Distressed in the West about Distressing my Wested

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Sun May 08, 2005 10:31 am

My Wested finally showed and I have begun the distressing operation using the helpful hints I've found here.... I'm not satisfied with the results so far, and have a couple of questions for the more knowledgable here.....

Isopropyl alcohol: Will it dull down the shine very well without removing much more of the dye? Do I use the same technique, ie: rubbing with paper towel?

Will brown shoe polish of a roughly matching shade of brown be enough to correct a little over-zealousness?

Also, can someone recommend a good place for free picture hosting?

Thanks for helping a newbie!

Hemingway Jones · Post by **Hemingway Jones** » Sun May 08, 2005 11:14 am

I can help with image posting. I use: http://www.imageshack.us/ for hosting images projected onto COW. You can make a thumbnail that expands. I think it is easy to use and very reliable.

Renderking Fisk · Post by **Renderking Fisk** » Sun May 08, 2005 11:16 am

Or you can e-mail the pics to me and I can make an album for you...

Post by **Ken** » Sun May 08, 2005 11:25 am

Personally I found the alcohol to do very little unless you rub very very hard. Best result I found were acetone for removing the color without damaging the surface of the leather and sandpaper to abrade the leather surface to expose the hide color underneath.

I wouldn't rely on pecards to fix any mistakes though it is possible. If you make a mistake with acetone it can be possible to move the color around a little to fill in an area but this is definitly not a scientific method.

Ken

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Sun May 08, 2005 5:21 pm

Thanks guys. I've used acetone on it already, and the results are mixed... The pockets, for example, turned out quite well, a nice, even reduction in shine and the texture is quite nice. The chest area, however, has a "spotty" appearance to it that I'm not at all pleased with. I'm assuming it's just a difference in the grade of leather or something, but it's got me nervous now about continuing any further. What I really want most is a way to reduce the shine.

Thanks for the link to the picture hosting, I will try to post some pics soon to show you what I mean.

ij1936 · Post by **ij1936** » Sun May 08, 2005 7:47 pm

I found that by using 400 grit sandpaper and a palm sander works well at dulling the shine. To age it further, I increase grit to either 220 or 150 depending on how much I want to distress the jacket. I have, on occasion, used 80 grit with the palm sander, but that has to be done with a light, controlled touch otherwise the jacket could be damaged beyond the desired look. I roll up a few bath towels and stuff them into the arm that I am sanding so I can get an arm-like surface to sand on that's fairly firm like that of a real arm. This allows for an authentic, aged look. As far as the shoulders, back and chest goes, I use the same method for the shoulders with the rolled up towels. The towels help me to duplicate as close as possible the shape of the shoulders.

Richard~Buxton · Post by **Richard~Buxton** » Sun May 08, 2005 7:59 pm

I will never prematurely age my jackets, although time consuming natural distressing is the only way for me. I want it to age with me, It wouldn't
feel right knowing my adventures Jacket was distressed unnaturally,

It would look like it had seen action and adventure, and look the part, But I would know deferent.

whipwarrior · Post by **whipwarrior** » Sun May 08, 2005 9:33 pm

Here's how I did it: http://www.geocities.com/pangaeascape/aging.html

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Wed May 11, 2005 1:03 pm

whipwarrior wrote:Here's how I did it: http://www.geocities.com/pangaeascape/aging.html

Did you do the water thing the way it's presented there? What were the results in your opinion? Sounds like an interesting technique, but I'm concerned about shrinkage. "I was in the pool!! I was in the pool!!!!!"

ij1936 · Post by **ij1936** » Wed May 11, 2005 3:37 pm

The last thing that I do, after sanding is rinse the jacket with cold water and then allow it to air dry/hang dry. I have never had any problems with shrinkage. If, after being soaked, you were to dry the jacket near a heat source, say in a utility room with your furnace and water heater inside, then the jacket will shrink.

whipwarrior · Post by **whipwarrior** » Thu May 12, 2005 12:35 pm

Yes, I soaked the jacket several times, as I described it. No shrinkage whatsoever.

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Thu May 12, 2005 1:51 pm

whipwarrior wrote:Yes, I soaked the jacket several times, as I described it. No shrinkage whatsoever.

