Club Obi Wan

Hi all,

i recently made a post (my very first here) about an online source for Wells Lamont gloves = the WL 1130. Mine just arrived and i've found these have the re-inforced palm This isn't a huge deal for me, and i'll likely just keep these, but for many / most who are searching for screen accurate looking gloves - these aren't for you The photo from BarnStocker (the online source) leaves the palm mostly covered, and therefore i wan't aware of this "problem" - my apologies to anyone who ordered thinking they were screen accurate.

Since i do plan on keeping my pair i was hoping someone might recommend a way to distress them ? Todd's Costumes eludes to a way of distressing using "Household Supplies", but hasn't updated as to exactly what and how. Any suggestions / advice will be greatly appreciated ...

Happy Holidays and Best Regards from N.M.

Billy

Best way to distress your WL gloves? Use 'em, my friend. Just use 'em. Regards. Michaelson

good advice.

I bought a pair of nice white leather gloves for caving and when I crawled out of the cave, they were plenty distressed... as was I.

Hi fellas,

i'll take your advice to heart and start wearin' them everyday Thankfully winter has arrived and i won't get looks from my wife and others as i run about w/ gloves on ...LOL.

Thanks, again, and Happy Holidays from N.M.

Billy

One afternoon of shoveling show or digging in the dirt in the backyard, and you're good to go! Regards. Michaelson

Michaelson is absolutely right.
I might add, if you want them to look dirty without actually being so, use a little shoe polish here and there: black and brown, and rub it in. That will do the trick nicely. I did this with mine.
Quick! Someone post after me... 8-[

wear and tear into them quick enough

Happy Holidays from N.M.

Billy

Same to you, Billy! High regards. Michaelson

Hi Hemingway Jones

the shoe polish idea is perfect - i don't want to really beat the heck out of the gloves (or use some chemical to lessen the strength) but simply want to have them LOOK like they've been around the block I really appreciate the advice = i'll give it a go and try to post some photos in the next few days ...

Thanks !! and Happy Holidays from N.M.

Billy

Does anyone else notice that in the film his gloves are distressed on the wrong side? They are darker on the back of the hand rather than on the palm which is where they would distress in real life.

Ken

If you're gripping something, often the dirt can't get into the palm. My gloves got an all-over distressing.

His gloves would look that way if her were, say... holding a whip while being dragged behind a truck or something outrageous like that.

Indiana Ken wrote:Does anyone else notice that in the film his gloves are distressed on the wrong side? They are darker on the back of the hand rather than on the palm which is where they would distress in real life.

Ken

I've always said that, Ken. You can see in the scene when they pull the stone from the top of the Well of Souls, his palms are yellowish while his fingers are brown. That has always bugged me, lol.

Indy N.

Maybe he had them on backwards?

BillyTheKid wrote:i don't want to really beat the heck out of the gloves (or use some chemical to lessen the strength) but simply want to have them LOOK like they've been around the block

Used mine to rotate the tires on my wife's car...that gives 'em a well
used look!

Regards,
Indy

Legend has it the Raiders gloves were a last-minute decision, and a pair of Midwests or Wells Lamonts were taken from the film crew's supplies.
My guess is that the distressing was done on location, in a hurry. The back of the hands were given a speed-distressing and since the palms were 'not to be seen by the audience', they just let them be - hence the 'inverted dirtiness' of the gloves...

distress the gloves in hurry !! I much appreciate all the kind replies ...

Happy Holidays and Best Regards from N.M.

Billy

Not to seem rude or stuck up or anything, but come on kids, and I call everyone kids, don't take offense, just got out and dig in the dirt for an hour, shovel something, move some rocks around, do #### garden work.

Bogie1943 wrote:Not to seem rude or stuck up or anything, but come on kids, and I call everyone kids, don't take offense, just got out and dig in the dirt for an hour, shovel something, move some rocks around, do #### garden work.

lol !

this is what I did ! You should have seen when I got my first set of gloves...I was dragging my hands across walls, buses, tires...everything !

Thanks Bogie for putting it so eloquently!
I love whe people ask this question all of the time...
I mean, really, "How do I distress my work gloves..."
You do work with them!

Dalexs
(btw, digging rocks out of your yard while building a deck is a great way to start!)

the one thing that always works for me is to,
haul 2 gallon buckets filled with rocks around a island,
during the rain, pick up rusty nails, move things around in a WW2 storage
bunker. The list is endless. I bought the gloves for the trip and
they look like ive used them for years now. The trip was only a week long.
How alse do you distress them? Using them is so obvious. My experiences
with shoe polish have been very bad. I wrecked a pair of 1130's with them. Does anyone think i would be able to get the color out using
acetone?
Kindest Regards
Adam

Thanks, that's what I am here for Dalexs, it's all meant in good fun. This is also one of my personal favorites, I love this question. You would be amazed what an hour of yard work can do to a pair of gloves, lol.

As for the mystery of the light palms and dark backs, I have an explanation. You can distress both sides, but it rubs off the palms easily. Shoe polish, paint, etc. A few minutes of use and the leather looks tan again. The only way to make them permanently dark would be something that premeates the leather with color - like dye or grease. But then you would loose that nice contrast that makes them look more interesting on film.

The back of my gloves are always darker than my palms - I wipe my brow when I lift my lid to get some cool air up there with the back of my hand, not the palm. All the sweat and oils stain the back a nice dark colour compared to the palms.

How'd I distress my gloves you ask???? I think I have you all beat as far as a weird and crazy story.

They were already broken in a little from whipcracking in the heat, but hardly distressed. One night my roomies and I discovered that our A/C wasn't working and the Georgia heat was coming on fast in April. I grabbed my Akubra, Wested, and gloves, and hoisted myself up into the attic of the townhouse. After clambering over some wood rafters and insulation...Nope - nothing.

Went outside and broke open the crawlspace underneath the place. Grabbed a flashlight and in I went. Too low for even hands and knees so it became a shins and forearms kinda thing. Crawled all over that stupid place to get to the A/C. The clay from the foundation, the plastic matting, the general grime, and then of course discovering that a stray cat had SHREDDED the main air duct with its mangy claws to use the insulation as a home in the winter were all rapid contributions to my Midwest's rapid distressing.

Oh yeah - then I had to crawl out again. Gloves were nasty, fedora covered in cobwebs. Looked like I'd just jumped out of the Peruvian Temple.

Mike

Dude! You went under there with your fedora?!!! LOL! That's great!

Yeah ITG,

I looked into the blackness with that flashlight and I snapped the brim low over my head, took one look at my friend Dan and said, "This is it. This is where Forrestal cashed in."

Dan started laughing. I took a deep breath and crawled on underneath the house.

Got any pics?

Of what? The gloves? My fedora? Or myself right after? HAHA

I would like to see more pics of that AB of yours