Club Obi Wan

Yes! I said Goat. I figured I'd give it a go, and see if I could actually distress the very hard to distress Wested goat, and the results were quite surprising. Not nearly as impossible as we've been led to believe.

Let me know what you think:

http://public.fotki.com/IndyBlues612/wested_dark_brown/

I'd like to thank Rick5150, Rabittooth, Agent5, Austin Powers, and MKs tutorial, on how to begin this project.

Great distressing job IndyBlues, it turned out great!

How long did it take to distress and what kind of materials did you use to distress it?

Kind Regards,
Captain D

That's a perty jacket you got there Blues!

Bravo on the destressing job, can this be done to a Flight Suits jacket?

Hey Captain D. From brand new, to what you see in the pics, is about one week of on again, off again distressing. A little bit here, a little bit there, whenever I got some free time.

I started last Saturday night, and after looking at every thread, and every pic I could find, I started the process.

1st: A complete rubdown with 91% isopropyl alcohol to remove the top layer of shine that the goat is notorious for. If any of you folks dislike how shiny you goat leather is, than trust me. This makes the jacket look, and more importantly FEEL so much better. The leather felt so soft and smooth after doing this. After I was done, I did another rubdown, to hit spots that I missed the first time.

2nd: I then gave it a rub, in key wear areas with acetone. For example, upper shoulder areas, elbows, lower back, etc.
This didn't take a whole lot of color off, just a little bit. I didn't want to go overboard. I wanted to acheive a look of natural distressing, as if the jacket was new 20 years ago, as opposed to 2 months.

3rd: I took a Q-tip, and rubbed more color off of alot of the seam areas, and edges of the sleeves, collar, bottom edge of body, etc. This brought a pleasant look to the jacket, but again, not too much color removal.

4th: I took some 220 grit sandpaper, and proceeded to rub all the seams, where I thought they would naturally show wear, and let some of the lighter leather color show thru in these places. I also sanded the areas I thought would have wear to let some highlites show thru as well.
I then started taking swipes at the jacket in random places to give it some light scratches all over. By rubbing the sandpaper in key places, it really made the goat grain show thru very nicely.

5th: While picking up some work supplies at Home Depot, I started eyeing up the Dremel tool section. Don't worry, I thought about using a Dremel, but figured I'd end up cutting a sleeve off with the darn thing.
What I did find was a Dremel attachment, that was used for sanding and grinding. It was shaped like a dull crayon tip, sort of pointy. I bought it, and proceeded to use it (by hand, not Dremel) on the jacket to "fine tune" certain areas that needed some finesse.

6th: Wait until the Fall, so I can actually wear the dang thing and enjoy it.
This is the hardest of all the steps so far

Thats about it. I may do a little more distressing, but I'm really happy with the resluts.

Looks awesome. I'd scuff it up a bit more at the elbows. Really did a great job.

-Rabittooth

Good looking jacket.

I have used the 91% alcohol on my FS Expedition goat, and it worked wonders for the shine. Looks lots better now.

Great work Indyblues. It takes a lot of work, a lot of patience and the knowledge of when to put the jacket down for the day so you do not ruin it. Your jacket looks fantastic. Congratulations. One thing that always bothered me was that the amount of work put into the jacket distressing is never appreciated by the average person on the street. They assume you bought it that way. Fools!

By the way, do not wish the colder weather upon us just yet. I just got the pool up and running and would like to enjoy it a bit.

"I can't believe its not natural!"

Fantastic job, Indyblues!

I'm very envious.

I've never used acetone for anything, so I don't know much about it.....but I was just curious to ask how easily does the acetone work with the goatskin compared to the New finish Cowhide.....? Did it take a lot of elbow-grease, so-to-speak , to get the color off the Goatskin leather?

Congrats on your new/older jacket!
Captain D

That is a work of art! Nicely done. This gives me hope for when I get the goat I want... someday. It's nice to know I can give it the right look.

Cordially,
Lord Clarence

Hey, IndyBlues, I'll PM you may address so you can send it to me. Nice job!

bink

If I would ever think about actually distressing my jacket, that's they way I'd want it to look! Good job man! It would be neat to see some outdoor shots of you wearing it too.

Regards,
Swindiana

While the thought of purposely distressing my precious Wested is...well,
distressing...you've done a very natural looking job on yours IB.
It looks like mine's going to in oh about 10 to 15 years. The nice thing
about goat is that even though you've accelerated the distressing a bit
it will still hold up for a lot of years to come.

Regards,
Indybill

Looks great! It really looks natural and not purposely distressed....!

Regards
I J

How much color, if any, does the 91% alcohol take off? The color of your jacket is really great. There is a subtle undertone of red in there.

WOW! Thanks folks for all the kind words.
I took Rabs advice, and gave the elbows a little more work, and now I'm going to leave it be for awhile, great advice Rick.

The Alcohol is a good idea if you want to soften the goat, and remove the shine. I think using the alcohol, before Pecarding, will help the skin drink the conditioner in deeper.

Captain D, the acetone barely makes a dent on the goat. You definately have to rub, and I suggest using heavy duty paper towels, like the ones you find in public restrooms. Also, try just the 91% alcohol first. That does a number on the jacket too, if you rub really hard.

