Club Obi Wan

My Wested 'Raiders' lamb is a few years old now, and tonight for the first time I noticed a little bit of rust on the zipper pull.

It's part of the first batch Wested made when they started offering the nickel plated zipper. This is the first time I've ever seen a rusted zipper on any of my garments, so it's puzzling.

I know how rust is caused, but I'm a little perplexed that this came about so soon. It's not like I store my jacket in a damp place, or go swimming in it...well, except for that one time when I was chased by Hovitos - but that's another story.

Anyway, anyone else experience this, and if so, how did you remedy the situation?

Cheers,
Cassidy

I'd suggest a small wire brush, a little WD-40, and some elbow grease.
Works great at remvoing rust, and the WD-40 will inhibit it from coming back. Just use it sparingly.
'Blues

BTW, not sure where you can find elbow grease. I've searched for it for years, to no avail.

Will the WD40 hurt the finish of the leather? If nobody knows, I'd try it in a nice hideable spot you don't care about first. Like INSIDE a pocket or something.

Spray the WD-40 on a cloth first, then apply it to the zipper pull. Better yet, get one of the museum grade metal polishing/protectant waxes. They're very hard and will keep rust from re-forming. Sorry, I don't have a name right offhand, but check the Museum Replicas on-line catalog.

You could try some steel wool on the zipper to get the rust off.

Geoff

You could pursue the options above, OR...
You could just leave it and call it distressing.
I suppose you could also have the zipper replaced, which any tailor could do for you. This may be the best option. You could choose any zipper you want and you would not have to worry about it rusting again.
Just a thought.
Good luck.

Track down a product called Flitz. You can find it usually in hardware stores. It's a polishing compound that you just rub on and it does wonderful things. Should make short work of the rust on that zipper and leave it with an awesome shine. A little bit goes a long way...

There are actually two different types, one is a polish and the other is the wax. One after the other will make something shiney enough to burn your eyes out. But just for a nickel zipper, I figured the polish would be sufficient...