Club Obi Wan

Posted: **Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:38 pm**

Hi there,
I have recently brought some Aldens and am wanting to 'darken' them to match what Indy had in the films.I have heard you can use a mixture of red and black boot cream (not polish) or the use of Pecards Brown weatherproof dressing and then switch over to Pecards Classic leateher dressing. What do you do?

:

Posted: **Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:34 am**

Hi.carefully sand them down..I mean carefully.you DONT want to ripp the seams after that find a leather dye that you find SA and gentley apply it with a clean cloth.after that add pecards to soften them up again

bests
Holt

Posted: **Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:19 pm**

I've tried the brown Pecard's and it's okay. It helps a little, but it's still reddish. I've really wanted to try sanding them down with a very fine grit (like 1500 or something), but I haven't had the guts. I actually wear them almost every day in my office, and although I like the distressed look, I still need them to look nice.

Posted: **Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:04 pm**

I remember reading somewhere here once that someone just used plenty of shoe polish to darken his. I believe the colour was Sandalwood.

A quick seach on "Sandalwood" brought this:

viewtopic.php?t=19028&highlight=sandalwood

viewtopic.php?t=18747&highlight=sandalwood

Hope it helps.

Posted: **Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:09 am**

I read a thread somewhere on COW where someone used the lighter/soot method as well. It looked really good. Afterward, you would smear around the soot build-up with your finger. A combination of methods may work pretty well I suppose. Again you wouldn't want to burn seams or leave the lighter in any one place too long.

Posted: **Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:58 am**

I've experimented with mixing dark brown and mid-brown polish. No sanding for me. I figure that unlike a jacket, boots take a sufficient beating just doing daily duty.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2243/234 ... 7a.jpg?v=0

I figure they will nicely darken over time with regular wear and a little "help" from me.

Tron

Posted: **Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:28 pm**

I use this method with all my leather products. Leather is skin and when I want to darken my skin I go out in the sun. I put alot of pecards on whips, boots, holsters, etc. and leave them out to soak up the sun and they darkens up great. I don't like to use dyes for fear they will rub off.

Posted: **Sun Mar 23, 2008 10:36 pm**

Back when they were coming in the pumpkin orange, I found that using a coat of leather dye (I think Russett Fiebings to be the best) did an excellant job. (Can be found at most shoe repair shops.)

They way they use to come:

Fresh dye job and a little wear and tear.

[/img]

Posted: **Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:31 pm**

Many years ago Mr. Michaelson told me to use Meltonian Shoe Cream, the color was BRICK. I have been using it with great success on my 405’s for the last 7 years.
The brick color darkens the leather just right.
Just FYI.
Regards,
Forrestal

Posted: **Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:47 am**

That sure puts some options on the table. Thanks for the help, fellows.

Posted: **Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:32 am**

I seem to remember something about Meltonian Shoe Cream as well, I think I might order me a package or two...it seems pretty cheap.

Do you have pictures of the results?

Posted: **Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:47 am**

My boots started out being the pumpkin orange we all loved so much. After a few years of adventuring (which mellowed the color a bit), I took Michaelson's advice... some Meltonian polish, followed by brown Pecard. I now use neutral Pecard for subsequent treatments...

This is how they now look!

Posted: **Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:59 pm**

Does the Magnoli come in the right color?

Posted: **Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:07 pm**

I believe they come in a variety of colors, with one (don't know what Indy Magnoli calls it) that is very close to SA.

Posted: **Thu Mar 27, 2008 2:59 pm**

I have a question about this mellowed product: does it penetrate into the leather (a kind of leather dying) or does it stay on the surface?

Since I live in France, I have to be sure of the result before ordering and importing it.

Thanks

Nico

Posted: **Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:16 pm**

Do you mean Meltonian? It is essentially a type of shoe polish. It does absorb into the leather, but not to the extent of a dye, if that is what you are asking. The original color will still sort of "show through."

Posted: **Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:58 am**

Did some of you ever tried "Dylon shoe dye"?

this picture is for black (germajn box!), but there are also "dark brown" or "terracotta"

It seems to me that product could do a great job on our orange shoes.

