How I abused a new Wested Dark Brown Cowhide jacket
Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 4:36 am
I just posted this in teh gear care and distressing section but thought it might be relevent here so here it is.......
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, since 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 the 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 the 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 the 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 happy with the result. On this particular jacket it is important to be extra careful of sanding as it can take the color right out in no time. I just lightly sanded the 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 to 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.
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, since 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 the 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 the 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 the 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 happy with the result. On this particular jacket it is important to be extra careful of sanding as it can take the color right out in no time. I just lightly sanded the 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 to 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.
