Club Obi Wan

After having my Wested goat for a year and a half and resisting the urge to distress it I've finally gone over to the dark side. The goat is just too tough, and even though I haven't treated the jacket gently there were no real signs of natural distressing. Sorry Michaelson!

Here is my Wested Authentic Raiders goatskin after the first round of distressing. I rubbed it down with dehydrated ethanol, which took off the shine and some of the color, but it wasn't enough so I broke out the acetone. I spent about four hours working on it slowly with the acetone. I will probably go back over it at least once more with acetone before I hit it with the sandpaper, but I want to wait awhile before I go any further. Without further ado, here are some photos. First up are a couple before shots.


And after three hours with the acetone.












Let me know what you think.

I'm thinking that that looks great

Thanks G-MANN. I appreciate the compliment.

I just ordered a goat Wested after seeing your pictures posted. So I think I owe you the thanks

I think it looks great. I would probably stop at this point. You don't want to go too far...unless you do. Really, it looks perfect.

I think it looks great also. In the middle of the back, there is a little bit of an emergent pattern; where the strokes are of uniform length, but in different directions. I would blend those in a bit. Other that that, it looks Awesome.

BTW, if you shaved to a mustache, you would bear a strong ressemblance to a young Howard Hughes. You even have the same stance.

I agree. Stop where you are. It will weather out on it's own from there.

Oh, and I LOVE that first photo with the journal. Hard to believe I have one with D.Jones and me holding that exact same book from a couple years ago when it was starting it's epic journey, but taken here in Tennessee!

Regards! Michaelson

G-MANN-
Glad I could serve as a little inspiration. Did you order authentic or dark brown? I've heard that the dark brown is easier to distress, although I am happy with the way my authentic turned out. If you're even considering distressing it you may want to opt for the dark brown.

Havana-
Thanks for the kind words. I agree that it is better not to distress it further. All that will be done now is a little blending in a few spots and a nice treatment with pecards.

Hem-
Thanks, you always have some of the nicest gear, so I truly appreciate the compliment. Are you talking about the two wider strokes somewhat to the right of the back that appear to be more horizontal? I agree that a little blending is needed to lose the pattern. Howard Hughes, huh? I haven't heard that one before. Which picture are you speaking of? If I had as much money as he did I'd buy Westeds for all the gearheads at COW! I might have to shave everything except the mustache when it's a little warmer and take some photos in my AB while wearing a suit.

Michaelson-
It is hard to believe how widely traveled the journal is, isn't it? The tree that I'm standing in front of has an interesting story, but I'll let you read it for itself from my entry as soon as Jan gets the scans online.


Regards,
SJ

SJ,

I went for the dark brown, same as my Lambskin Wested and Lambskin Expedition. This is my 1st venture into Goatskin. Yours looked so darn good I had to give it a shot.

WOW! This is one of the best distressed jackets I´ve seen here so far. Well done!

ShanghaiJack wrote:Hem-
Thanks, you always have some of the nicest gear, so I truly appreciate the compliment. Are you talking about the two wider strokes somewhat to the right of the back that appear to be more horizontal? I agree that a little blending is needed to lose the pattern. Howard Hughes, huh? I haven't heard that one before. Which picture are you speaking of? If I had as much money as he did I'd buy Westeds for all the gearheads at COW! I might have to shave everything except the mustache when it's a little warmer and take some photos in my AB while wearing a suit.
Regards,
SJ

SJ,
Thanks, that's kind of you to say.
The wear on the back seems to be in patches that are roughly equal in size and placement, running down opposite sides of the spine. -That's all and I mean it as the most constructive of criticisms. You really did a marvelous job with that jacket.

I think you do have a bit of a Howard Hughes look going. It could be me. I have been researching him for the past month, collecting notes on his wardrobe and studying his history, and it is very interesting, I might add. Fedora is going to make a Howard Hughes fedora for me; I'll be sure to post that once it's done (I am still researching the design). And I comissioned a copy of his Hollywood jacket, the one he flew the Spruce Goose in, though I chose the one from "The Aviator" over the one that Howard actually wore.

Anyway, I digress, as I often do. Here are some pictures of Howard and you may decide for yourself:



Are you afraid of germs, by any chance?

People always tell me I look like Christian Slater, so HH is not so bad.

SJ, great job! I wish I could work up the guts to distress my Wested.

Hemingway, I agree I see a bit of an HH look there.

It looks like you have two piece underarm gussets on this jacket. How'd ya get 'em? I was told I could only get one piece gussets when I ordered my goat from Wested. Great job on the distressing, by the way!

That distressing looks fantastic, my next wested may be auth instead of dark!