Regards,

Nico

Posted: **Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:29 pm**

Mine also started out as the lovely "pumpkin" color (yech!). As soon as I got them, I gave them a good, heavy coat of Red Wing shoe dressing. This seems to be very similar to the old "Hubbard's Shoe Grease" that was around for our grandfathers to use! Anyway, I let that soak in for a few days, rubbing it in periodically and warming it over the wood stove. I wiped off the excess, and let it dry. After that, I gave them a coat on neutral Kiwi shoe polish, and this is the result, shown with my Red Wing Classics from J. Crew for comparison. It didn't darken them that much, but cut some of the "orange".

Posted: **Fri Apr 04, 2008 11:36 am**

I have found that regular use of brown Meltonian polish over time gives them a nice color. Pictured are new and the altered.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i10/r ... CF1521.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i10/r ... 1522-1.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i10/r ... CF1524.jpg

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:48 pm**

Here is a before and after pic of my newest pair of Aldens...

Before...

After...(The pair that I'm not wearing)

Posted: **Sun Jun 08, 2008 8:53 pm**

I was watching Raiders the other day and I came to the truck chase scene at the end. After Indy gains control of the truck, they show a close up of his foot on the gas pedal. I paused that shot and zoomed in on it, his boots looked almost identical to the color that Aldens are now. They had a reddish brown color to them. Maybe todays color isn't as far off from screen accurate as most think. Does anyone have any input on this... or possibly the screencap that Im talking about?

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:38 pm**

It's possible that dust and dirt may have disguised the actual boot color in the movie....maybe if it was polished off, that classic orange-brown would show through.

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2008 1:47 pm**

Does anyone know how to take a screen cap with windows vista? I use windows media player. I tried the printscreen button but I couldn't get it to work. I want to post a pic of that screen cap from the movie.

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:14 pm**

Here is that screen cap that I was talking about. The boots definitely look reddish brown to me, not plain brown. They look like the present color of Aldens, albeit scuffed and dirtied.

[/img]

Posted: **Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:12 pm**

I posted this in a thread over in the general gear forum as well but I will here as well...

This is a pic from the main Indygear page...It's from the temple scene in Raiders...The boots look to be a dark flat brown color...

Posted: **Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:24 pm**

Has anybody had any luck with just repeated applications of the dark brown Pecards? I bought a small tin of that stuff and it's darkened the shoes a *little* but not as much as I'd like.

However, I think the brown Pecards is GREAT for dulling down the bright stitching!

Shane

Posted: **Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:33 pm**

I'm trying something new right now - I'm using a cloth, wetting it a little bit with the Pecards Shoe Oil, then dipping that into the brown Pecards, and darkening the shoe like this. I'll post pictures later.

Shane

Posted: **Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:58 pm**

Anybody check with a Cobbler for professional advice? Certainly anyone who wears a pair in the Northeast US will not have to do much distressing or "aging". Though that sole is not ideal for slippery winter weather.

Posted: **Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:16 pm**

Well, I did one of my shoes! I think the results are pretty nice, and that if I did this again in a week or two, the color could be even better.

(Top: The shoes as they were originally, shown at Ft. Mac - Nov. 2007. Middle: The shoes after several coats of brown pecards, and today's coating of brown Pecards + Pecards Shoe Oil. Bottom: The color of the shoes after several coats of just brown Pecards; as they looked after the QM but before the Pecards + Shoe oil color.)

Shane

Posted: **Sun Sep 14, 2008 6:10 pm**

Shane, I think the new color looks immensely better! Great work!

Randy

Posted: **Fri Dec 12, 2008 11:16 am**

So how do you guys keep the stitching across the top so white? I’ve had my Alden’s maybe a week or so and the stitching is already the same color as the boot. Any advice would be great thanks in advance

Posted: **Mon Dec 15, 2008 11:51 am**

i just cleaned mine up with saddle soap. then, after they were dry, i hit them with regular pecards, coating them evenly, then i soaked the pecards in with a blow drier. three coats of pecards, & bam!!! dark brown...

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:30 pm**

NO WAY I'm going to be sanding my shoes. No matter how light I'm told to do it!

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:27 pm**

sneakertinker wrote:Here is a before and after pic of my newest pair of Aldens...

Before...

After...(The pair that I'm not wearing)

What did you use to darken yours? Also, how did you avoid darkening the stitching?

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:34 pm**

sneakertinker wrote:Here is a before and after pic of my newest pair of Aldens...

Before...

