Weathered Wested

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

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uncle ogs
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Weathered Wested

Post by uncle ogs »

Here is my Wested OFR ROTLA in lamb follwing treatment with sandpaper and Swiss Army knife just before i took a cold shower in it. I will post after shots when it dries.

I hated this jacket when i first got but i am starting to like it now.
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uncle ogs
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Post by uncle ogs »

Ok so here it having pretty much air dried. Even after just 1min under cold water the sleeves seem to have lost about 0.5 inch. It does seem to have added a little character to the sleeves though, dont you think ? Ps sorry about the shirt, it aint pink but the flash seems to think so !
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orb
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Post by orb »

When the sleeves start to wrinkle you will for sure end with too short sleeves. :-k

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Post by Michaelson »

Standard formula for elbow 'ride up' with wear is about 1 inch lost at the cuff....so the answer is yes, they'll get shorter with wear. :-k

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Post by Texas Raider »

Man, that is interesting! :? The sleeves are the only thing that 'shrank'...??? Weird! Maybe a good dosing of Pecards to maybe loosen things up a bit?? Maybe pull and stretch (gently) to see if they go back to length?

TR
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Post by uncle ogs »

The whole prcess made me take a fresh look at the jacket and man is there a lot of leather under the arms, najor flying squirrel too. I guees thats the whole idea of the cut though, to give room for movement. I like how the sleeves responded but nothing happened to the body really. I was surprised how repellent the leather was, i mean every inch has been sandpapered at least twice. I would appriciate any observations others have on the jacket overall, i have noticed a general dismorphia setting in where i can see the pros and cons of other peoples jackets but not my own. :whip:
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Post by Kevin Anderson »

It actually looks really good. Problem is, distressed jackets often look much better in photos (or film) than in real life, in my experience.
Just don't over-do it!
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Post by Texas Raider »

I don't see anything wrong with your jacket. It still looks pretty similar to what it did before the water. I'd do it again, but run it in a dryer ON AIR NOT HEAT for a little while to get some crinkling goin on. Maybe it didn't get soaked through enough on that last one to really absorb into the leather. At the same time, I'd pull it out of the dryer every few minutes, put it on and stretch it where it seems to need it (sleeves mainly it looks like)

TR
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Imahomer
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Post by Imahomer »

I like the job you did on it.
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Post by uncle ogs »

Ok it has had a second shower with a focus on the body. Pics to follow shortly
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Post by uncle ogs »

Ok here we go. My unweathered wested versus my now twice showered wested. What do you think guys ? Any comments most welcome !

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Image :)
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Post by Texas Raider »

It's kinda gettin' there. Hmmm,,maybe a different approach. Have you done the baseballs(or something similar) in the dryer trick yet? (on air of course) The 'crinkles' look more like 'creases' right now, needs some action to break that down a bit.

If it were me, at this point (and this is just me, take it with a grai of salt) I give it a coat of Pecards, let it set for a bit, put it in a pillow case and toss it in the dryer on air with a few baseballs. I've done this to soften a REALLY stiff goat jacket and it looks/feels great now. (although I did it a LOT!)

TR
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Post by Hatch »

Uncle, what are pocket size measurements ? .....maybe it's just camera angle but they look long,can't tell much about width ....and what is size of jacket ,thanks
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Post by uncle ogs »

its a 44 and the pockets measure 6.5" wide by 8" long
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Post by Texas Raider »

I'd say, for future reference, you should get a 44 long. Have you done anymore to it to distress? Dryer?? Bro, you've gone this far, might as well keep goin' till you get it just right ;-) . Kinda the nature of the game when it comes to distressing things! ;-)

TR
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Post by uncle ogs »

Not yet, but watch this space :whip:
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Post by Imahomer »

Do you like the fit? I think I'd like my jacket just a little looser on me than yours looks to be.
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Post by Texas Raider »

It was a little looser, but it shrunk up a wee bit, he said. It doesn't look bad, I just think if he goes for another jacket in the future, he should order a long instead of regular, it'd probably fit a bit better.

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Post by uncle ogs »

Hi there Imahomer ! Do you mean looser than the unweathered one ? That one is a 42" that has the snugger military fit that i prefer, same measurements as a US wings flying jacket i have. The one i am weathering is the 44". I like the look of the leather more now. Also, hey there Texas Raider, i hear what you are saying about the length and the next time i get one i think i will go for a long, i think that would make it a little more SA, still i dont think this one is looking too bad, are there any pics of your jacket(s) on here ?
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Post by Imahomer »

I guess it's all personal taste then. If you like the the snugger fit, then that's fine. I've got an A-2 that is like that and I really enjoy it and the tighter fit. However, with my Indy jacket, I like it a little loose. The tagged size doesn't mean much to me since every jacket maker has there own sizes and they just don't seem compatible. Hopefully that makes sense.
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Post by Texas Raider »

uncle ogs wrote:Also, hey there Texas Raider, i hear what you are saying about the length and the next time i get one i think i will go for a long, i think that would make it a little more SA, still i dont think this one is looking too bad, are there any pics of your jacket(s) on here ?
I agree, it looks fine. As for pics of me in mine on here? ;-) too many to list! I have lots o' pictures, just gotta do a search.

Here's a few that I like-

Image[/img] [img][url=http://img90.imageshack.us/ ... .jpg[/img][/img][/url]

Image

Of course one with my old SPAS 12

[/img]Image And one in MoTB style- [url=http://i ... .jpg[/img][/url]

TR
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Post by Michaelson »

That first one has always been a favorite of mine, TR...if only for the subject matter behind you. ;-)

Regard! Michaelson
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Imahomer
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Post by Imahomer »

Nice photos....
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Post by Texas Raider »

Michaelson wrote:That first one has always been a favorite of mine, TR...if only for the subject matter behind you. ;-)

Regard! Michaelson
Thanks, Michaelson. You too, Imahomer. ;-) Yeah, I've been meaning to put the video of the train and the Indy house interior on a video hosting site, but I need to find one that will allow 15-20 minutes of video.

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Post by Michaelson »

Yep, I've been waiting to see those someday! Looking forward to it.

You might want to considering breaking them in to two parters on You Tube. I've seen that done a lot!

Someone posted the entire film 'A Christmas Carol' starring A. Sims in several 9+ minute segments last year.

Regards! Michaelson
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Post by Texas Raider »

Hey, that'll work! I always forget about Youtube!

TR
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Post by IndianaJack91 »

nice photos
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Imahomer
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Post by Imahomer »

Well, if you go the Utube route, please be sure to let us know.
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Post by uncle ogs »

Looking good TR, you can really see that a longer cut than mine gives greater SA in some of them shots, nice work !
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Post by Texas Raider »

Thanks, ogs! Have you done anymore distressing?

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Post by uncle ogs »

Not yet i dont have a dryer :-k I am gonna devote some time on Saturday i think. Thanks for all your advice budddy !
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