Club Obi Wan

They say the first boo boo is the worst, and well... my Wested goatskin has it's first bit of natural distressing. All it takes is a cat trip to the vet.

My wife and I took our two cats (littermates) to the vet for their yearly checkup and while holding one of them on the examination table, he took a back claw to my Wested. (Note to self: cat + vet = BARN COAT, NOT Wested!) I'm not really upset since the jacket will get it's fair share of natural distressing over the course of its life, and the scratch marks aren't that big and noticeable.

However, there is one very small spot, maybe 1/16 of an inch, if that, where the leather was peeled back. Imagine having a single layer of your skin peeled back. You haven't gone all the way through the skin to draw blood, but you can see where it's come up. If there was a way to take a picture, I would, but it's such a small spot that to get in close enough would take the camera out of focus.

I'm wondering if there is a way to "glue" that tiny spot back down to the jacket without making it look like a repair job. All I should have to do is to put a dab of "glue" under the flap and press it down, wiping the excess away.

Any feedback? I don't want to use a prduct "as seen on TV," although I admit having given super glue a thought (which I won't use). If there's nothing to be done, then my heart isn't broken. But if there is a remedy, why not try it?

bink

I would imagine that super glue would be your best option. It's so watery, that it won't even show. Just use a minimal amount under the lift up, and it should be fine.

I don't see why you couldn't use a little dab of Elmer's glue. It's water-soluble and probably wouldn't ruin the leather. Put a little on a Q-Tip and touch it to the back of the peeled-off part, then press it down where it belongs. Don't use too much, you don't want it to glop over.

Hey, I used two brand names in one post.

I’m not exactly sure WHY you wouldn’t want to try one of the many leather repair kits out there being offered, especially for what sounds like a seemingly such a small repair, but I guess you must have some reason?!?!

The next best thing I would do take the jacket to a leather repair shop or cobbler. Cobbler’s deal with skinned up shoes all the time. I had the same skin type peeled back repair as you describe on a new pair of shoes. From what I recall, they used an animal hide glue as part of the repair, whatever else they did I just don’t remember. Of course, I don’t know how that would work on a flexible hide such as that of a jacket, but it seems worth a try before doing something that might make it worst or just more noticeable.

Rixter saith:

I’m not exactly sure WHY you wouldn’t want to try one of the many leather repair kits out there being offered, especially for what sounds like a seemingly such a small repair, but I guess you must have some reason?!?!

I guess what I'm reffering to are the cheap looking products you see on bad television adverts which throw in a free potato peeler/back waxer for only $9.95. I think I'll see if there's a local leather shop which could offer suggestions. If they recommend a leather repair product which they, themselves, have successfully used, then that's a different matter. I'd much rather leave the very small spot alone then attempt using something which would make it stand out or look worse than before. At the same time, if a shop offers to repair it, I'm not going to pay a ton of money when I could do something as visually acceptable for worlds less money.

I love my Wested, and over the years it will face much more than mere cat scratches, but why pay someone to repair such a small area if it's going to be cheaper to buy a whole new jacket, you know?

bink

Your best bet is to leave it lie. I had a similar scratch on my FS and sent it back to see what they could do. It was fixed... for a bit, but the area was so small that the fix didn't hold for long, as they predicted it wouldn't.

What I ended up doing was using nail clippers to clip off the offending peel back so it wouldn't snag and peel more. A few coats of brown pecards later from Dawg, and you can hardly tell it was ever there.

Mike

Thanks, Mike. I was thinking of stopping by a local leather repair shop today jsut for the sake of asking, but I'm coming to the conclustion that I'll probably do what you did and clip off the lift. Between my wife and I, there are so many art supplies and such that I'm sure it'll be easy to hide the mark.

Or, I could just use leather polish.

Do as Mike says. I have done this on every single leather jacket
I have had, and it works really good.

If you don't have any brown Pecards, you can do like I do. Take some
brown shoe polish, and apply it to the scuff after you have clipped off
the little piece of leather that is just haning there.

Apply the shoe polish with a Q-tip, or cotton swab, which ever you like
to call them. Rub it in really good.

Leave it sit over night, and buff off the excess the next morning.

Then take your favorite leather dressing, and apply that over the spot
for protection.

The brown Pecards is just the regular Pecards with brown shoe polish
added, so you don't need that if you have any regular leather dressing.

The nice thing about using shoe polish is that you can buy any color
you want, not just brown. If you want to have the scuff show, but be
protected, you can use natural colored shoe polish, and then the leather
treatment, and it will look distessed, but still be protected.

I have done this on my Westeds, my US Wings, an LL Bean Flying Tigers
jacket, and both my B-6 and B-3 shearling jackets.

The shearling jackets especially will get cracks in the outer finish, this
is just natural. But as the cracks show up, I just hit them with some
shoe polish, and then my Pecards, and you can't even see the cracks
anymore!

Hope this helps.

Flathead

Great advice, Flathead! It's getting warmer here, anyway, so I won't have to feel so bad about not wearing it for a day. I don't have any Pecards brown shoe polish, but I take it from your post that most any brown polish will do. I do have Pecards Jell/Creme, though, so I can still protect the spot when the polish settles in. Thanks!

bink

You can use any old brown shoe polish you can get your hands on. It
does not really matter.

I use the Jell for my repairs like I stated before. I like using that over
any of the other Pecards products, because the Jell will soak in easier,
faster, and better than the others.

If you want, you can even make a "paste" by mixing equal parts of any
old shoe polish, and any leather treatment product you happen to have.

Just mix it together, and rub it on with a cotton swab. Then leave it on
over night, and buff off any excess off the next day.

After a few times doing this, you will start to see how mixing the shoe
polish and leather treatment stuff togeter, in different quantities, will produce
some really nice results. For example, less shoe polish, and more leather
treatment will give you protection, but leave a distressed mark of honor.

More shoe polish and less leather treatment will hide the mark completely
if you want that.

The nice thing about using plain old shoe polish, is that since you've used it
on your leather shoes all your life, and you use it to hide scrapes, scuffs and
marks on your shoes, and you know it works, you know it will work any
type of leather with good results. After all, thats what its made for!!

Flathead

Do you have Copydex where you are this is a rubber based solution used mainly in the carpet trade but also in the leather trade.
Peel back lightly dab in it, bash with a hammer, peel of the residuem bit of shoe polish on top. Job Done!
Cheers
Peter

Thanks, Peter! I'll see if I can find any of the stuff in town. As for bashing with the hammer, is there any brand of hammer better suited to hitting a leather jacket? Sorry, the visual of seeing someone pound their Wested with a hammer makes me laugh. (I suppose you could use it to "bash" a fedora, as well!)

Thanks for the advice, Peter!

I would avoid using the "waffle" ended carpentry hammers as they are more suited to rough framing and would definitely leave a patterend mark in your leather... I know of this by the many nail heads I've missed in my day.

Mike

Take it off your head first, Bink!

I'd go with a flat plastic or rubber one with a large impact area to avoid any marks. I need my jacket too be ripped first before I'll try it though... Or, even so, I need my jacket first.

Regards,
Swindiana

Bufflehead Jones wrote:Take it off your head first, Bink!

NOW you tell me!