New Horsehide LC jacket undesireable crease - advice?

raider7 · Post by **raider7** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:31 am

Got a new Wested HH LC jacket a few weeks ago - very happy with it high quality workmanship, great grain etc. etc. I will try and get some pics up shortly.

However, there is one thing that is bugging me - there is a vertical crease on the back panel - looks like from where the leather was probably folded - it runs pretty much the length of the panel. I am pretty sure in time it will disappear on it's own but if possible I'd like to speed that process up but being horsehide - its not easy!

I am going for a natural distress - so sandpaper etc is out. I don't think hanging in a doorway is gonna help as the crease is vertical, I have tried the dry iron method with a cloth on the leather - did'nt do anything. Maybe I need to do it longer - not sure what prolonged heat will do - wouldn't want to make things worse!

I'm wearing the jacket everyday - (it's a cold summer here in Scotland), the leathers appearance is starting to change for the better and stiffness is going - I scrunch it up in a ball in the evening and even the collar is behaving; but the crease has not changed as yet.

Any (helpful) suggestions?

Apologies if it's been addressed before - just point me to the thread if so.

Thanks

Joeyeah_right · Post by **Joeyeah_right** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:35 am

I would imagine getting the back panel wet and then let it dry with something heavy like a large heavy hardback book lying on top of it flattening the crease might work?

Joe

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 7:09 am

I reckon I'd just keep wearing it...it'll disappear as the jacket breaks in and conforms to your body. Things like wearing it whilst sitting (zipped up) would eventually get rid of that, provided it's not a really tight fold....

Ian

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:25 am

I recently bought one of these jackets and eventually sold it to John V. Nice jacket and good hide, very soft for HH. My suggestion would be to use a good leather lotion and press it into the fold. If that doesn't work, then use the water treatment on the back panel. Eventually, wear should be enough, but it may take awhile.

Post by **Michaelson** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:42 am

Well, to add to what _ said above, let me just add the following, and information given to me by a leather craftsman:

Leather is just skin. It reacts to dampness, and warmth. If you want to remove or add bends or creases, you need to first introduce dampness, then warmth to coax it to do what you want it to do when working with leather.

That said, what has been suggested is to lay the jacket on a flat solid surface, then lay wet (not soaking wet, just dampish wet ) HOT towels on top of the creased area you want to flatten out.

Put on top of those towels weight. What I've found useful in this application is cast iron pans/pots. Some folks suggest weights from a weight bench, but pots/pans work fine too, and are more readily available.

Leave the jacket overnight until it's completely dried. Remove the weight and towel and you'll see the crease is gone.

Give it a shot. I've used this method myself on cuffs on a goatskin jacket, and it worked fine.

The reason you only want damp towels and not soaking wet towels is you need to be sure of the type dye application that was used in the making of the leather won't be pulled out of the leather with too much water on it's surface.

If it's not a chrome tanned type, too much water could leach the dye out of the leather in the area you're trying to fix, to try it in a spot you can't see (like the inside of the flap of a patch pocket) to see if the jacket has it's dye 'set'.

Proceed with caution and do this test first. In the case of horsehide, though, the dyes are usually no problem, but always err to the side of caution when working with leather.

The iron mentioned by _ is a special version that uses essentially the same technique of wet heat to press the leather into shape, but don't try using a standard iron to do this. The temperature difference is enough to permanently damage your jacket, no matter what the hide is.

The iron method done at a leather shop is the absolute best way to get rid of the crease, but unless you're near a leather shop that does this type work, this method should do the trick for what you're needing to do.

Good luck!

Regards! Michaelson

raider7 · Post by **raider7** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:10 am

Thanks for all yur input guys,

some great background info Michaelson, I'll give this a try and let you all know how I get on.

Nice effect _, - leather really is an amazing product, I have had some favourite books rebound in various leathers and some of the most stunning effects are simple dies compressed into the leather and left for weeks to get a permanent desired look. Bit extreme for my needs though

- I'll stick with the heavy pots and pans for now.

rick5150 · Post by **rick5150** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:12 pm

It depends on how and when the crease was developed.

If it is a light crease from shipping, it may come out. If it is a deeper crease, was creased prior to making the jacket or pressed into the jacket in any way, you will probably always notice it - although you may get it to fade somewhat. Many creases are caused by damage to the fibers of the leather - like excessive bending in the same place, or a rather tight fold or bend in the leather, for example. You cannot undamage leather fibers, but you can sometimes mask the damage. Sometimes ironing with pressure can do that, but use caution as ironing can also have interesting effects - like making a flat spot with very little grain when the rest of the jacket has pronounced grain. Don't ask how I know this.

I have yet to remove a crease 100% to be honest, and I have been trying, believe me.

CM · Post by CM » Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:37 am

Huh? Most people around here work hard to put the creases in...

Post by **Michaelson** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:15 am

True. Just no way to win around here, is there?

Regards! Michaelson

61ButteMT · Post by **61ButteMT** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:14 pm

Yeah, I can hear Indy now. "I can't go on adventuring - I have a crease in my jacket!"
:p

Post by **Michaelson** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:20 pm

61ButteMT · Post by **61ButteMT** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:38 pm

_ wrote:Kelly and I went on a cruise last summer. She is a serial vacation planner. I walk by the PC in the kitchen, and there she is on Cruise Critic. One of the things that's fun on the cruises is formal night. But the logistics of travel leave things very wrinkled once you unpack.

On this last cruise, she landed us a really cool room up on the spa level. It was nice because I had the spa locker room and showers just outside our door - so I never had to deal with the micro-shower in the room. But the cool thing?

The sauna! My tux, slacks and shirt were so wrinkled - but I just walked them into the sauna? 120+ degrees? The wrinkles literally fell out of everything.

Wonder what it would do to a leather jacket? Probably shrink it to doll-sized?

That would be an expensive fix

Indiana Croft · Post by **Indiana Croft** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 2:34 pm

She looks nice in a kilt, hey Bink whatcha think.................

Just ah kiddin _, she is a lovely bride, been on a cruise or two with misses and thier a blast.

Croft

raider7 · Post by **raider7** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:19 pm

Well thanks to all the advice and a bit of experimentation I managed to get the crease out. Wetting the leather and placing weights on top helped but it was still visible - so I thought I would try ironing again - but this time I ironed from the inside of the jacket through the lining - a little heat and then quickly applied some water to the leather while still warm - all the while scrunching and rubbing the leather.
You can see there is no crease visible in the 'after' photo(sorry never got one before-doh!), the crease was right down the middle of the jacket. One unexpected surprise was the interesting effect this had on bringing the grain of the leather out, you can clearly see the difference in the strap and side panel which were not treated. The back panel was pretty much the same texture as those - but the grain has really come through after the heat and water treatment.
There was a crease on the collar that was nowhere near as bad as the one on the back - I tried the same technique but with a cloth between iron and leather and you can see the difference. Water on it's own did not have this effect - could be the coating on the leather needed a bit of heat to break it down.

Post by **Indiana Jeff** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 6:15 am

Glad that worked out for you. Let's see a picture of you in it now.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff