Double H'es! Post 'em UP!

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 8:04 pm

I know they're bound to be lerking about, you know what I'm gettin' at...? Tough as nails!

HH's!

Post 'em UP!!!

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:19 am

Like I told you yesterday, if/when I corner one of my girls who have the cameras, I'll get them to take a photo of my USW Legend HH prototype.

Regards! Michaelson

(For you new folks who haven't quite caught onto the lingo here yet, 'HH' is 'horse hide'.)

Post by **Holt** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:32 am

My one and only 2008 ''Smithsonian'' HH Last Crusade!

This jacket is taken to a leather specialist to reinforce all stresspoints so it will last me a lifetime. Thats actually what he told me. It's now, ''Lifetime guaranteed''

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:07 am

Thanks, guys! I wish mine were as limber as this one looks! Holt, seeing how this was the Smithsonian jacket...

.....we may have another case of National Treasure on our hands..?

Post by **Holt** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:12 am

well, I have worked it! tennis balls and shoes in a dryer for hours! pecards, aging, etc. all to break the skin down. Pluss ALOT of wearing in all weather conditions. allthough it was not stiff from the begining so that helped but it's even softer now then what it was.

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:25 am

I guess I was lucky. My USW HH was super soft right from the get-go....but MAN it's heavy in physical weight.

Perfect weight for winter, but for just a knock around jacket, unless you like a really heavy jacket on your shoulders, it's probably not a good choice of material.

My only 'issue' is a love/hate one....that being apparently this jacket has a light insulation. There's a definite 'tipping point' when it's at a 'to wear or not to wear' decision. Anything above, say, 55 degrees and you cook in this jacket. It's wearable, but definitely uncomfortable with anything underneath heavier than a short sleeve shirt.

That said, anything UNDER 55 degrees and it's a joy! Warm, comfortable and MUCH appreciated when the night temps are in the 30's with wind chills in the 20's.

Definitely a mixed bag.

Regards! Michaelson

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:35 am

I tried the dryer thing, Holt, but the jacket just got po'ed at me when it came out and wanted to give me a whoopin'...it was sorta like....is that the best you can do...?!

Breakin' in this 'stang is going to be a job.

...I'll post some pics later...

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:47 am

Tex, the trick is to take the jacket OFF first before putting it in the dryer.

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:54 am

.....

....OH! Now you tell me!

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 11:27 am

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 11:32 am

Michaelson wrote:I guess I was lucky. My USW HH was super soft right from the get-go....but MAN it's heavy in physical weight.

Perfect weight for winter, but for just a knock around jacket, unless you like a really heavy jacket on your shoulders, it's probably not a good choice of material.

Regards! Michaelson

Yeah, it was heavy but a sweet jacket. My wife was even impressed with it which says a lot since she normally can't see a difference in any of them

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 11:36 am

Yeah, I got worried for JUST a few seconds when I saw a strange look cross your face when you tried it on a few weeks ago.

Thought I was either going to have to chase you down when you broke for the car, or hope I could at least wing you with one shot. Didn't want to get blood all over the jacket, don't cha know.

Regard! Michaelson

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:34 pm

Here is mine from G&B. This was something that I pursued on and off for the better part of 1 1/2 years. At first I was told "no way" but I was persistant.

The salesman told me this is the only one in HH they have made, and could be the last...

Mohagany RUSH!

This one is slightly a better fit than their 44R in goatskin.

This is a NH shirt, and notice how the way the light hits it, how much it looks like the Raiders proto in terms of color in full sun?

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:42 pm

Michaelson wrote:Yeah, I got worried for JUST a few seconds when I saw a strange look cross your face when you tried it on a few weeks ago.

Thought I was either going to have to chase you down when you broke for the car, or hope I could at least wing you with one shot. Didn't want to get blood all over the jacket, don't cha know.

Regard! Michaelson

I had enough mini-vans and SUVs around in the parking lot. I could've made it

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:02 pm

Yeah, have to agree...it would have been touch and go....

Post by **Holt** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 3:43 pm

forgive my European ignorance but hasn't persistant the same meaning as nagging?

lol.

kidding!

Man! thats looks super stiff. way to stiff for a Raiders jacket. for a real world jacket I guess it's pretty nice tho.

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 5:22 pm

It obviously is a work in progress and will be for awhile...but aren't we all?

What I'd like to know is what do they (the factory, tannery) treat the leather with to make it soft?

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:28 pm

First point; yes Tex we ALL are

Second; no idea but it looks like they did the same thing with their striated lamb from what I remember. It was like Butta'

Post by **Michaelson** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:56 pm

All I can figure it they're possibly vegetable tanned, which does make leather quite a bit softer than chrome tanning does.

