Club Obi Wan

I'm withholding any decision to distress my Wested jacket until after it arrives and wear it in a bit. I tried the acetone method on another non-wested jacket (lambskin) that I have just recently, and it turned out decent (only on/around the seams area).

I briefly tried sanding some one of the edges and adjacent seam on the inside of the jacket with used 220 grit paper. I felt that this dug up the leather a bit too much for my taste. Pyroxene in a different thread suggested using a scotch pad, I'll try this as it may be a little less abrasive.

My major concern with sanding is that with any abrasive technique, the work being done is scratching/removal of material. Has anyone had problems sanding through sections of the stitching? Stitching is essentially the "bones" of any garment, weakening them could cause the seam to open up. If I do distress my wested, I would like to do so in the safest way possible.

You are absolutely correct. My first Wested distressing I sanded the stitching right off.

Best suggestion is to just "sand" around or on either side of the stitching. It actually looks a little more realistic too.

The cool thing about the Scotch Brite pad is that the lambskin will actually wear the pad down some. It requires a little more elbow grease than sandpaper. Then again, that's what you want so you have better control over the blending of the color.

Pyro

This is where I struggle with the whole 'distressing' thing - yeah, it looks great when done well, but doesn't it compromise the integrity of the jacket, limiting it's 'lifespan'?

I think if you do it right you shouldnt have any problems. Do remember though that when distressing jackets for the film they only needed it to last to the end of the production. Just be sensible.

Ken

Just be sensible.

That....does....not....compute.

Well there goes my idea of using my belt sander for the rapid distress approach

If I ever want to distress my goat I've learned that I should use a jack hammer, a blowtorch amd then some toxic/nuclear waste for the fine tuning.
Funnily enough, when I tried some acetone on the samples that SJ gave me from Wested, the auth. lamb and the dark brown goat were the easier ones to get a colour change on. I guess you never know how easy or difficult it is to distress a jacket until you have distressed one yourself.
Still holding back from doing it, despite the beautiful ones I've seen in real life. I wonder what it takes...

Regards,
Swindy

Swindiana wrote:I wonder what it takes...

Regards,
Swindy

1) Nerves of steel

2) Lots of alcohol... for several reasons!!

Ken

ob1al wrote: ...compromise ... integrity ...

This is an issue that scoundrels never have to deal with.

Indiana Jess wrote:

ob1al wrote: ...compromise ... integrity ...

This is an issue that scoundrels never have to deal with.

No they just compromise their integrity!

Oh. I thought scoundrels compromised our integrity.

Just my 2cents, but I have a Auth Goat. I first tried taking the shean off it by using 91% alcohol, this worked but jacket still had soem shean.

Then I bit the bullet and just gave it a good rub down with the Acetone, rubbing, but not to hard, this dulled the jacket down nicely with some small areas of shine. By giving the jacket a rub down your only concentrating on the hole surface and not small areas.

When I had my sleeves lengthened I requested the old sleeves back, this is a huge benifit to me because now I have something to experiment on (I've given on sleeve the exact treatment so far as I've given the jacket)
what I did next on my experimental sleeve will be a little mind blowing so I don't suggest doing to your jacket, I used acetone with steel wool, rubbed it in circliar motions and up and down and all over. But not hard. The result was.....well lets say it didnt make a mess of it, it did remove color in areas and scuffed it up some. Goat is very tough stuff.
(maybe email Peter see if he can send out a larger peice to experiment with, at a cost.)

All I'm saying is distress you jacket over time not all at once, that way every one come to belive your jacket is distreeing on it's own and along the way your sure to distress it some the old fashion way.

Well I think that was alot more than 2 cents worth.
Croft

Croft

You dont any pictures of your Authentic goat post distressing do you? I am curious as to how the underneath hide actually shows through? Is it like if you scratch a peice light oak wood and basically all you are doing is making a cut into it which is the same color allt he way down or is it like scratching a peice of painted would whereby the scrath removes the paint allowing the color underneath to show through?

