I have a question on Pecards. I’m not sure anyone here on the board has used it for quite the same purpose of darkening their jackets, but I was curious how much DOES IT darken a hide. It may just be my erroneous belief that after awhile, the jacket would become too saturated for the deepening of color to really have much of an effect unless it just remains mostly on the surface.
Just for example, would it be possible to turn a G&B Seal goatskin color to a Dark Seal color with enough applications as Pecards would seem to suggest, OR, a Wested Authentic goat to their Dark Goat and still retain the same underlying hue? And how would it darken it? Darken it to some muddy brown or whatever the added ‘tint’ color is that Pecards uses, or something like using a different color shoe polish on a pair of orange Aldens, or just deepen the color naturally to what the hide is/was initially.
Leather_Loco wrote:Weatherproof Dressing
The Weatherproof Dressings have almost the exact same ingredients as the Leather Dressing but we've added tints to help cover scrapes and scuffs that occur over time. If you want your leather to be a little bit darker then use the Weatherproof dressing until it darkens to your liking. Switch over to the Classic Leather Dressing to keep the leather the new shade.
In the intitial application, it gets REAL dark, to the color of the chrome tanned FS's we've seen and owned. If it was applied to a pre-distressed leather, the highlights slowly come back, making the jacket more of a pleasing mahogney color. But either the standard dressing or jell does indeed darken the leather to the darker colors you mention.I've applied standard dressing to everything, including my first lamb (that's when I discovered standard dressing was NOT a good product for lambskin). The biggest color shift I ever experienced with when I applied a coating of standard dressing to the U.S. WIngs Old Cow Indy. It had a reddish tint originally, but the dressing made it turn to a nice chocolate brown, and it never changed, with the exception of the naturally worn highlighted areas around the elbows and cuffs. All other other leathers I've applied Pecards to just got darker, but didn't seem to shift color to my eye. Regards. Michaelson
I've applied standard dressing to everything, including my first lamb (that's when I discovered standard dressing was NOT a good product for lambskin).
Michaelson, just curious: why is it not good on lamb? Is it because it changed its color, or made it too pliable?
Thanks,
HJ
It greatly increased the physical weight of the jacket. It also made the leather quite tacky, as lambskin has a finer pore, and therefore the standard dressing just didn't soak in as readily as other leathers, if at all. I usually use the leather lotion or Lexol myself. Regards. Michaelson
Pecards is available to everyone in the WORLD online!! Just do a search
for "Pecards leather care" with any browser you have, and you will come
up with their website. I have ordered from them several times and its
very easy to do.
Here is what I was told is the "Normal" application for Pecards products.
I hope this helps some people:
1. Pecards Standard Dressing: Used on heavy leathers such as
Cow, buffalo and horse hides that are very grainy. Not recommended for
smoother leathers such as Lamb, deer or Kangaroo or any smooth
vinyls.
It is especially used on Boots, shoes, and other items that are exposed
to the elements. It adds water repellancy to the
leather and the seams. We can use it on our Cowhide Indy jackets, and
other cowhide jackets and buffalo and horse hide jackets.
It will slightly darken some lighter colored leathers. It will soak in to
distressed leather, and help to repair the distressed areas, and
add back in the lost oils of the leather. Any darkened
areas from this application will lighten up again as the dressing dries, but
these areas will not be as light as before the application. They will be
slightly darker after it dries in these areas. It will leave behind the
leather protection and water repellancy. This is good for people who
want to protect their distressed leather jackets, and still keep the
distressed look, but wear their jackets in the rain.
2. Pecards Cream/Jell: This can be used on ALL leathers, but it
will darken up any distressed areas to the point where the leather will
not look too distressed any longer.
It contains no bees wax, so it does not add any water repellancy to the leather. It
is for adding leather protection to all leathers, whether they are smooth,
grainy, or very grainy. Because it contains no waxes, it will soak in very
quickly, and it WILL darken all leathers, especially lighter colored leathers.
Because it does soak in so well, it is also used to help soften stiff leathers,
such as Cowhide, Goatskin, Buffalo hide, and Horsehide. This helps in getting your
jacket to that "lived in look" much quicker. If you add this to a pre-distressed
jacket, it will darken up the distressed areas quite a bit, and they will
not look as distressed anymore. If you don't want to darken up your
distressed jacket, don't use this on it as it will take away most of the
distressed look to the leather.
3. Pecards Leather Lotion: This is specifically made for all smooth
leathers such as Shearling jackets, and all vinyls. It can be used on all
other leathers, whether they are heavy grain or not. It can be used
on all distressed jackets, and it will leave that nice distressed look to
the leather while adding in the leather protection.
It is used mainly to keep leather looking new, and keeping the oils in
the leather.
It adds protection to leathers such as Shearling jackets
and other smooth jackets with no heavy grain. It is also made for all
color leathers, including white! It will not darken leather as the others
do, so it is great for lighter colored leathers too. You can use this lotion,
which is sometimes refered to on this forum as "Motorcycle lotion" on
all the leather products you have. It can be used on Cow, Lamb, Buffalo,
Horse, Goat, Deer and all your vinyl needs. It is used to add back in the oils
that normal wear takes away. It is very good at keeping a jacket, no
matter what its made out of, looking its best without darkening the leather.
You can use this on your pre-distressed jackets without the fear of taking
away the nice lighter markings and areas that you tried so hard to get!
4. Pecards Boot Oil: This is used for adding water repellancy to leather that is used outside alot.
It will darken anything it touches, and it really
should not be used on jackets. It CAN be used on jackets, as some
have stated, but if you are not REALLY careful, you can darken up spots
that you don't want to darken if you use this on jackets. It is in a liquid
form, and as such, goes on really fast, and soaks in VERY quickly! This
is why it will darken any leather it touches. You should NOT use it on
any light colored leather unless you don't care if it turns dark.
I know this is not in a "chart" form, but I got this info right from the
containers, and Pecards own website.
Couple this information with the post by Leather_Loco (a VP with the Pecards co. and member of the forum community) in this section, and you have the whole picture of what Pecards can do. Thanks, IndyFist! Regards. Michaelson
I guess I just find the more products and choices there are, the more confused I get (ooO, I feel one of those migraine’s coming on). So I do appreciate the extra reassurance that is provided by posting questions to this forum since my question was more about what Pecard’s tinted dressings do, and the implication of whether they would change the color TOO drastically compared to the standard dressing or jell and whether it is absorbed deep into the fibers of the leather or remain largely on top. Indeed, just reading Michaelson’s experiences about the “biggest color shift” occurring with his U.S. WIngs Old Cow Indy and the mahogany hue given to a pre-distressed leather is worthy to note since it is not mentioned anywhere by Pecard’s.
I didn’t want to be left with the impression that whatever lighter color...Authentic brown, Seal, vintage brown, russet, or mahogany leathers would all end up eventually looking a Dark Seal Brown.
So all information in this thread was helpful to me. Thank you.
Of course, if we toss in the pre-tinted dressing in the mix, which comes in both brown AND black, you can REALLY reach for the asperin. Regards. Michaelson
Regards. Michaelson