The Yokes on us....literally!

[Gorak]

Ok...I took several of my jackets and measured the yoke. All jackets were laid flat and measured using a tailors tape. Lined up with the center seam from underneath the collar and starting directly on the collar/jacket seam...in inches...in order from largest to the smallest....
Wested Hero (authentic lamb)..........6
Wested Custom (dark lamb)...........5 3/4
Wested Custom (crunch lamb).....5 3/4
New Todd's Standard............5
US Wings NZ Lamb..............5
Old Todd's Standard...........4 3/4

And in my batch, the winner is....
Tomeks's custom Wested in the old style Washed Goat coming in at a streamlined
4 1/2 inches!

Anyone else with any sizes in between or anything awkward, please report!

[kwad]

Gorak,

Your Hero has a 6" wide yoke? Was not expecting that. How wide is it at the ends?

My Hero is a size 42 with a 23" back and the yoke only measures 5" at the center and 3.25" at the ends.

[tomek9210]

My Wested Custom ROTLA (dark brown) with 27" back also measures 6" at yoke. Made in April 2011.
Wested Custom Raiders (HH) with 26.5" back measures a bit less, 5.5", made in November 2008.

That washed goat was made in 2009 if I remember correctly.

C'mon guys, share the measurements with us!

[CM]

My G&B Expo size 42 T has a 5 inch yolk. My Wested LC circa 2002 is 5.5 inches.

[Gorak]

Kwad... the ends are 3.25. It may be an optical illusion but it looks to me like some Hero`s yoke lines arch over from shoulder to shoulder. mine doesn`t even hint at that. If I`m right, I wonder if that just has to do with the amount of that particular leather that is available to work with at that time? Things that make you go hmmmmmmm

[Michaelson]

Wested Hero (authentic lamb)..........6
Wested Custom (dark lamb)...........5 3/4
Wested Custom (crunch lamb).....5 3/4
New Todd's Standard............5
US Wings NZ Lamb..............5
Old Todd's Standard...........4 3/4

Sounds screen accurate to me!

[fenris]

Wested Hero (authentic lamb)..........6
Wested Custom (dark lamb)...........5 3/4
Wested Custom (crunch lamb).....5 3/4
New Todd's Standard............5
US Wings NZ Lamb..............5
Old Todd's Standard...........4 3/4

Sounds screen accurate to me!

All of them?

[whipcracker]

I agree, seems SA to me, all of them. (I say it fairly sarcastically, as does Michaelson i am sure) There were was much detail deviation in the screen jackets. I don't think that they were all 1/32", thread count identical. That's this is all so fun!? It's forever tentative...
But me personally I like a smaller yoke, I think it allows the action pleats to, well, action.

[Michaelson]

Yep, what they said.

There is no 'magic' standard, I'm afraid, and never HAS been since the hobby began.

If you're looking for one, you're suffering from what is commonly called the 'Don Quixote complex'......a noble quest, but quite unobtainable....

Every measurement stated above came from either fan's telling vendors what they knew they saw on screen and the vendors duplicating, from measurements taken from guesses made by the vendors themselves, or measurements taken from screen used jackets and incorporated into vendors offerings (and even THEY were all over the place).

Regards! Michaelson

[tomek9210]

Very true Michaelson, but there is one innacuracy - why jackets in the same size have various width of yoke? My jackets are the best example. One had 4.5" and another 6". Pattern changes you can say. But why change something good?

BTW, Hector, how wide is yoke on your Nowak?

[ReturningSon]

my Nowak Hero is SL (Ford's exact size) has a yoke 4.85 inches (also using tailors tape).

[Michaelson]

Very true Michaelson, but there is one innacuracy - why jackets in the same size have various width of yoke? My jackets are the best example. One had 4.5" and another 6". Pattern changes you can say. But why change something good?

'Inaccuracy'? You're asking me? You need to ask the manufacturers who claim to have access to the original patterns who are making these things all over the radar scope.

'Something good'? Explain that one. Good for who? The individual who wants what they THINK is accurate to the films, or good for the vendor who doesn't have to use as much material for a narrower yoke as compared to the wider versions.

'Good' is one of the most subjective topics we have here.

Rest assured, I'm not arguing with anyone...I'm just pointing out you're on a hunt for an imaginery item that has been something hobbiests have been hunting for years.....and some finally realize it's an unobtainable item. THEN you realize 'good' is just 'good' for the particular individual who is buying a particular jacket.

If it's good for them, that's all that matters.

Regards! Michaelson

[tomek9210]

That was retoric question I don't want to start another war who was the maker of the original jackets and who has access to original pattern.
If Nowak had the jacket in hand and the yoke measured under 5" inches, then it should be it. I know that that particular jacket measured 23" at back and if I want longer jacket, maker should increase the yoke to keep the proportions. But then why I get jackets with 1.5" difference

[Michaelson]

Agreed with you 100%, my friend. This has ALWAYS been swampy ground, and one that I, too, have no interest what so ever walking across again. I've been over this ground too many times myself.....



