Distressing with Acetone?

[kwad]

I've read on this board multiple times where someone has used acetone to remove color from a jacket, so I thought I would give it a try.

However, it just doesn't seem to do anything to my "Authentic" lamb Wested.
(I'm using pure acetone from the hardware store, not nail polish remover.)

I've poured it on a rag and went to town scrubbing. Nada, zip, zilch.....

What's the trick?
What am I missing here?

[Indiana Dymond]

Had to look at this one as I use a lot of acetone at work.


I have seen somthing about useing acetone to strip the colour from leather.
It may well be that it'll take out stains and paints used to colour leather AFTER its been tanned.
The colour thatt the leather took on when it was tanned may well be permanent.

[Indiana Dymond]

And BTW you may want to put some pecards on that jacket now.
Acetone takes all the oils out of your skin,so it will more than likely dry out leather.

[Indyzane]

Did you use 100% Acetone? (I had to hunt around and find some, Rite Aid Has it) If not give that a go. Worked for me on my Wested distressed hide.

[kwad]

Yeah, I used pure Acetone (purchased at Home Depot).
It left a little bit of color on the rag I was using, but not much.

The dye does not appear to go all the way through the leather as I've used a little sandpaper on it before with good results (the leather is lighter under the surface).

I guess I will just have to play around with it some more this weekend to find out what works.

[Dr. Evil]

I just used some of my wife's nail polish remover on my Wested horse hide. Big mistake. All I got was this tacky, sticky mess that would barley come off. The leather in that area feels a little dry, too, but I don't think that's gonna be much of a problem too soon. My wife says the dryness is just my imagination. She actually says it feels softer now, but that's probably because that super-thick finish has been rubbed off in that area.

I used rubbing alcohol to do most of my distress work on my horsehide. It seem to do a great job with slowly rubbing off the finish in the raised areas, such as the seams and collar edges.

I think fine sandpaper is the best advice you're gonna get to use on those open areas, such as sleeves and back-panels. Alcohol might do the trick with that finish on the lamb in those raised areas (seams, outer-edges of collar and flaps). Just use a cotton ball. If the finish on your lambskin is anything remotely similar in property to the thick finish on the horsehide, just bear down and let off the pressure when the alcohol starts soaking through the surface. That's a sign that you've broken the finish. Stop what you're doing, sit back, let the leather dry, and observe the results. It's a slow, even process.

I was going to use fine sandpaper on the open areas of my jacket (sleeves and panels), but I've recently discovered that the leathers have two different finishes. The sleeves on my horsehide have that red undertone and the body doesn't. So, if I started to thin down the entire finish on my jacket, I'd have pink sleeves and a gray body.