Ken

I too was a supporter of the 'artificially distress over time' way of thinking (before that, I supported the Michaelson school ) until I began experimenting with my authentic lamb. I did not have the patience to only distress, say, the collar or sleeve seams only - I wanted the jacket to look evenly distressed from scratch (pun intended).

However, a certain amount of moderation is recommended - give the jacket an even, albeit 'light' distressing to begin with. If you want to add more serious abrasions or remove the dye any further, do it after you've gotten used to the overall look. Making the jacket look fresh-out-of-a-2-week-sandstorm might be an interesting idea, but if you feel you've overdone it, it's kinda hard to reverse the procedure.

Jacket distressing keywords - damage control...

And yes, those Scotchbrite pads are very good for distressing - they won't compromise the stitching, but will get the job done.

Indiana Ken, at this time (of the night) I don't have any pic's of my experiment but when I get them posted I'll post them here.
I have one sleeve just the way it came from Wested and one sleeve I've been working on.

Not much of th undernieth hide shows through unless you really rub very hard and when you do, it don't look to good. So I'd say distressing should be suttle and not to bold, very carefuly sanding seams will work fine with out cutting any threads, but you have to have paitance to sand very carefuly.

Croft

Indiana Ken wrote:

Croft

You dont any pictures of your Authentic goat post distressing do you? I am curious as to how the underneath hide actually shows through? Is it like if you scratch a peice light oak wood and basically all you are doing is making a cut into it which is the same color allt he way down or is it like scratching a peice of painted would whereby the scrath removes the paint allowing the color underneath to show through?

Ken

Below You'll find some pic's of my jacket when I received it and after when I'd done some distressing. as I said I rubbed it done in alcohol 1st then a rub done in acetone (not hard though). Well know I've started using 400 grit sand paper and the scuff pad. 400 grit to distress seams and other small areas and the scuff pad to dull it up more.

But first before the pic's I want to share something, and I think it a small break through when it comes to using sand paper, if you make to big a scratch or sand off to much surface color, I dipped a q-tip in acetone and rubbed it on one of my spare sleeves, I then immeditly put the q-tip to one of the araes where I took to much off and presto it was restored to the point where you can only slightly see the area that I took to much off. Any one who wants to seriusly use sandpaper look into getting a larger piece of leather from Wested to use as a repair kit of sorts.

Now for pic's.
fresh out of the pac
http://public.fotki.com/IndianaCroft/my ... n3257.html

front of wested fresh out of the pac
http://public.fotki.com/IndianaCroft/my ... n3255.html

another front shot
http://public.fotki.com/IndianaCroft/my ... n3247.html

Jacket after it's been distressed (rember it's sutle)
http://public.fotki.com/IndianaCroft/my ... n3625.html

My spare sleeves, one on left is untouched
http://public.fotki.com/IndianaCroft/my ... n3626.html

http://public.fotki.com/IndianaCroft/my ... n3627.html

this is a close up of some of the distressing
http://public.fotki.com/IndianaCroft/my ... n3624.html

This should've been at the top, close up right side action pleat.
http://public.fotki.com/IndianaCroft/my ... _acti.html

Croft

Croft

Thanks for posting the pictures - it is enlightening. The results of the distressing are similar to those of Koreana Jones' distressing of the authentic goat yet more subdued as yours is more subtle.

It appears the authentic goat distresses differently - the color doesn't seem to get removed by applying alcohol (although the shine obviously does as is evident from your pictures) or acetone and its is the sanding which actually removes any of the surface layer.

Also both your jacket and that of Koreana seems to distress in regular straight line type scratches.

On a personal basis I much prefer my Dark Brown and am glad I went with it over the authentic purely on the way it distresses.

Anyway each to their own, eh?

Thanks again!

Ken

Croft,

Good pictures. I was suprised to see your 2 pics "fresh out of the pack" - that jacket looks like its been broken in already, much different than say the auth lamb (like Jerry's). Judging from your sleeve tests, that goat doesn't want to give in to you

Humm, Scandinavia, remind me to look into your Michaelson U. certification now. Regards. Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:Humm, Scandinavia, remind me to look into your Michaelson U. certification now. Regards. Michaelson

Expelled, huh? 8-[ Does this mean I won't get any invitations to the M U Alumni dinners?

