Oiling a denim Wested Indy?

Discuss technique for prolonging the life of your gear or giving it that aged look

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rebelgtp
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Oiling a denim Wested Indy?

Post by rebelgtp »

Hey guys I have been wondering about this for awhile now. Would there be a way to treat a denim Indy jacket to make it similar to the material used in making outback jackets? Ultimately I'd love to have a Indy jacket made out of that material but I don't think that would happen any time soon. I'm basically wanting the Indy look in a jacket that is a bit more suited to my work in the field and living here in Oregon (gotta love the rain). I have an outback jackhammer that is about the closest I've found to what I want however it has some insulation (thinking of buying a second and gutting it).

I know you can get the stuff to retreat your outback jackets, do you think it would be possible to apply it to the denim Indy and get a similar result or do you think it would just trash the jacket?

I was thinking if you put a fairly heavy coat, then warm it up some so it kind of soaks in bit, let it dry then wipe off the excess. What do you guys think?
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Bruce Wayne
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Post by Bruce Wayne »

since no one has replied to this i guess i will.
i wouldnt recomend it. although if you want to i would go with something like Filson's tin cloth wax. it is just that, a wax that you heat up with a blowdrier & apply with a old toothbrush. i know i used it on a waxed tin cloth hat i still have floating around somewhere. so to answer you question, a oiled duster is actually waxed, i think...
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Post by Scandinavia Jones »

Isn't the fabric in used in oilskin gear like Driza-Bone and Barbour a lot more dense and woven in a different way than denim? The result from oiling a denim jacket might not be what you expect. I wouldn't recommend it.
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Post by Bruce Wayne »

Scandinavia Jones wrote:Isn't the fabric in used in oilskin gear like Driza-Bone and Barbour a lot more dense and woven in a different way than denim? The result from oiling a denim jacket might not be what you expect. I wouldn't recommend it.
i was thinking the same thing, but wasnt sure...
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rick5150
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Post by rick5150 »

Step 1: Buy a similar jacket at a thrift shop. You can get these really cheaply.

Step 2: Buy the Drizabone Garment Dressing and follow the directions on their site with the thrift shop jacket.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you feel comfortable with the results. If you like what you see...

Step 3: Apply to the original denim Indy jacket.

...if you do not like what you see, you have not ruined your jacket.
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JimL
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Post by JimL »

This is a cool idea, and I'd probably try it myself...

Use an old (or ill-fitting) pair of jeans as your test-bed.

I suggest the Barbour thornproof dressing.

Heat the 'wax' in a pot of hot water (double boiler arrangement- not direct on the heat) and apply a lot of it. You may need to purchase quite a bit of the dressing to do a completely dry jacket...

melt it in very well with a blow drier. A heat gun might be better on the heavy denim, dependant on how hot your blow drier goes...

Should work well for a few months. It will need to be touched-up every so often. The lighter areas indicate where the dressing is getting thin.

FYI Barbour jackets are basically 400 thread count or so bed sheet material. VERY fine weave (and quite thin), and the factory melts the wax into the cloth when they do it. I have touched up and fully re-treated mine several times now, and the Barbour stuff is great.

I suspect it will take considerably longer to get this stuff into a material like denim, and it will be a LOT heavier when you are finished (also the color will be A LOT darker don't forget!) but it will be water proof, and the fabric will be more scratch resistant than the un-treated cloth.

If you do this, please keep us posted on how you make out! I think an older, faded denim Wested would look great after treatment- like a hat-band almost black brown...
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Post by CM »

It doesn't work on denim - many have tried and failed. You need cotton that is woven a certain way.
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