I'll start.
I have distressed several types of jackets...all lamb. Wested, Todds. and some other non indy stuff. Each time, I found that denatured alcohol didn't really take out color as some people advised. It did help remove the sheen.
But it's not always like that. Armed with experience, I started into my new Wested Dark Brown Lamb. It is very thin and light. I know it will repel water with its shiny exterior so the first thing I wanted to do was remove that. I chose denatured alcohol. To kill 2 birds with one stone, I wet it by lightly poring it on so I could also get the jacket wet like a soaking. Then I lightly rubbed it with one of those non-scratch cleaning pads.
Well on this jacket, alcohol really has a different effect. I didn't see it happening much because the jacket was pretty wet and dark. But I did notice brown drops coming off into puddles.
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I was lucky, I did not scrub hard. I only gave it a light rub. When dried I can see the color faded is spots. And I got lucky again. The loss seems to be in all the correct "wear" areas, like around the buttons on the pocket or at some natural fold. It is hardly noticeable, but I COULD have ruined it like this.Moments ago, after letting it dry for a day, I did a wet oil job with Obenauf Leather Treatment. This darkens most leather and restores the bad stuff. The oil is wet enough to act again like a wet jacket so that it reshapes to gravity. This also lets me put it open on a hanger and mold it into shape. This is great for shaping the collar! I dabbed off the excess but did not dry it down. The jacket soaked in a lot of the treatment...a good sign that I got the outer finish off. And the Obenauf will replace the waterproof protection I took away.
So: Denatured alcohol works really well on SOME leather finishes, hardly at all on others. When alcohol failed I used acetone very effectively. I have never used sand paper, just non-scratch scowering pads...and once, their stronger cousin from the hardware store.