And what does this contribute to the ageing/distressing process? As in, how does it affect the appearance of the leather?

Sorry for so many lame/newbie questions, but I want to get this just right without going too overboard or destroying my new favorite piece of clothing!

agent5 · Post by **agent5** » Thu May 12, 2005 2:26 pm

If you treat it several times with an alcohol rub, it WILL get rid of the sheen the jackets come with.
I'd stay away from using the acetone on the flat parts fo the jacket, such as the panels and back as you can easily get the patterns from the liner to show through. You do NOT want that. Only use the acetone for the seams, pockets, collar, etc.
Then move to the sandpaper for the rest. Make sure the jacket is as flat as can be while doing any work.

Will brown shoe polish of a roughly matching shade of brown be enough to correct a little over-zealousness?

Nope, sorry. What has been doen is done. I have a coupel of spots I'm not pleased with as well, so don't feel so bad. I've seen people here BUTCHER their jackets while trying to distress them. My advice is to only use the acetone for for certain parts and let the sandpaper do the rest.

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Mon May 23, 2005 5:43 pm

agent5 wrote:
Will brown shoe polish of a roughly matching shade of brown be enough to correct a little over-zealousness?
Nope, sorry. What has been doen is done. I have a coupel of spots I'm not pleased with as well, so don't feel so bad. I've seen people here BUTCHER their jackets while trying to distress them. My advice is to only use the acetone for for certain parts and let the sandpaper do the rest.

Actually, I had a bit of a diagonal seam showing on one side of the front where I got carried away with the acetone... Although it wasn't terribly noticable, I wanted to get rid of it, and in desperation I tried using brown water-color paint. Just a little bit of brown water color, mixed with just enough black to darken it up, and then applied with a fine brush and the spot (about an inch and a half long) is almost invisible under most conditions. Under bright sun-light, it looks like the faintest dirt smudge or something. And so far, all the rain we've had this crummy spring hasn't washed it off yet.

Fingers are crossed. Anyone else tried anything like this?

Mola Ram · Post by **Mola Ram** » Mon May 23, 2005 10:28 pm

why not just wear it? this all seems so un needed.
Regards

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Tue May 24, 2005 1:07 pm

Molorom wrote:why not just wear it? this all seems so un needed.
Regards

talking of that, who needs a gunbelt with a whip and an emty holster?

and why not just wearing a visor hat?

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Tue May 24, 2005 1:15 pm

BreinederIndy wrote:
Molorom wrote:why not just wear it? this all seems so un needed.
Regards
talking of that, who needs a gunbelt with a whip and an emty holster?

and why not just wearing a visor hat?

Didn't Indy run around with an empty holster in ToD.

All joke aside Breineder, thats a great job of distressing you did on your jacket.

I guess we all want that look at some point, but some of us a willing to wait for it to come naturally.

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Tue May 24, 2005 1:54 pm

Thanks a lot. Well, I guess natural distressing is the right way to go, but there are a few things which fright me:

1. The jacket get damaged after the natural distressing have just raise after 10 years of wearing.
2. After wearing the jacket for 15 years, it does look really good, but you don't (you can't close the zipper any longer)
3. After you wore the jacket for 20 years (and it looks great) you get hit by a bullet into the left arm
4. After 30 years of wearing the jacket, you might figure out that the look actually has absolutly nothing to do with the allways wanted Indy-look and you have to buy another (new) jacket to distress, but Peter would be dead on this date and the "autentic wested Raiders" would look like the Alien jacket and is made of genuine plastic.
5. You are a man with luck and you have worn the jacket till it looks like you have allways wanted it after 35 years of waiting. You are so happy about it that you just decided to celebrate it with a drink. Right in the middle of having a drink in your perfect outfit at last, you get a hearth attack and die.

So this is what I seriously fear more or less

So I go for predistressed right now, but I'm still thinking of getting a normal cowhide for natural distressing,
I'm a poor, lonsome gearhead...

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Tue May 24, 2005 3:28 pm

Haha! I know what you mean. I've been laying awake at night for the past 6 months thinking about my Wested. My only conclusion is that I need another.

