Hey Novapelle owners...

Kokopelli · Post by **Kokopelli** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:18 am

I know this has a pre-distresed look to it, but is it an actual pre-distressed hide? ie- where the top 'coat' of the leather has been taken off leaving the suede type feeling leather?

Kt Templar · Post by **Kt Templar** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 9:31 am

It's hard to describe, you know how normal chrome tanned leather almost has a thick "plastic skin" this doesn't have that. It's almost as if the surface is polished slightly, it's not like suede either as any nap is microns rather than millimetres thick. You'll find that if you run your fingers across it it marks slightly like the marks you get when you do that with velvet, but the finest velvet you ever saw. A bit like microfibre cloths.

Does that help?

Oh, and if you dig deeper it marks like a veg tanned leather.

Wear it a little and hit it with Pecards it can look like this:

Kokopelli · Post by **Kokopelli** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 11:31 am

wow that looks nice! -Especially after its lotioned. I'd love to see that Copper Novapelle!

Indiana Strones · Post by **Indiana Strones** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 11:47 am

Yes the novapelle looks even better after a coat of Pecard, but after some months (3-4 in my experience) the effect vanishes and you have back again the "velvet" surface.

Kokopelli · Post by **Kokopelli** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 12:50 pm

I have a 10+ year old flight jacket that is pre-distressed. -I added the patches-
When I first bought it, it was very dark brown, with just a slight distressed look, but it had that rough, dry feel to it. After regular wear, areas of contact such as the arms and back are solid tan. All the darker coloring wore off completely.
I just rubbed it down with Redwing boot oil (Pecards) and it darkened it back up, but it still has that rough feel. The Wings CE I got looked and felt exactly like this flight jacket's leather did new.

Here's under the collar where it hasn't worn off:

Here's where it has worn off, not oiled:

Here's where it has worn off and I oiled it:
[/img]

Anyone care to guess what hide this is? I thought it was goat, but I can't remember for sure.[/img]

crismans · Post by **crismans** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 1:51 pm

It looks just like an old cowhide bomber jacket that I owned.

Not saying it's not goat though.

Kokopelli · Post by **Kokopelli** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 2:53 pm

crismans wrote:It looks just like an old cowhide bomber jacket that I owned.

Not saying it's not goat though.

I figured it was moo cow, but the grain looks weird.

Kt Templar · Post by **Kt Templar** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 3:56 pm

I've seen a 'predistressed' cowhide from wested that ended up looking like that after a lot of wear and no leather dressing. The striations on that jacket and the big 'cells' on the leather look a lot like the New Zealand lamb from Wings.

Back to the NP... this is a 9 month old one that has been worn a fair amount and not been treated with pecard.

Louisiana Jones · Post by **Louisiana Jones** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:37 pm

citRon, just adding my thoughts about my novapelle...

I believe the novapelle is an actual pre-d hide, with no top coat. I ran some water over a sleeve when it was brand new just to see if it was water resistant at all, and it soaked in before I could say, "You call him Dr. Jones, doll." I've been in a few rain storms and the jacket absorbs water like crazy.. in hard rain I was soaked down to my skin, t-shirt and all. I bought this hide knowing this would happen, so don't take my comments as complaints.

I applied leather dressing only once, and it came out just like KT Templars.. it looks great.

Overall I love the novapelle hide.

LJ

whipwarrior · Post by **whipwarrior** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 8:07 pm

Yeah, I think we have to use regular applications of Pecards to achieve any kind of waterproofing with novapelle. Small price to pay for looking awesome, though.

Kt Templar · Post by **Kt Templar** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 4:53 am

whipwarrior wrote:Yeah, I think we have to use regular applications of Pecards to achieve any kind of waterproofing with novapelle. Small price to pay for looking awesome, though.

Thanks WW, just got a vivid mental image of 'Captain Awesome' from Chuck, covered in Pecards! Something I really didn't want!

SpeedRcrX · Post by **SpeedRcrX** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 12:23 pm

I love this novapelle, I've been caught in the rain 2 months ago I was soaked, but now the jacket has character. I put two coat of pecard, it became even softer and the color darkened a little (I love this color)
Now my jacket looks a lot like KT's