LJHood, the alcohol removes very little color, if you don't rub too hard.
It almost gave it an authentic brown flair to it, just not as light. The jacket does have some nice red undertones, where I went to town on it with the alcohol, and the acetone.

All in all, I love the way it turned out. Next step is I'm going to test a few areas with some regular , and some Brown Pecards. See what it does to the distressing.

That looks great! Thanks for sharing!

OMG, what a bump.

IndyBlues,
I tried rubbing my Wested dark brown goat down with 70% alcohol last night. I was frightened by the results. I did not rub hard, nor long, but it turned the spots where I rubbed a pale grayish color, rather than lighter brown. I was not trying to distress the jacket as much as remove the shine. I then panicked and applied the brown Pecards to the area, and it's dark brown again, and shinier than it was to begin with.
Any thoughts?

JKL
Ron

Great job IndyBlues, It looks great. Good job on avoiding lines when sanding it. Good tutorial as well.

Kim

Thanks, K on the Run. Captain Ron, I know when I rubbed my goat jacket down, it lost all of the sheen. You will have to treat it afterwords, to help moisturize the jacket again. Did you try it in an inconspicuous are at first? I always try under the collar first, just to see how the leather will react.
'Blues

Yeah, shortly after I got the jacket, I tried it on the inside of the zipper. I had noticed the same pale gray coloration that resulted, so I didn't try anywhere else. Now, months later, that coloration is gone, and I can't even see where the spot was.
Is it just an initial reaction to the alcohol that goes away with time? If the resulting color had been a lighter brown, no problem. But what I'm ending up with is just ghostly. I'm now afraid to try it any more.
I should have taken pics of it, but like I said before, I panicked. My wife would kill me if I ruined that jacket.
Any further advice would be appreciated!

JKL
Ron

Actually, I'm thinking it may be the effect that the alcohol has on the leather, as it's "drying out" the top layer of skin. Kind of like how your hands will get dry and ashy when dealing with alcohol. Just some moisturizer will clear it right up. I assume if you do the entire jacket, given you're not "shell-shocked" from the initial try, that afterwords, a nice leather treatment it will be fine, and look alot better as well.
Keep me posted.
'Blues

Did it look anything like this? viewtopic.php?t=19181&highlight=rubbers

No, not really. The discoloration appeared to be a surface reaction or something. Having applied the Pecard's, there now appears to be no noticeable difference. Could it possibly be the alcohol reacting to an aerosol protectant that I had sprayed on the jacket about a month ago? I hadn't thought of that. It is from Wilson's. I may experiment on some other leather to see if I get similar reactions.

JKL
Ron

Captain Ron Solo wrote:Could it possibly be the alcohol reacting to an aerosol protectant that I had sprayed on the jacket about a month ago?

Sounds like the aerosol protectant may have had silicone as an ingredient.

I looked on the can, and there are no ingredients listed at all. If there is silicone in the spray, what does that mean? Is it something that can be treated/removed/worked around? I think I'll try using the alcohol on the underside of a pocket or the collar and see if I get the same kind of reaction. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

JKL
Ron

Sometimes mink oil can do this as well.

True. That's one of the biggst problems with using mink oil....it plugs the pores of the leather.

Regards! Michaelson

Great. So is there anything that I can do to get rid of whatever is in that protectant? Perhaps scrub it really well with a wet towel?

JKL
Ron

There are a lot of causes, although I have only had this happen a few times.

Once was a pair of work boots that I sprayed with a silicone protectant. I am not sure if it was the silicone itself or some other ingredient. That was many years ago and I save my silicone spray for my snow shovel now.

I have heard that some chemicals can react with the natural salts present in leather. You can also pick up salt stains in the winter, but it is more predominant in shoes and boots, obviously.

Other times that I have had jackets turn whitish was due to the fact that I use oil to treat most of my jackets. Sometimes they may appear milky after going into the cold - especially just after treatment. The jackets also felt a bit stiffer - presumably from the oil gaining viscosity in the cold temps. But that could be buffed off - if it remained after returning to room temperature.

I would not venture a guess as to how to treat that - especially without being able to see it. Does it appear to be a milkiness to the leather? Is it a white film that looks almost flaky (that is how the silicone-treated boots looked - almost like spray lacquer gone bad).

Is it the entire jacket? A damp cloth (water) may be the safest solution unless you know exactly what you are dealing with aside from a dry cleaner specializing in leather cleaning, that is...

I wouldn't describe it as milky, and it looked to be a surface issue (at least that was what I was wanting to think ). I first attempted the alcohol rub-down on the top back panel, and the whiteness only appeared (fairly faint) in about 50% of the area that I had rubbed. Also, it did not appear until the alcohol left on the jacket had evaporated. I then rubbed it down with a wet towel (water), and the whiteness disappeared, until it was dry again. That is when I broke out the brown Pecard's and basically drowned the whiteness out.
It reminds me of when you wash your car, and it looks great until the water on the surface evaporates and streaks emerge from soap or dirt residue.

JKL
Ron