contact with the iron for more than five seconds at a time.

IndyBlues · Post by **IndyBlues** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:33 pm

Flattery wrote:What type of leather is it?

D'oh! That would probably help, wouldn't it???

It is a Wested authentic lamb. I may have to give the iron a shot.
See......Flattery DOES get you somewhere.

'Blues

Indiana Jerry · Post by **Indiana Jerry** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:13 am

Several people have had problems w/ the demon-roll (the front rolling outward from the zipper).

rick5150 said he got great results out of getting the jacket wet and letting it dry flat, I think zipped-up - which corrected that problem, anyway. For yours, maybe getting it wet and THEN putting something flat on it to hold it in the desired shape while it dries might work.

But I'd wait till somebody else who has tried this w/ a lamb pipes up, since they can really absorb water, I hear...

J

EDIT: I've sent rick5150 a PM asking if he'd please come check in on this thread.

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 5:31 am

I got excellent results by soaking my jacket in a rainstorm while hiking. When the leather is that wet, you can "mold it into shape." In my case I laid it flat only after I got home an hour five and a half hours later. I had the demon roll problem and rolled the jacket the opposite way once I got back to the car. Once at the house laid it flat for a day or two then I hung the jacket on a hanger and zipped it up to ensure that it dried straight.

I am not sure I would put too much weight on wet leather and allow it to dry as you may wind up wih marks from the object compressed into the leather. Some have had success with ironing, but I have not.

Oddly enough, the sleeve length and other vital proportions did not seem to change much.

Also, the jacket did bleed, and I fully realize that it is not a rainjacket. I was in an area where I had no choice but to get soaked - with no rain in the forecast, I might add...

I am by no means advocating this procedure because the jacket shrunk a bit and now has a shorter back length. It is not a big deal in my case, but maybe someone who has their jacket fitting perfectly would not want to do this. This is also only one instance with one leather from one member. I would feel far more comfortable if there was more information out there about this. But it did work for me...

Lastly, when you wet leather to that degree and then dry it - it dries a lot stiffer and you will have to treat it and get it softened up again. Not that big a deal, but an annoyance nonetheless. Pecard it!

*********I hope this helps, but this procedure was unintentional and I do not want anyone to ruin their jackets because of me.**********

Post by **Ken** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 8:17 am

Rick

What type of leather was it?

Ken

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 9:42 am

I will give you a hint. "Mary had a little _______."

For what it is worth, it weighed a good 5 lbs. more when soaked.

Bjones · Post by **Bjones** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 10:56 am

I once had a cowhide jacket where the collar laid too flat, and I wanted it to stand up more like the original A2's, so I soaked the collar with leather lotion conditioner(leaving it wet) and and used the plastic clothes pins-type clamps (with some cloth underneath to prevent any indentations) to hold the collar to the shape I wanted. After a few days I took the pins off and the new form was permanent.

I don't know about getting it wet...I personally wouldn't do it on purpose, but using weight to flatten it out would be similar what I did for the collar trick. I would try to "over condition" the leather, get it saturated with conditioner and then flatten it out to train the leather to its new form.

Post by **Michaelson** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 10:57 am

I wore my authentic lambskin with the infamous demon roll to the second annual QM summit, and was squeezed into the dreaded middle seat. After being squeezed into this position for 3-4 hours (seemed longer), the roll was no longer there when I got off the plan, so the phone book overnight suggestion may actually be the route to go. Regards. Michaelson

binkmeisterRick · Post by **binkmeisterRick** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 10:59 am

Not to mention that Michaelson was shaped differently, to boot!

I'm glad my Wested doesn't have the demon roll, but I've often noticed that many garments will be more "pliable" after a good rainfall or soaking.

bink

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:02 am

Michaelson wrote:the phone book overnight suggestion may actually be the route to go.

Might be a good idea to put a thick towel between the phonebooks and the jacket as well to avoid the phonebook shaped indentations.

Bufflehead Jones · Post by **Bufflehead Jones** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:05 am

Excuse me sir, might I ask why there are so many phone numbers on the back of your jacket?

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:42 pm

because the Wested makes one popular?

Indiana Jerry · Post by **Indiana Jerry** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:10 pm

Snakewhip_Sable wrote:
Michaelson wrote:the phone book overnight suggestion may actually be the route to go.
Might be a good idea to put a thick towel between the phonebooks and the jacket as well to avoid the phonebook shaped indentations.

Man, your jacket has the nicest terrycloth-like texture to it...just like a leather muppet.

I saw something on (I think) the Raven about 'hot water treatments' to age a jacket...although even they said 'you probably shouldn't do this to a lamb'. I haven't noticed anything about that here...has anyone here tried that? (Knowing full well some folks here are also on The Raven.)

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:41 pm

There's a great many things you shouldn't do to a lamb! Most of them are just common sense for decent folk.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:58 pm

Hey Blues...This thread might help??

http://www.indygear.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10370

IndyBlues · Post by **IndyBlues** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:01 am

Well, it might not help me, per se, but sure seems like what happened to this thread.

'Blues

Snakewhip_Sable · Post by **Snakewhip_Sable** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:06 am

Oh, c'mon, we started off helping! or trying to help.

Is the leather so soft it'll take the imprint of a towel?!

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:10 am

The thread was totally taken off topic...People are always saying to stay on topic around here, right? I mean, you can only talk about anything that is related to Indy around here (not that is meant as a bad thing), so why stray when on other people's threads?

Indiana Jerry · Post by **Indiana Jerry** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:23 am

Hang on, the general point of all this was to give him alternate ways to undo the mishaping of his jacket. We are not far off. Trust me, we can take it WAY further off than this.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Tue Nov 23, 2004 12:27 am

Indiana Jerry wrote:Hang on, the general point of all this was to give him alternate ways to undo the mishaping of his jacket. We are not far off. Trust me, we can take it WAY further off than this.

Yeah, I know and that is the point here...Topics are being taken off topic here too often and people get bent out of shape when something is said about it...I'm not referring to this post, by the way...

I think it would be in better form to start an off topic post or something, rather than clutter someone's post with stuff that won't help them...

Indiana Jerry · Post by **Indiana Jerry** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:47 pm

The suggestions were offered in case they might help. We don't know until he comes back and says 'nope'. He said he was trying to undo some mishaping, most of what we have suggested was all to that end.

And don't worry, no problem with pointing out when we've gone off the rails...that keeps us honest.