FredS
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 148
- Location
- The Netherlands
It's mocha java latté. And it's not wearing in color at all, just getting great grain, wrinkles, etc. Now, if you SCRATCH it, it will indeed be lighter underneath the top layer. Shocking, I know.
If I scratch the FQHH Aero - a totally different leather - it will not change like this finish does. Different finishes have different aging characteristics. I happen to like them all.
I don't even like a new jacket so much except for the smell and shine of the finish.
But I agree with HD - shoulda done the research before offering a new jacket.
Well it turns out it is not too late to cancel or change to another leather. I just spoke to Will by phone and they haven't started on my jacket yet. So I am sleeping over it another night to decide what I should do. I could go for smooth steer or biker steer but both those hides are much thinner then the Chromexel and so that's not an option for me. And I don't want horse nor goat. So maybe the Crazy Steer is an option but that's apparently a very stiff leather requiring lots of breaking in which I don't mind either but I don't know how supple it will really end up being. I like everything about the chromexel except that I am still a bit in doubt about the black not being drum dyed but only being a top coat.
But I am slowly adapting myself to the idea that the brown showing through the black might be a desirable effect. Maybe I have been too fixated on having a totally and permanently all black jacket. But it does look to me that cost and money is the real reason that these hides are not drum dyed in black and are in fact drum dyed with a brown base color and then have a black top coat applied. But that doesn't have to be a bad thing in itself if you like the effect that creates.
By the way...another thought...On Al's website it says the Chromexcel is 3 ounces and 1.4mm thick. But when I google leather thickness charts all of them say that 3 ounces equates to about 1.2mm thick and 4 ounces is 1.6mm thick. It does not show 3.5 ounces but I would assume that 3.5 ounces would be somewhere in between the two. I notice it goes up in increments of .20mm in between every full ounce so that would equate to 1.4mm for 3.5 ounce. So I guess that Al's leather is actually 3.5 ounce and not 3 ounce if it is as stated 1.4mm thick.
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