I know Mark will detest to any mention of distressing, however I have always went with a more movie methode, sand paper and a rock, lol. Yes, a rock too, a smooth round rock that is. I have done two jackets, and have learned a system of how to use only sand paper, and yes the rock, to distress the hide without harming the stitching which is the key. If you damage the stitching , that can be bad news. My next one or two Wested's I am not going to distress at all, they will go naturally. I have already made up my mind on a TOD and LC Wested in the future, that I am going to leave to the real adventures to distress.

When I used the 400 grit sand paper it was with utmost care and finese, I want sutle, this rock method seems intriging.
any way my distressing will continue but I will take my time, I don't want a jacket that looks like I've distressed it but done the natural way. Thats to say not wear it to work one day with no scratched or scuff marks and presto!!!! one weekend later it looks like I just came from Egypt.
This to me would look fake.
CRoft

Sure, the rock method is great! Just stand in front of a wall and have your friends hurl rocks at you while wearing the jacket!

bink

But all I said was Jehova... Ow!

Ken

Alumni dinners? Probably not, but you'll still get the mailers asking for donations when the alumini fund drives occur each year. You may now continue your 'controlled destruction' discussions. Regards. Michaelson

But all I said was Jehova... Ow!

Are there any women here...??


I´ve added a "distressed section" on my website, but it´s my experience that the stitching are quite difficult to damage as they lie below surface.

But I see that I am a little more rough than most of You using sandpaper grit 120

And a brick/brickwall is a must in order to distress a jacket autentic!!

Best regards

JAN

Hey Jan, is that an Authentic goat or a lamb jacket?

Jan's jacket is amazing and a real inspiration to me to go hardcore and add a brick to my distressing repetoire.

Ken

Indiana Ken wrote:But all I said was Jehova... Ow!

Ken

LOL! Glad you blokes got the reference.

"Alright! Who threw that?!"

bink

SHE DID SHE DID uhh... he did, he did....

It's funny, the more I look at pics of nicely distressed jackets the more my fingers itch to pick up a few scouring pads, some fine grit sandpaper and maybe some chunks of cinderblock and descend upon my hapless Wested lambskin. I think I'm going to wait though, and when I do do something artificial to it it will probably be just use a tiny amount of alcohol to remove some of the shine. Of course, maybe I'll try to even do that naturally.... come to think of it, I've never been thrown into the wall behind a bar before

Hey Jan, is that an Authentic goat or a lamb jacket?

It´s an autentic lamb. The leather is very durable in my opinion -
much more than my other Wested in lamb (5 years old).

But nothing will withstand my distressing

Best regards

JAN

Looks nice, I saved your site to my favorites. Look foward to more pic.
I like using sandpaper as well but I'll stick with finer grit.
I've started to give the whole jacket a lite sanding, still trying to get rid of those shiney areas that are holding out on me.
Croft

(yes...yes pics will be forth coming, I just found out how to do close up shot w/my digital camera)

It really is an art form.

How long did it take to finally perfect YOUR form, whipwarrior? I know you practiced for years before you got one to your liking....Regards. Michaelson