Just a guess, of course, but that's been my experience with the two kinds of tanning with many different vendors products.

Regards! Michaelson

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:12 pm

Yeah, this dawggone double H! I had such high hopes for it, and yet it churned out stiff as a board! Think I'll stick a branding iron on it!

Post by **Michaelson** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 3:05 pm

Just confirmed by email, all USW leather jackets are vegetable tanned, including the HH prototype.

Regards! Michaelson

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:43 pm

...you keep talking about this HH proto, big dawg...lets have a look at them strips of leather sewed together...?

Post by **Michaelson** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:00 pm

I'll have to see if Erin can take a photo of it for me next time we get together in the 'boro.

Regards! M

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:35 pm

It'll cost ya...

Post by **Michaelson** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:50 pm

Sigh. More negotiations, I take it....

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:05 pm

Just a pound of flesh Antonio

Post by **Indiana Jeff** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:55 am

Michaelson wrote:Just confirmed by email, all USW leather jackets are vegetable tanned, including the HH prototype.

Regards! Michaelson

I wonder if that's the jacket Sarge let me try on back in December of 2010 when I was visiting the shop? I got the grand tour and he was handing me jacket after jacket to try on, prototypes and production jackets. I couldn't believe it when I put it on and he told me it was HH and how soft it was.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Post by **Michaelson** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 8:29 am

I doubt it, Jeff. This one was made in 2011, but he's had other prototypes come and go that never went to production. This is the only HH Legend prototype that was evern made.

Regard! Michaelson

UPDATE: I just did a search of the Legend project, and yep, it could quite possibly BE the HH you tried on, Jeff. He was receiving and producing the Legend series of jackets at the end of 2010, so you may have been at the right place at the right time to try on this very jacket!

I was wrong on the 2011 date, as I recall he was receiving the prototypes of the Schott bison Legen and the Hong Kong prototypes at the same time. According to my quick read, he got the Schott bison prototype in hand in December 2010, so this HH must have been there in December 2010 as well.

(Has it already been almost 2 years ago on that project??!!!

)

Post by **Indiana Jeff** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 9:56 am

I think it likely was the same jacket. I ordered my USW Legend in Bison in January 2011 so the timeline fits. I had the same reaction to the "two years already?!" when I was thinking which December I visited the shop.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:21 am

It is sorta like this:

If you want the most SA jacket currently made, get a BK.
If you want an Indy jacket by the original maker, get a Wested.
If you want the best made, real world Indy jacket, get a G&B.
If you want a durable Indy-ish jacket, get a USW.
If you want a relaxed fit Indy that approaches SA, get a Todd's.

Post by **Michaelson** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:35 am

...and as time progresses, interchange the vendors names in the list provided above, as tends to happen in this hobby.

Regards! Michaelson

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:36 am

Post by **Michaelson** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:39 am

Texan Scott wrote:It is sorta like this:

If you want the most SA jacket currently made, get a -----.
If you want an Indy jacket by the original maker, get a -----.
If you want the best made, real world Indy jacket, get a -----.
If you want a durable Indy-ish jacket, get a ------.
If you want a relaxed fit Indy that approaches SA, get a ------.

For future reference, in case any one wants to save this list.

CM · Post by CM » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:59 am

That's right M - even I have seen a range of jackets come in and out of favor and sometimes the reason for their popularity becomes the reason, later, why they are slagged off. But then this is a hobby where strange people take to perfectly good jackets with sandpaper and solvent.

Post by **Michaelson** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:59 am

Bingo!

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:35 pm

Jacket...

is in hand.

M and I made the swap.

Review and pics will be up this weekend for those interested.
It's a beautiful jacket I dont know how I will ever part with it...

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:25 pm

...this I gotta see...

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:26 pm

What? Me parting with it?

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:28 pm

...twist their arm a little, maybe they'll make some more?

Put the HEAT on 'em big dawg!

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:22 pm

Well, I've been going over this jacket with a fine tooth comb and I gotta say she's a beautiful jacket. Is she a Raider's Iman or an LC, no. She's a horse hide Indy cut jacket. It will never fit any movie scene but it feels screen reminscant.

To the details.

It does have the Legend cut with the standard Wings internal leather facings. Which has been a complaint to the purists but I think with the heavy a leather it works. The jacket has the same leather conditioning and feel of the deluxe Striated Lamb edition they offered in the Legend series but with a lot more weight to it. The jacket also has a much bigger gauged zipper and pull, again it's out of place for Indy but well suited here. The color compared to Tex' earlier post is much more greyish chocolate than the reddish tone of his. It's definately not a typical Wings brown.