Regard! Michaelson

[Oildale Jones]

Wested lambskin XL, unknown vintage: 5 5/8"
Todd's 2008 Standard XL, washed/dried: 5"

[Canasta]

What's a "yoke"?

[Holt]

[Oildale Jones]

[whipcracker]

[Canasta]

Yoke, Yoke, Yoke. You guys are so funny.

[ron521]

I measured my US Wings Signature Series VIP jacket, and found the yoke to measure a very manly "7" from the collar seam down to the yoke seam....I hope this doesn't make any of you guys feel....inadequate, or anything...but sometimes, size DOES matter!

[kwad]

It's not the size of the yoke, but, what you do with it that counts....

[Texan Scott]

Yep, what they said.

There is no 'magic' standard, I'm afraid, and never HAS been since the hobby began.

If you're looking for one, you're suffering from what is commonly called the 'Don Quixote complex'......a noble quest, but quite unobtainable....

Every measurement stated above came from either fan's telling vendors what they knew they saw on screen and the vendors duplicating, from measurements taken from guesses made by the vendors themselves, or measurements taken from screen used jackets and incorporated into vendors offerings (and even THEY were all over the place).

Regards! Michaelson

I'd have to echo another member, who often says, simply....wear and be happy!

I'm of the firm belief that....a man and his jacket should never be unequally yoked!

I could be off base here, but isn't the yoke in place to basically cover the curvature of the upper back/shoulders, then the 'back panel' covers the vertical length to the waist, or there about?

[Michaelson]

I'm of the firm belief that....a man and his jacket should never be unequally yoked!

[Gorak]

Regardless of the who's and why's I'm still curious as to the different brands, styles and versions and their yokiness.
I forgot to add that my Nowak came out to 4 3/4.

[ReturningSon]

it would seem to me that the yoke width would be proportional to the sizing/length of the jacket, just as _ states. The only way to verify the differences would be if we used HF size for each and every jacket compared...or, at the very least, the same size of every jacket compared.

[Indiana Jeff]

Out of curiosity I checked my jackets:

Wested, c2000, Raiders pattern, size 42 R, yoke = 5.25"

US Wings, c2011, Legend pattern, US made, Bison hide, size large R, yoke = 5.5"


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

[Texan Scott]

Yokes away!

[Michaelson]

Good grief....I read that and heard Daffy Duck's voice as he swung from tree to tree in Robin Hood!

[Texan Scott]

...the Scarlet Pumpernickel...!

I make light of it, but there is usually method behind the madness, usually, that is. As Wested has so amply demonstrated recently, not everyone fits into a slim, short torso jacket with long arms..? And the question set before the fan becomes, at what point is this practical and real world enough for me? Should I get bent out of shape if the yoke is 1/4" longer than I think it should be, or the point at which the collar meets the storm flap, or how about the depth of the pleats? You can drive yourself crazy dwelling on such things, when you discover that your jacket that was so lovingly made does not qqquuuiittteee measure up to the ideal? Each one of us relate to these movies in different ways, and maybe take different things from them, but I like to take the "spirit" of these movies, the "pure adventure", to heart and then try to live out real adventures of my own. Inspiration manifests itself in different forms, but sometimes I think we slice and dice so much that it takes the fun out of it? Aren't hobbies supposed to be fun? Of course we want something that approaches SA, what is seen on screen.

[Michaelson]

...the Scarlet Pumpernickel...!

....or more correctly stated, 'The Scarlet P-p-p-pumpernickel!"

Anymore, at least in my case, it's function over form any time.

The old 'it might look right, but fits awful' just don't hunt anymore.

Regards! Michaelson

[Texan Scott]

We're into lists, so here goes nothing...44 Reg or there abouts....hit it Carl!....

Todds Std. 2008 version.....4 3/4
Todd's Std. New.......5 1/4
Wested RoLA pattern...5 1/2
Wested dark goat Hero...5 3/8
Wested Last Crusade in authentic lamb...7 1/2
USW antique goat (RoLA 30th Anniversary)....5 1/2
G&B Expedition in Lamb....5 1/2
G&B Exp. in goat.....5 1/4


..what does it all mean..? Too much darn leather! But my closet smells great!

Have a nice day and forgive your Indy jacket!

[CM]

Sure - but you understand the number is just a number without the chest size of the jacket as well as whether it's a short/reg/long. And then there are the customs. It's about proportions.

As with the fedora? There, I need a 6" crown to look even moderately proportional given I take an 8 long-oval. Likewise, on a size 52 jacket on a guy who is 6' 3", a 5.5" yoke might look narrow, while a size 40 on a guy who is 5' 10" with a 4.5" yoke may look too wide.

Just sayin'...

Now that is very elegantly stated.

[Ravenswood]

Here are my measurements from my Wested Lambskin Hero jacket. It should be noted that I extended the back length by two inches. It's a long, effectively.

[Ravenswood]

Key is the size. 42? 40?

Yup, that would help!
I got a size 38. Tried doing the size 40, but the front panels were way too droopy, so I narrowed the shoulders to my usual size 38, and put an extra couple of inches in the overall length of the jacket. Basically, I was trying to finagle a somewhat over-sized Raiders jacket. The overall effect being: