I have tried most of the traditional methods. I even had pretty good results wacking a jacket onto a cement sidewalk. But this time I tried something new.
The jacket in question isn't Indy but the results would be the same. Rather than sanding, using a wire brush, wacking on cement, etc I thought I would hand rub sand in. I have previously done this with yard dirt on a stiff Wested Raiders with good result. But I decided to try Cat Litter.
Cat Litter is just clay...in fact Fullers Earth in some cases. I have some unscented, plain (clumping...although that doesn't matter) Litter. I put on a rubber kitchen cleaning glove, filled a bowl with litter, and went outside. After taking handfuls of litter and rubbing in in a circular motion over the entire jacket (Doctor Who U-Boat jacket with a new gloss) for almost an hour I now have a nice, dull, aged jacket. I didn't wear it down to the leather, just took off the gloss. Also of note, there are no obvious scratch patterns like wire brush and sand paper often leave.
What I DID wear through is the rubber kitchen glove. I stopped because it finally shredded, lol
I should also add that before this process I hand massaged the somewhat stiff, new leather with Picards Leather Cream and rubbed it in good. That was to loosen up the leather. I know from experience this will make the leather more pliable. (I once bought a used Wested Raiders on the Bazaar here which was painfully stiff. I ended up massaging in Pecards about five times with serious elbow grease and it eventually surrendered. Now its one of my favorite Raiders jackets.
I would love to hear if you try this and your results.