What I find the most appealing about the jacket is how good it looks on. I mean it has the Indy cut but this leather feel like Arnold's Terminator jacket when worn. It feels like if you were beside Michaelson's Plymouth during the nuclear test you be just as safe wearing it than being in the car.

Now I know that might put some off. 5 years ago when I joined I probably wouldn't have wanted it. I wanted THE JACKET, which is different to everyone here. My "The Jacket" is my G&B. But owning all ive owned and after reviewing the el cheap'os, some mid-grades, and even some really nice ones, this jacket just stands out more than almost any other I've seen yet. Is it because it's different and made from Black Beauty? Maybe the latter but so are everyone's 405s. Actually I think it's all of it. It's just a nice jacket. A horse hide, Indy, Terminator, that can withstand a nuclear blast.

I'll be sure to post outside pics this weekend.

-The Dude

It's going to be had giving this thing back....

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:28 pm

The Dude wrote:Well, I've been going over this jacket with a fine tooth comb and I gotta say she's a beautiful jacket. Is she a Raider's Iman or an LC, no. She's a horse hide Indy cut jacket. It will never fit any movie scene but it feels screen reminscant.

To the details.

It does have the Legend cut with the standard Wings internal leather facings. Which has been a complaint to the purists but I think with the heavy a leather it works. The jacket has the same leather conditioning and feel of the deluxe Striated Lamb edition they offered in the Legend series but with a lot more weight to it. The jacket also has a much bigger gauged zipper and pull, again it's out of place for Indy but well suited here. The color compared to Tex' earlier post is much more greyish chocolate than reddish. It's definately not a typical Wings brown.

What I find the most appealing about the jacket is how good it looks on. I mean it has the Indy cut but this leather feel like Arnold's Terminator jacket when worn. It feels like if you were beside Michaelson's Plymouth during the nuclear test you be just as safe wearing it than being in the car.

Now I know that might put some off. 5 years ago when I joined I probably wouldn't have wanted it. I wanted THE JACKET, which is different to everyone here. My "The Jacket" is my G&B. But owning all ive owned and after reviewing the el cheap'os, some mid-grades, and even some really nice ones, this jacket just stands out more than almost any other I've seen yet. Is it because it's different and made from Black Beauty? Maybe the latter but so are everyone's 405s. Actually I think it's all of it. It's just a nice jacket. A horse hide, Indy, Terminator, that can withstand a nuclear blast.

I'll be sure to post outside pics this weekend.

-The Dude

It's going to be had giving this thing back....

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:31 pm

I like it! It's a tank, like all the HH cousins out there. Indeed, it probably would survive a nuclear blast. Too bad those guys did not wearing one of these when they were standing right under that blast.

Post by **Tennessee Smith** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:33 pm

Yeah, I know I said it was a heavy and tough bit it's also soft as butter. I know it's an odd amalgamation but it just is.

Post by **Indiana Jeff** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:33 am

I would bet cash money that's the jacket I tried on. I remember thinking it looked a bit grey-ish when I saw it in person. I am still disappointed Wings didn't offer the Legend in HH, I most likely would have picked one up.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

ShanghaiJack · Post by **ShanghaiJack** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:24 am

Blast it Dude & Michaelson, I've already used my one Indy jacket per year allotment with the wife. Now I have to wait a whole year before I can get a HH! NOt to mention that the jacket in question truly is a one of a kind. You guys just don't play fair

Of course, she hasn't made any rules about A2s yet, and I have been meaning to put together a Jake Cutter Flying Tiger jacket.

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:00 am

Well, don't get your knickers in TOO much of a knot over this one

...these were never made available, and I'm not aware of any made in this type vegetable tanned HH unless you pay for a custom from a vendor.

Like I said, this was a prototype that was never put into production.

Never having seen one of the recenlty made USW A2 HH's, though, you might luck out with one of those Schott made versions in this hide.

Regards! Michaelson

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:06 am

It would be cool to see a thinner HH Indy offering. Tweak certain details slightly and you would have a solid offering from USW.

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:10 am

True, but unfortunately they've been cutting back on their Indy selection in the past year, so the probability of them introducing anything new is pretty sliml at the moment.

Regards! Michaelson

Texan Scott · Post by **Texan Scott** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:11 am

Yeah, too bad. I remember the push, about this time 2 years ago, when striated lamb was the craze.

Post by **Michaelson** » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:25 am

Yep, selections were popping up like mushrooms, weren't they?

Regards! Michaelson