Club Obi Wan

If you think your leather jacket is stiff, then get aload of this.

The following pictures are of my Aero Californian jacket. It is made of
russet buffalo hide. I have worn it about 5 or 10 times now, and it is
still so stiff, that it can actually stand up on it own!! There is nothing
else holding up this jacket other than its own stiffness.

Its like my own personal body armour!

So, the next time someone complains about their leather jacket being
too stiff, show them these pictures!!





If you think your goatskin or cowhide Indy jacket is stiff, try to stand it up like this,
and let me know what happens.

Flathead

Oh, and just as a side note, I did indeed put a coating of Pecards Jell
on the jacket when it was new, and it did soften it up somewhat if you
can call it that!! It soaked in really well, and it gave the jacket a slightly
darker color until it dried. Then it came back to its original russet color.

But even after the application of the Jell, you can see its still very very
stiff!!

Flathead

Who needs USWings Kevlar jacket when you got Buffalo!

Hey, how do we know Kenny Baker isn't inside that thing?

The jacket standing up by itself, or that they're still finding work for Kenny Baker?

Was it that way when you got it, or just after you wore it? :rimshot:

Seriously, beautiful coat, and the color appears to be very rich on my monitor. I think I like it, quite a bit actually...

Indiana Jerry wrote:The jacket standing up by itself, or that they're still finding work for Kenny Baker?

These things happen. Allegedly, Warwick Davis earns his living nowadays by standing insíde a varsity jacket somewhere in the Tri-State area.

Flathead.

Your post is so funny. I do not know why I find this post funny; I think it is because of the way you have written this post. With respect; you are a funny man.

Paulio.

I believe a while back Peter made a postd regarding why the coat in Last Crusade looks so thick, and he said that the company that suppied the lambskin was tanned with whale oil. The tanning process caused the lambskin to get extremely stiff, to the point where you could stand it up by itself in the corner.
Perhaps the only way to get the true indy look is to get buffalo skin coats that can stay up by itself.

I agree with Mikey, those images are simply disturbing.

Did you get this for your "Invisible Man" costume for Halloween?

Still, it looks like a very nice jacket I think. And I guess the hide speaks for itself, buffalo.

Is the model based on something or is it own design?

Regards,
Swindiana

"Hmmmm... what's this potion? (gulp!) Hey, that was tasty--huh?! What's happening? I can't see my arms--my legs--hey, I'm invisible!!!!"

(I'd show an emoticon, but you wouldn't be able to see it now.)

bink

Incredible, just incredible.
Talk about stiffness

How does the coat feel while wearing it?
I assume you cant have much movement, when you move around.

Regards
Freddie

Now that's an adventurer's jacket.

That is one great-looking jacket! How is the sizing? Does it run true to size, small, or big?

Wear it in good health!

Bushman

How does the coat feel while wearing it?
I assume you cant have much movement, when you move around.

Its very heavy when wearing it. It weighs about 4 times what a Wested
Lambskin jacket does.

Other than that, for the most part, its comfortable while wearing. I
guess its because the sleeves are made so they are not straight down,
but slightly bent forward, like your arm is normally.

The thing that does happen, and will happen until it starts to break in,
is when I lift my arms, the shoulders will lift some also, and then the
collar will lift some too. This makes the collar move up my neck, and
it will come in contact with my chin!

You can see that where the jacket is starting to break in around the
bottom, and the sleeves, are the only places that have any flex to them.
But eventually, the rest of the jacket will be just as flexable, and
hopefully, not as stiff!!

I got the idea to take these pictures because when I took the jacket off
when I got home thursday night, I just threw it on the bed, and it kind of
stood up on its own. I thought it was kind of funny, so I picked it up,
and thought I would see if it was stiff enough to stand completely on its own.

You can see the results...

What I plan on doing is trying this again at the end of the winter, to
see how much it softened up.

Flathead

That is one great-looking jacket! How is the sizing? Does it run true to size, small, or big?

The jacket runs the same sizing wise as our Wested Indy jackets. It
comes with 4 inches of movement room standard over the tagged size.

I ordered it in a size 44, so I could have alittle more room in it than
my normal size of 42. I did this with my Wested too, and both fit great!

I also had them add in the extra inch to just the front of the jacket just
like my Wested. It makes it look and fit much better.

Aero is a great company. I also bought a Redskin B-3 from them, and
again, I added in the extra inch in front, and it makes the jacket look
and fit better.

Flathead

Between the weight and the stiffness, is it comfortable? It certainly looks nice, indeed , congrats.
Now, can you imagine a full length Buffalo Coat with all the hair still in it? Believe it or not, this was the standard issue Winter Police Coat of the Winnipeg Police Force up until (I think) 30 years ago!!! From neck to toe in Buffalo! It made the Winnipeg cops really slow but really warm.

Great Coat
Kilgour Trout

Is the model based on something or is it own design?

This jacket is based on Aero's Halfbelt design. Its basically a Halfbelt
with slash pockets, and adjusters on the sleeve ends. Its made of the
Buffalo hide, with a mustard colored cotton lining, that is the same as
in WWII A-2 jackets after they stopped using silk. It really is a nicely
made jacket, and it is tough!

If you ever watch the movie Seabiscuit that came out within the last
few years, the main charactor wears a jacket like this, only that one
was made of horsehide.

The sleeve adjusters are nice because you can make them loose, or
tight, depending on the weather, or just how you like them.

Flathead

I saw your photo first thing this morning, and it was just to funny, my friend. It must feel like you're carrying a fully loaded backpack when you're wearing that monster! Neat example! Thanks for the chuckle! High regards. Michaelson

Bet it gets expensive! That hide would take a lot of feed! Whew! W>

I like those cuffs ALOT....nice jacket!

Cheers
I J

That is one stiff coat. I dare say it's stiffer than some of Bink's socks.

Kilgour Trout wrote: Now, can you imagine a full length Buffalo Coat with all the hair still in it? Believe it or not, this was the standard issue Winter Police Coat of the Winnipeg Police Force up until (I think) 30 years ago!!!

I just saw one of those coats on Ebay this morning. I wonder if there's data that would show a criminal ability to avoid capture in Winnipeg depending on the seasons.

that's really eerie...don't know why, it just is.

Indiana Jess wrote:That is one stiff coat. I dare say it's stiffer than some of Bink's socks.

NOTHING is stiffer than one of my socks! It's a little known fact that my discarded socks are used for heating tiles underneath the space shuttle.

bink

Note to Self: Never stand downwind from a space shuttle

Indiana Jess wrote:Note to Self: Never stand downwind from a space shuttle

For more than one reason, it seems.

How does this jacket look now?

How does this jacket look now?

The jacket has relaxed alot since the picture was taken!

Its still stiff, but no where near as stiff as it was then. I think the
stiffness comes more from the weight of the leather because it is a very
thick hide.

What I did after taking those pictures last year was every time I took
the jacket off, I would crumple it up in a ball, and throw it on my couch when
I was not wearing it. I crumpled up the entire jacket except for the collar.
I like to have collars that look crispier and sharper looking over the ones
that have no shape to them, and just sag.

The other thing I noticed doing the crumpling is that the grain of the
jacket has come out much more than when I took the pictures!

The jacket was made from a very grainy hide to begin with, but since
doing what I did to it, the grain is much more visible around the entire
jacket.

I will say that this jacket is actually very comfortable while wearing it,
even though the hide is thicker and heavier than what most people, including myself,
are used to wearing.

Flathead

Those original photo's gave me a good laugh, awesome jacket though!

Now that's what you call a stiff jacket. Awesome looking jacket though, I wonder if wested will ever do a buffalo jacket.?