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Tue May 24, 2005 3:47 pm

yeah, me too

But as I said I'm quit happy with my precow right know, but I have to try beeswaxe based leather creame (don't know if this is the right word for it) on my jacket before I really could give this jacket a "ready for take on"

Mola Ram · Post by **Mola Ram** » Tue May 24, 2005 4:25 pm

BreinederIndy,
looks like you did a really nice job on your jacket. And if you can achieve such greatness then i say go for it. But if you end up having to cover over spots of the jacket using paint, you know you, 1. Wrecked a really nice jacket or 2. Just dont care about it or 3. Are just using if for a wall decoration. Whatever cracks your whip I guess. I guess you could say im in a better situation though. I bought my jacket just as I stopped growing when i was 13, and I will have it as long as i dont wear it through the elbows. Till im 80 i guess.

Regards

Adam

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Tue May 24, 2005 4:34 pm

Molorom wrote: But if you end up having to cover over spots of the jacket using paint, you know you, 1. Wrecked a really nice jacket or 2. Just dont care about it or 3. Are just using if for a wall decoration. Whatever cracks your whip I guess.

Yeah, that's possibly true, we will see, I really have to check this

Molorom wrote:I guess you could say im in a better situation though. I bought my jacket just as I stopped growing when i was 13, and I will have it as long as i dont wear it through the elbows. Till im 80 i guess.

How old are you actually right know?

Mola Ram · Post by **Mola Ram** » Tue May 24, 2005 4:56 pm

14, and i started working with leather when i was 9. And have since made 30 whips or so. The count just keeps going up

So my sutuation is alot diffrent since i dont have to worry about health issues or anything like that.
Regards!
Adam

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Tue May 24, 2005 5:45 pm

I have 3 concerns about artificial distressing.

1. After the jacket is distressed it looks good, but several years down the road it's gonna become 'over distressed' if you really have some adventures in the jacket.

2. Its shortens the life of the jacket.

3. It doesn't look natural, at least many times. There is no doubt that distressed jackets look cool, but I have seen very few IMHO that look natural. Now I'm not bashing people who distress their jacket; like I said there cool. But to me most the distressing looks too even. I have an A-2 that is old (possible WWII surplus) it is beautifully, naturally distressed. The distressing is uneven. One side of the collar is worn more than the other, one shoulder seam more than the other. One pocket quite a bit more than the other, etc. The thing that stikes me about natural distressing is that it is uneven, effected by how the jacket was worn and used everyday; but yet itas uneven as it is the distressing has a certain balance to it. It is something, IMO, that is very had to capture during the artifical distressing process.

But if distressing your jacket floats your boat, turns your crank, cracks you whip, etc; more power to ya.

agent5 · Post by **agent5** » Tue May 24, 2005 6:02 pm

2. Its shortens the life of the jacket.

Not at all.

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Tue May 24, 2005 6:06 pm

agent5 wrote:
2. Its shortens the life of the jacket.
Not at all.

Well, in general that true. But if your not careful you could 'distress' the stitching away.

Mola Ram · Post by **Mola Ram** » Tue May 24, 2005 9:20 pm

BreinederIndy wrote:2. After wearing the jacket for 15 years, it does look really good, but you don't (you can't close the zipper any longer):

You could just send it to us wings

http://www.uswings.com/repair.asp
Has anyone ever done that?

Regards

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Wed May 25, 2005 11:56 am

@molorom: so you stop growing in the age of 13 and you are 14 now? I bet you will change your jacket during the next 5 years

I got my first wested when I was 16 and did not grow any longer, anyway

I hope you will enjoy your jacket at least a couple of years

Mola Ram · Post by **Mola Ram** » Wed May 25, 2005 12:47 pm

BreinederIndy wrote:@molorom: so you stop growing in the age of 13 and you are 14 now? I bet you will change your jacket during the next 5 years
I got my first wested when I was 16 and did not grow any longer, anyway

I hope you will enjoy your jacket at least a couple of years

I hope so too

I doubt I will be getting another jacket, as I dont have the money, and this one fits me perfectly fine. Even if i grow a little bit more the jacket would still fit me well.
Regards!
adam

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Wed May 25, 2005 8:47 pm

Pagey wrote:Just you wait!

Yup, My 46L Wested would have swallowed me up when I was 14.