BoTOX for JaCKETS???

[johnnyjohnny]

love to hear if anyone else has done this...kind of a botox for leather jackets...

anyone who has read my posts knows my maniaCaL search for a Luftwaffe jacket, and one that would fit just like i like it...

well, i picked up a new schott NYC size XL on ebay a few weeks ago, all black, one piece back...well, basically everythng that the iconic Luftwaffe jacket is (not the hartmann beLLytank)...just no zip or button on the cuffs, and no neck or waist buckle, but everything else the same...oh, no chest zips, just side slash pockets, but that was the case with many of the Luftwaffe jackets

ok, that prologue, cut to the jacket being totally new and beautiful, but it DiD have some wrinkled grain on one side of the collar, where the other side was very smooth. it's cowhide, and i know a bit of scrunchy grain is prized, however, i'm under the impression that schott is one of those makers that did not intend for this type of interesting and often prized variance to be in their jackets...admittedly, they do put out a somewhat generic product

sO, i didn't know if this was a seconds jacket because of this, or just some typical cowhide variance...aNywho, i decided to see if i could equal things out between the two collar sides>>>

i have this amaZing stuff (don't make fun of it because of the name, it's really great) called Leather CPR...yes, i know if it's a hide then the animal has already died...but this stuff does incredible things in disappearing marks and nicks, abrasions...

sO i decided to see if i could BoToX my jacket with it...layer it into the creases on the more grainy side of the collar, so the moisture (lanolin mostly) would expand and loosen them out, thus flattening out the lines like botox results (though botox numbs nerves, thus preventing facial expressions that cause lines, so not a perfect analogy, but it sounded cool)

leather cpr doesn't change the colour of the leather, though it briefly gives it a bit of a gloss, which then matts out...so i was safe in applying it partially...however, i did put it on the other side of the collar as well for balance...

as with a regular application of this stuff (and probably most like conditioners) if the jacket is dry it will take several applications to really take...

so after about four applications into the low spots and creases, i've found that my rougher collar side looks like one of those 'AFTER' pics in the newspaper of a skin rejuvenating treatment on a lined face...sometimes you need to look twice at the more honest of these before/after pics because results aren't like photoshop, they are real

well, i'd say that the wrinkles and creases have filled and flattend close to 50percent...you still see some of the grain of the original crease, and a few of the deeper creases still aren't, and probably can't be, fully filled...

now, there's nothing wrong with grain and variegation in the leather, but on a collar side, where the other side doesn't match, i did want to even the two sides out...which this has done...before doing this one collar side was noticeably more scrunched...which with an aero, or certainly an a-2, this would be right on...but on a normally smooth leathered cowhide jacket like a schott, i thought more of an even grain would be better

as the collar ages on both sides with wear, i think the remaining differences will be even less, and look very natural...they certainly look a lot more natural after this treatment

noW thEN, has anyone else tried this sort of thing, or heard about doing it?

also, curious, if moderate graining on only one side of the collar on a mass produced jacket like a $500 schott would have been considered a 'seconds'...i did get the jacket new for $80 on ebay

sorry i don't have an before pix, though if someone's interested i can take a schott (pun) of the collar now

happy nEWYeaR!

 

[Peacoat]

Leather CPR

I have used Leather CPR on English tack--saddles, bridles, girths, etc--for years. It is good stuff. Never used it on a leather jacket, though. Normally I only use it on leather that has dried out and needs some serious help.

With as much tack as my wife and I have, a bridle may not get looked at for several years. By then it may have dried out. I have never had a problem rejuvenating tack that hasn't cracked with Leather CPR. But once it cracks, nothing I know of will bring it back to life.

 

[johnnyjohnny]

aTTaCKiNG TACK with CPR

well Peacoat, that's a hearty recommendation for leather cpr...i just came across it on my own and had never heard of anyone on the fedLounge even mentioning it...it sounds so, excuse the pun, tacky, compared to all these almost metaphysically referred to products like pecards and such, however, it does not have petrol products in it (as pecards does) which most authorities state is deleterious to leather

as for my project, i've applied it to the creases in the collar about five times now, probably as much as i think is good for leather, and it's brought the folds and creases out, so that the leather on one side of the collar has the look of folds that have worn in a bit from use, rather than like before, when it totally looked like distressed leather

that's as far as rescuing the rivulets will go in my opinion by moisturizing the folds, which was a suggestion i found on leathercare sites (after i thought of it myself)...the only other thing suggested, and it is roundly suggested by numerous leather care specialists, would be to iron creases out of leather with an iron that is set low, for rayon, and using a cotton towel or thick brown wrapping paper between the leather and the iron, on a flat surface...

care not to overheat is stressed, and moving the iron around and working the leather flat, and doing so over a number of times for best results...

think i'll be trying that as well next...only thing is i need to get an iron...other than leather jackets i wear only blue jeans and denim shirts, and heck if i'd ever iron jeans! or denim!

good luck with your tack peacoat, and nice to hear a product as absurdLy named as leather cpr can really be quite good as you and i have both found it to be...

oNe more note...i've probably put about 2 tablespoons of the stuff into the folds of the collar, and on the entire collar, and it has nOt changed the colour or texture of the leather in any way...it just looks a bit less dry than the rest of the untreated jacket, which a quick application on the remaining jacket would cure in an instant...so for those who don't want to see jackets changing colour with conditioner, this stuff might work...

have a niCe neWYear aLL

 

[Peacoat]

Careful not to put too much CPR, or any conditioner on the leather. If you apply too much, it will damage the fibers in the leather, and nothing that I know of will bring it back. The leather will become soft, spongy and won't hold it's shape. Sounds as if you have reached the limit in that particular area of the collar.

 

[johnnyjohnny]

eeeeeeeeK!

yes, time to return to base with the leather cpr and give it break...thanks for the warning