After...(The pair that I'm not wearing)

Wow, that really is some amazing work...I ought to think about doing that. How'd you pull it off? -M

Posted: **Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:19 pm**

I put a coat of Pecards Leather Dressing on there...then dried it on low heat with a hair dryer to let it really soak into the leather...I did this about 4 times...

Next I put a coat of the Pecards on there and let it sit over night...Just to seal in the color...

Next I polished them with some Johnston & Murphys neutral shoe cream to give them a nice shine...

I like the contrast of the white stitching so that's why I wen't with the neutral shoe cream...

And the other pair (The pair I'm wearing in the pic) is just an old beat em up pair that I have had for a while now...

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:06 am**

Isn't there some natural darking that happens as you wear them over time?

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:13 am**

Mola Ram wrote:
I put a coat of Pecards Leather Dressing on there...then dried it on low heat with a hair dryer to let it really soak into the leather...I did this about 4 times...

Next I put a coat of the Pecards on there and let it sit over night...Just to seal in the color...

Next I polished them with some Johnston & Murphys neutral shoe cream to give them a nice shine...

I like the contrast of the white stitching so that's why I wen't with the neutral shoe cream...

And the other pair (The pair I'm wearing in the pic) is just an old beat em up pair that I have had for a while now...

That doesn't mention which dye to use. -M

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:34 am**

that's cause there is not any.

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:27 pm**

I used the Pecards/Sun Dry/Pecards/Sun Dry/Pecards/Sun Dry/Pecards Sun Dry/Pecards/Sun Dry method and it has worked great for me!

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:33 pm**

Very cool what a little work will do to these shoes.

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:00 pm**

maboot38 wrote:I used the Pecards/Sun Dry/Pecards/Sun Dry/Pecards/Sun Dry/Pecards Sun Dry/Pecards/Sun Dry method and it has worked great for me!

Thats extremely bad to do to leather garments.

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:02 pm**

As opposed to wearing them every day hiking and fishing and climbing and in general just beating the H-E-double hockey sticks out of them?

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:47 pm**

lol.
Good point.

If you leave them out in the sun, constantly drying and wetting the stitches can basically make them loosen. That's all I'm saying. I remember on another forum someone did that and the stitching holding the vamp together started to tear apart because the stitching was so brittle from all the heat/pecard. He did this every day with them when he got home from work.

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 4:57 pm**

I'm stepping in what you're dropping. I guess "all the heat" doesn't apply to me though, since I'm in New England, so sun drying happened at a nice 70 degrees.

I could see how doing that every day would ruin them. I'm done with the pecard darkening treatment. What I meant to say was that I did it 5 or six times, but not any more than that.

I guess your warning does make sense though, I would not recommend anyone treating their boots everyday. That (besides costing a fortune in Pecards!) seems like overkill.

Posted: **Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:04 pm**

meh.

Whatever. Just retelling a story i heard. I've also had really really bad experiences leaving leather goods outside in the summer, so I totally believe it.

Posted: **Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:47 pm**

Haven't been to this thread in forever...Here is an update on my pair that I darkened with Pecards...No dye job or anything like that...Only Pecards and Johnston & Murphy neutral shoe cream...I've used Pecards on them now once since I initially did the darkening treatment that I talked about earlier in this thread and used the Johnston & Murphy shoe cream maybe twice...They've lightened back up a bit but it's turned into a nice dark flat brown color and I really love it...

and Thank You Ram for posting the info for me...Much appreciated since I don't have to type all that out again along with this...Whew! Thanks...

and this picture came out too light for some reason...

Posted: **Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:04 pm**

And this is just regular Pecards? Not the brown tint? Wow.

Posted: **Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:10 pm**

dirtyepic129 wrote:And this is just regular Pecards? Not the brown tint? Wow.

Just regular old Pecards...and the shoe cream to seal the color in...that's all I used...

The key is the use of the blow dryer on LOW heat...Thats what really workd the pecards into the leather...

Posted: **Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:57 pm**

I'm going to try a dye job per Dalexs' recommendation on my Todd's boots. Should prove interesting, and will do before and after photos.

Randy

P.S. I'm just a little nervous about the Russet, it looks too light. ha

Club Obi Wan

Do you darken your Aldens? How?

Do you darken your Aldens? How?

darken the Aldens