Has Anyone Darkened a Distressed Wested?

Havana · Post by **Havana** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 12:51 pm

I love the predistressed Westeds but they look pretty light to my eyes. Has anyone tried to darken one using Picards or some other products?

whiskyman · Post by **whiskyman** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:40 pm

BreinederIndy did wonders with his predistressed cowhide.
viewtopic.php?t=12333

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:17 pm

Yep. The act of applying the Pecards (shoe & Boot oil, in my case) darkened the leather. I do not like the leather to look evenly distressed.

I also had a predistressed jacket that was WAY too big for me and I washed it in the washing machine and dried it in the dryer (with heat) to shrink it. It fits perfectly now for the most part, but a lot of the color is gone. But that is another story...

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:17 pm

Here is _'s from teh main page. I love the looks of that jacket!

http://www.indygear.com/gear/images/pat ... ested1.jpg

SkyChief · Post by **SkyChief** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:29 pm

I was going to say that most of the pre-distressed coats that I've seen have never taken to Pecards, they seemed to "lighten up" pretty quickly after being Pecarded. But after seeing the results of BreinederIndy's darkening methods I'm very impressed. Although it would be interesting to see how his coat has held up since he posted the photos last May.

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:47 pm

I'm going to take a few pictures of my pre cow how it looks know. In fact, I allready had to apply a second coat of anticque finsih since the first coat is gone. The jacket looks really great right know, BUT I have to say that I don't think that the finish I applyed will stay on the jacket, and this is what matters at last. I could try to seal it now, but than I have to get the shine away, and this is where the dog bits his tail.
If you want a costume for halloween, pre cow with anticque finish is great (I found out that strangers are wistleing more often the Indy theme when I walk by since I gave my jacket this new look

).
But if you want a real adventurer jacket, I personaly won't go again for the anticque finish. Maybe I did someting wrong, but I don't really think so.
Well, we will see how the jacket will change its collour in the next months, but I guess it will allmost go back to the "standart predistressed", but still lovely worn in.
I need to get a horsehide someday though

Gater · Post by **Gater** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:55 pm

what is Antique Finish???

I would LOVE my pre-d to look like that!!

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:12 pm

Ok, I couldn't wait to wait any longer, here are 2 pictures:

with flashlight:

and without:

As I sayed, my jacket looks really great now, and it looked PERFECT after my first job on it. But unfortunaly the collour doesn't stay on it too long

and this was my jacket after the first antique finish treatment:

And this is how a horsehide COULD age:

I wan't my future wested look somewhat like that (after a few years of wearing, of course, nothing can ever beat natural distressing)

K on the run · Post by **K on the run** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:15 pm

I have a pre-distressed cow and after distressing the brand new jacket even more (my wife looked at me as if I had just swallowed a live squirrel

) I applied a coate of Pekard. I have been giving it Pekard 3 more times since then and it darkens the jacket in a nice way.
Here a picture after the first 2 coats, it's a bit darker now

[/list]

I like you new avatar Havana,I also liked the old one you looked a bit like Sam MCloud

-K

Kt Templar · Post by **Kt Templar** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:22 pm

I have seen a brand new pre-d and must admit it does look way too light - with a fake mottling (reminds me of eighties acid and stone washed jeans). You guys here have shown that it can be worked on and worked on really well to produce a fine lived-in looking jacket with no trace of the fakeness I mentioned.

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:25 pm

Great looking jacket! Of course, the pecards gives a precow a nice looking, but it doen's satisfyed me very long. It's great for waterproofing the jacket and stuff, but It doesn't have the right apperance and feeling for me. I like a tough (oh good, that can't be the right translation) looking jacket. I have absolut no feeling for a nice and soft leather jacket. If I would ride a motorbike it would have to survive when I fall down from it.

Antique finish is a semi liquide, dark leather working substance which makes the poores and crinkles of the leathersurface dark. Since the leathersurface of a pre cow is allready "cracked", the antique finish darkens the leather equal

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:37 pm

What about using the brown Pecards for boots instead of the standard Pecards?

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:39 pm

I'd say it's worth a try from what I have seen on pictures. But I stay with shoepolishing it, I love the perfect shine on mine

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:47 pm

Oops, I forgot to mention that you jacket looks great Breinender!

SkyChief · Post by **SkyChief** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:54 am

If only somebody could find a leather that looks like BreinederIndy's right from the start, we'd be in heaven. I'm almost drooling at how cool it looks. But sadly he ran into the same problem I mentioned earlier, the maintenance. Pecards as well as BreinederIndy's antique finish eventually fade away, and the coat's light color comes back. So we have to always be ready to "re-Pecard" them, or reapply whatever it was we used to darken them. If only there was a better way to pre-distress them from the beginning.

BreinederIndy, is this the same coat you are showing above? How come this one doesn't have the storm flap buttons? Did you have it altered? The coat you're showing above also has the "correct" Last Crusade collar assembly, which I've only seen once before, but this coat here doesn't.

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:37 am

We have a winner! I didn't mentioned before since I was currios who gets it first. It's the same coat, changed the collar pattern and the applied the press studs. Thanks to the great pictured tutorial made by whipwarrior.
Man, I was pretty frightened when doing this

SkyChief · Post by **SkyChief** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:49 pm

BreinederIndy wrote:We have a winner! I didn't mentioned before since I was currios who gets it first. It's the same coat, changed the collar pattern and the applied the press studs.

You did an outstanding job, it looks very natural. Quite impressive.

See image below:

This is the only correct Last Crusade collar/storm flap configuration I've ever seen come out of Wested. This coat is made of goat and belongs to a fan (can't remember his name) from the forum here. Somehow he was able to get Wested to make him a correct jacket. Yours looks every bit as good though, BreinederIndy, well done.

eaglecrow · Post by **eaglecrow** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:48 pm

Thanks a lot!
Here're better pictures of the collar. It shoes the collour of the collar and the snaps aswell:

I didn't made a rounded top, but I'm fine with it

SkyChief · Post by **SkyChief** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:31 pm

Very well done, looks very professional. And man, that leather looks great.

I didn't see K on the run's picture earlier (must not have loaded on my end). Yours looks quite good too, very nice color and texture. Why...WHY would anyone want to wear a "new-looking" jacket after seeing how great distressed ones can look?

Bjones · Post by **Bjones** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:35 pm

It does look good. Too bad the Antik finish isn't more permanent...