Club Obi Wan

I wore my Wested washed goat for a year. I then bought some Peckards leather dressing, with which I saturated my washed goat jacket by slapping the Peckards onto the surface of the jacket and then melted it into the leather with hair dryer on low-heat setting. The liquid dressing just soaked right in. When no more would soak in, I let it sit until it was cured.

After about a week or two, I tossed my jacket into a hot cycle in the washer to get most of the Peckards out. I then let the jacket soak in extremely hot water for several hours, which allowed the brown dye of the cotton lining to leach into the washed goat leather.

After this, I put my jacket in the dryer on high heat. Now my jacket has this amazing antiqued finish. It has a patina the is smooth in the worn areas. It has a little shine and has variations/mottling of brown tones. My jacket now looks amazing. I would compare this look with Novapelle, but my leather actually looks better.

The Peckards and dye from the cotton lining have had some pretty interersting results. Some of the Peckars is still there in areas. I think it did some pretty cool stuff in spots as a result of the heat from the dryer, as well.

My jacket, like I said, looks antiqued. It doesn't look flat and greenish-gray anymore. It doesn't look so uniform, either. It has a lot of mottling, patina, and character. yes, I know this is probably useless without pictures, but I don't have a camera anymore.

Dude, borrow a camera, and post some pictures. You are teasing us!

Sorry for the big tease. The wife and I left our nice Nikon in the back seat of a taxi in Trujillo, Peru. True to Indy fashion, we forgot the camera, but managed to grab our Moche pottery replicas as we exited the cab.

I've borrowed a 10 mega pixel Kodak point and shoot camera. It's extremely overcast here in Lima, as it's winter here in the Southern hemisphere, but the white balance still did a pretty good job. The photo is very close to the actual color, but the camera couldn't pick up the color variations to their fullest extent. I even adjusted the exposure to -.7, yet the exposure was still harsh.

Hey, that looks very good. I agree, the pictures I have seen of the washed goat look pretty flat and gray. Nice job!

Very nice indeed! Thanks for sharing!

When you mentioned the washer, I was like Then when you said you threw it in the dryer, I was Very interesting technique - the end result came out really good! I especially like the wrinkles on the stormflap and the pockets. That combined with the newly-antiqued finish really make your jacket stand out.

Thanks for the compliments. I like the end result, myself.

I think the heat of the dryer singes some of the fibers on the top of the washed goat, leaving a nice antiqued finish, or patina. That's one theory.

Another theory is the heat of the dryer baked in the remaining Pekards.

As far as the water and heat go, my washed goat still feels just as fresh and new as the day it was bought. The water and the heat did, however, bring out some awesome qualities of the hide.

The final result made it look like an Indy jacket should. It seemed to have changed the color to a true, brown tone.

Very nice looking jacket... great job

teko

Did you experience any shrinkage at all?

One of the fears with putting them in hot dryers is that, depending on the direction of the grain, leather can shrink in different directions. You could have one perfect sleeve, and the other 2 inches shorter. It's a toss of the dice.

Just curious.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:Did you experience any shrinkage at all?

One of the fears with putting them in hot dryers is that, depending on the direction of the grain, leather can shrink in different directions. You could have one perfect sleeve, and the other 2 inches shorter. It's a toss of the dice.

Just curious.

Regards! Michaelson

hmmmm...
Only masters like Michaelson could actually know things like that
very pertinent question...

As far as shrinkage goes, the washed goat has not shrunk at all. I actually tried to get my jacket to shrink about four months after I bought it by blasting it with hot water and molten-hot air from my wife's hair dryer. I was sadly disappointed in my efforts. It tightened up a few mm's, but then was right back to trash-bag baggy after just a few days of wearing it.

A word of caution, though.... I tried to use my iron on its lowest setting to re-heat and re-seat the adhesive tape in the sleeve. It had slowly come loose over the first year I owned the jacket. This was a big mistake. The washed goat turned a dark, flat color and shrunk noticeably right before my very eyes. That was when I put the iron away. With time, however, the inner-side of that area has been rubbed to a noticable shine, which leads me to wonder if the jacket received its patina in the dryer as it constantly rubbed against the metal walls of the tumbler. I'm thinking it was lightly scortched on the surface.