I'm new here but wanted to share my experience distressing my new Wested Cowhide Dark Brown Raiders jacket.
When it first arrived I was amazed at how well it fit! They really got it right this time and I was grateful as giving someone in another country measurements over the phone for a custom jacket made me a bit nervous. The cowhide was a bit stiff but i liked the way it held its shape and had a bit of weight that let me know that I was wearing a strong jacket. Overall very satisfied with the design, fit and material. The color and surface however didn't feel quite right. First of all it was too new and shiny for me and second the color seemed just a bit off for my taste. A dark brown but with a very slight avocado tone that I felt could have been slightly redder. Well, being the reckless sort that I am teh first thing that I did was put one light coat of Lincolns dark brown leather dye over it.I had used this dye before and really liked the color. I know! Most of you must see it as heresy to add dye to a new Wested but I threw caution to the winds and the first thing that it did was turn the surface an ugly chrome green! Now I was scared! Had I ruined a custom made jacket that had cost me close to $300 and had taken a month to make?!
Well, I'm not sure why i decided to do this but I got some acetone and paper towels and started to wipe the total jacket down with acetone. The green sheen imediately dissapeared leaving a beautiful deep dark chocolate brown, exactly the color I was looking for! I also noticed that if I rubbed a little more that the acetone was taking off a bit more than surface dye and it was lightening certain areas. I knew that I was on the right track! I started rubbing more with acetone in some areas and wiping down teh whole jacket to get down to a deeper layer of color. After letting it dry I had managed to distress my jacket to a near perfect level of color and tone with no damage at all that I could see and the only negative was that it still had a slight shine in teh areas that were still dark.At this point i VERY GENTLY rubbed the whole thing down with very fine sandpaper (440) and this took off any gloss. The key here is to know when to stop and I believe that i stopped well in time and it actually looks slightly underdistressed but has just the right color and appearance of wear that took it from a shiny new jacket to looking like an old well worn friend. I was lucky but am very heappy with the result. I did find that on this particular jacket that you need to be extra careful of sanding as it can take the color right out in no time. I just lightly sanded teh surface to take off any glaze and let the acetone take care of the color. All in all very satisfied and can recommend this procedure to anyone who wants t o try it on the dark brown new cowhide. This doesn't seem to work at all on a lambtouch Cowhide wested though. I tried a bit of acetone on a hidden inside spot and it didn't take any of the color out at all! Deep rubbing just seemd to flatten the finish without any change in color so it doesn't work with Lambtouch. Anyway, thats my Wested story.

Nice story and welcome aboard.

One thing you'll find here is that when you have a story like that you need to back it up with pic's. Pic's and more pic's.

How much gear do you have to date or is the Wested your first piece.
Croft

Thanks for the welcome,
I need to borrow a digital camera for pics but am working on it. As for gear I have two Westeds (the new cowhide from teh story and a Lambtrouch cowhide that is for sale). I also have a Stetson Gunclub hat that I trimmed the brim and dyed dark brown. It is sort of an Indy hat but not exactly but it is my daily wear hat. I also have an Adventurebilt hat on order from Fedora that should arrive next month and am waiting with great anticipation. I have 2 authentic Shivalingams (shankara stones) from India and have bought a Goatskin Wested for my son on ebay (should arrive tomorrow)

While sanding will damage the leather, isn't that how Indy's jacket is- damaged? Personally I sand mine using a palm sander and 60 grit paper. The action of the sander makes the the look more like I've been dragged underneath a truck. I am careful to the extreme around the seams and stitching and I don't put a lot of weight on the sander; it's own weight is sufficient. After I've finished "damaging" the jacket enough, I'll rinse it off with water and let it hang dry in a cool place, usually the basement. I've recently finished my new TOD jacket and when my new camera arrives (and I figure out how it works) I'll post a few pics.

The "distressing" thing is adictive. When I ordered mine I knew I wanted to distress it. My first intorduction to Wested was finding a website showing how it ws done. Well, when my jacket arived it was so beautiful I could not imaging working it over but it was also a bit too large. Sleeves way too long, body a little too long. I went a more extreme route I had done on an old A2 I owned. First I wet the entire jacket down and threw it in a dryer on low heat (skilled test driver on a closed course, do not attempt this yourself) once done it was just about a size smaller and fit great. The leather also had more texture like a well worn friend.
I got out the acetone and just aged the leather around my inside map pocket as a test...........well, three hours later the jacket was "done". Pockets aged a good deal, sleeve ends, seams, edges a bit too, other areas just enough to show use. I was still unsure if I liked the buldging action pleats but got used to it and wear it every day. Now I NEED another Wested. I want one with very slight or maybe no wear and another really aged. I will probaly add the sanding step now to this one to continue the process and keep the new one, well new (for now).
I have owned may a dozen leather jackets and this is my favorite. I have only kept a B1 shearling, a pre-distressed 50's loking fashion jacket and the Wested. Three different weights, one for each season from Fall through Spring.
Tony