Club Obi Wan

I just recieved a new jacket, well more of a coat from Wested. Its black leather and very thick. Ive hit it with acetone 3x now, and Ive got nothing. Sandpaper takes ALOt of elbow grease to see any results....What else has anyone used? Paint thinner? battery acid?

James

Belt sander, perhaps?

Methanol, toluene, and xylene are solvents that might be stronger than acetone. Keep in mind those substances are extremely harmful to your health. Before using them, familiarize yourself with the Material Safety Data Sheet, which a vendor must give you upon request. Paint stores likeSherwin Williams carry solvents.

Cheers,
-Relic Raider

May want to try MEK---- Methyl Ethyl Ketone
It's available at hardware stores. Do a test first!

One draw back to acetone is the high evaportation rate. If you mix in a bit of toluene, that should slow the rate and give more contact time.

Don't blame me if you blow yourself up!!

I just recieved a new jacket, well more of a coat from Wested. Its black leather and very thick. Ive hit it with acetone 3x now, and Ive got nothing.

IndianaJames,
When you say "nothing" do you mean no distressing or no color is coming off. These are two difference things. If there is color coming off, but the jacket doesn't look distressed, it may be only a matter of time before you "hit bottom." If no color is coming off, it is a different story all together.

I'd be careful about taking these caustic chemicals to your jacket. Anything stronger than acetone is probably going to do more harm then good, and then you're going to end up with a $300 piece of dried out, washed out, chemical burned leather. Why not wear it for a month and see if natural wear and tear helps it's look at all?

James, I'm curious. What jacket did you buy from Wested? Can you elaborate?? Got any pics??
'Blues

Flattery was not far off. After asking the goofball at the hardware store what chemicals were stronger than acetone, (and getting an unintelligible answer) I decided to switch back to sand paper. I broke out the Craftsman "mouse" electric polisher/sander. You would be suprised, using 180 grit, it still took 15 minutes on each panel to get some distressing.

Rick, I do mean, nothing. Some color was coming off onto the cotton, and paper towels, but no distressing was occuring. This is the thickest leather I have ever seen. Its impervious to almost everything! Im not even sure I like how it looks.

Ideally I would have liked to have some of the predistressed cowhide, only in black. Apparently it is hard to come by, also for some reason Wested could not make the coat in Lamb. Gerry said because the hides they had were too small.

Blues, its a custom coat I had Wested make. I drew sketches and sent some pictures, and they cut patterns. You can see the coat here:

http://public.fotki.com/jamesravenwood/

Look familiar to anyone? During one of the many phone conversations we had about the coat, Gerry said that I actually own the patterns. Wested cannot make a copy of this coat without my say....kinda cool. Course I would never know if they did anyways.

Ah well, thanks for the info guys, Im still looking for something to give the leather an even distressed look to it. The sanding isnt very uniform, just kind of patchy. The coat is in the dryer right now getting beaten up even more.

Best regards
INdy J

Maybe it is just me, but I can not get to link to work.

Oh, and by the way is it expencive to have your own design made in to a jacket?

No, not just you, the pic dont work....argh. Ill try to get it to work.
Yes its very expensive. But no one made a coat like this one.....

Try the link now....

Indy J

Ah, now it works. And it looks great.

Some leathers are dyed so that the color goes all the way through. My wife has had a Coach purse for years that receives no special treatment. It's almost 10 years old, used daily, and there's no sign of any color coming off.

Cheers,

Starman

WOw you dug this one up from way back!!

Flattery wrote:Belt sander, perhaps?

PALM sander, various grits of paper. You could start with 400 to dull the shine, then move to a 220 to add a little distressed look to it (if that's what you're trying to achieve).

I just want to mknow where I've seen that Jacket. It resembles Wolverienes jacket but I know where you can get the exact jacket made by the same maker as the origionals. It reminds me of the Lethal Weapon 4 jacket Gibson wore too......I cant place it.

James, I'm digging that WotW jacket in your pics!! Did Wested make that one as well?? When I saw the preview for that film, and the jacket Cruise wears, I instantly thought...Speilberg,...filmed in the UK.....WESTED!!
That is a cool looking jacket....details,details!!!
'Blues

How about gasoline and a match? Regards. Michaelson

You could always drag it behind a truck for a few miles on a rocky dirt road, if you REALLY want to be authentic!

wenamedthedogindiana wrote:You could always drag it behind a truck for a few miles on a rocky dirt road, if you REALLY want to be authentic!

And have someone wear it at the time. I have no idea who though. Bink ... oops did I say "Bink" ... I meant " "

I thought of that but intentionally left it out. I didn't want to imply anyone here should have to undergo harm for authenticity's sake!

No problem. Jess and I will take care of that for you. Yes, Jess, I believe bink would be a fine choice for this..... Regards! Michaelson

Who are we going to get to chase him down? As I recall Bink was less than enthusiastic that last time we asked him to do it.

Jerry, of course! Regards! Michaelson

Hmm ... This is beginning to sound like sending Buster Keaton to catch Charlie Chaplin for Laurel and Hardy.