Wow, you're right, Hem, he really does look like Hughes! (Shanghai, you might want to go double-check your family tree. )

Yep, I agree! I'd stop right there. I also agree with Hem, I see a pattern on the back where you wiped back and forth. If you could blend those a bit with acetone or (gulp) sandpaper (gently), just to get rid of the "I wiped the color off with acetone" stripes, it would look great!


have a nice day.

Strider wrote:It looks like you have two piece underarm gussets on this jacket. How'd ya get 'em?

I just said that I want them, and I got 'em. Great job on the distressing, ÄssäJii #2.

Hem–
I see what you mean about the distressing on the back. I was trying to distress the area around my shoulder blades, but it was hard to do with the jacket off. I think I will go back with a little acetone, or maybe just some ethanol and try and blend those areas in a bit, so that less of a pattern is visible.

Hmmm, I do see a bit of a resemblance to old Hughes, but my wife doesn't at all! I'm looking forward to seeing the pics of your HH fedora and jacket once you get them.

J_Weaver–
It just takes a bit of nerve to make that first swipe with the acetone, and after that it's all downhill. Once you start you can't stop!

Strider–
Yup, I have the infamous Jagger gussets. I asked for them when I placed the order with Peter. If I remember correctly, you place your order with Gemma and she told you that they only do the single gusset. When I placed my order I forgot to mention a few extras I wanted to Peter, so I just sent an email and Gemma responded that the mods I requested were not possible. I may be wrong, but my advice is to talk to Peter directly when placing an order if it is at all possible. Thanks for compliment on the jacket. I think seeing the pics of your jacket after you distressed it got me thinking about distressing mine, so thanks.

Rusty–
Thanks. I think my next jacket will actually be dark!

Jerry–
I can see the headlines now: Long Lost Grandson of Unknown Illegitimate Son Claims Inheritance!

TR–
I'm on it. I'll post more pics when I get around to touching it up.

VP–
Thanks VP. By the way what does ÄssäJii #2 mean?

I love the way it looks. The jacket has a predistressed cow look to it. How did you apply the acetone? I've been to afraid to use it on the body of my Authentic Lamb. I've only used it on the edges. I want that same jacket look you have.

Anyway, great work. Thanks for sharing the pics

Thanks Jorenz. I'll try and tell you what I did to my jacket, but I think that the differences in the individual hides for each jacket can make a difference in the end results.

1. Applied dehydrated ethanol with paper towels to the entire jacket using circular motions. I rubbed it down with medium pressure. I noticed that in a few places where I was rubbing more firmly that some color was removed, but this mainly just cut down on the shininess of the jacket.
2. I put the jacket on an ironing board and applied the acetone using paper towels. I definitely recommend doing this outside, wearing a mask, and strong dishwashing gloves. First, I applied the acetone very lightly over the entire jacket using small circular motions. Keep the pressure very light or you'll remove more color than you probably want to. Next, I applied the acetone to areas I felt would get more wear and tear–the cuffs of the sleeves, the elbows, the bottom of the jacket, small areas around the pockets, the chest, the shoulder blades on the back of the jacket, and the upper outside of the sleeves. I used circular motions and back and forth linear motions with more pressure. The circular motions produced areas that look as if the jacket faded due to friction over an long period of time. The linear motions produced areas that look more like the jacket has been scratched or scraped.

A few last things to watch out for. Be careful of rubbing too firmly over areas with seams or tags under them as they will distress more easily and will look too artificial. Also be careful about the wrinkles in the lining of the jacket which can also produce distressed lines and shapes that don't look very good. I found it useful to work in small sections at a time, 4-5 inches. Smooth out the wrinkles in the lining, and then using the index finger and thumb of one hand stretch the leather so that it is smooth with no wrinkles and apply the acetone using the other hand. In MK's tutorial he talks about pushing dye from darker areas to lighter areas. I found that this did not work very well on the authentic goat. I found that the acetone just removed the dye and didn't allow me to push it around very much. I think it helps if you distress the jacket in direct sunlight, as the distressing shows up much better. I recommend distressing a little at a time, or otherwise you might start to rush it or overdo it a bit.

I hope that helps out if you decide to distress your jacket more. Good luck.

Regards,
SJ

ShanghaiJack wrote:By the way what does ÄssäJii #2 mean?

ÄssäJii is SJ in phonetic Finnish. Scandinavia Jones started to call me VeePee and I began to call him ÄssäJii. So you're ÄssäJii #2, SJ #2.

I think it looks really cool mate. Hyperauthentic !
Where was one of those shots? In Japan??

Thanks Astroboy. All the photos were taken in Japan. The shot outdoors was taken in Dazaifu City, Fukuoka at Tenmangu shrine.