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Horween CXL in the heat

Guppy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,338
Location
Cleveland, OH
Everyone here knows that Horween CXL leather is pretty stiff in cooler temperatures, and will become more flexible at warmer temps. I usually wear my Aero jackets in cooler weather, opting to go jacketless or with something lighter when it warms up, so I only knew about this phenomenon from applying the heat generated by my body to the leather. Until recently, I hadn't worn any of my Aeros in hot weather.

Well, this week I had my brown Sonoma cafe racer out of the closet, and laying on my bed on a day when the temps hit 85-90F.

Some pretty interesting changes happened. First, I noticed the jacket became much less stiff, softening up as the waxes in the leather became softer. Then, I noticed that the grain of the leather became more pronounced. I haven't worn this jacket out very much at all, just picked it up randomly and started wearing it for the last few days, and already the grain has popped out much more than it had over the past two years that I've owned it. It's remarkable how much it has developed in just the last two-three days.

Some close up photos.
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AeroFan_07

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,726
Location
Iowa
I have found this to be highly true as well. I even put my LW J23 in a spot with some sun last Saturday to let it get thoroughly warmed up. It actually became "soft" for a short while and then I let it cool down slowly. Had I been a little "cooler" I would have worn it around. But 95-99F and LW-J23's do not mix all that well!
 

Dav

One Too Many
Messages
1,706
Location
Somerset, England
Left one of mine in a sunny conservatory once where the temps reached the high 40c's, thing felt like melting chocolate when I picked it up, didn't have any ill effects either.
 

tropicalbob

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,954
Location
miami, fl
That's really interesting about the grain popping out like that. This could even replace the HWT! LOL. I wonder why the sunlight would have that effect.
 
Messages
16,842
Exactly the same thing happened to the CXL HH HWM I had. Dav described it best, the jacket became exactly like a melting chocolate. Soft as lambskin.
 

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