How to age (or destroy?) a CXL FQHH Highwayman (pic heavy)

[Seb Lucas]

There are hundreds of pages of tips on distressing jackets using the processes you have used on the site Club Obi Wan. This site is devoted to distressing a jacket to look like Indiana Jones' timeworn jacket from the movies. It's the sanding that generally gives it away as artificially aged.

 

[Jejupe]

I'd like point out again, that I didn't try to create a real "timeworn" look. I just tried to change my jacket's appearance in a way that I find pleasing. For example sanding all seams of the jacket is obviously something that creates a different look than real wear. I did it anyway, because I thought that it looked good to me.

It would be an interesting challenge to try to create a real timeworn look on a jacket. If I ever do that, I will first set here in forum a quizz with pictures of my creation and real worn jackets and let everybody guess which is which.

If I would just put out my "masterpiece" and tell everybody how I did it, almost everybody would say how obvious it is that my jacket is a fake. [emoji1]

 

[red devil]

I'd like point out again, that I didn't try to create a real "timeworn" look. I just tried to change my jacket's appearance in a way that I find pleasing. For example sanding all seams of the jacket is obviously something that creates a different look than real wear. I did it anyway, because I thought that it looked good to me.

It would be an interesting challenge to try to create a real timeworn look on a jacket. If I ever do that, I will first set here in forum a quizz with pictures of my creation and real worn jackets and let everybody guess which is which.

If I would just put out my "masterpiece" and tell everybody how I did it, almost everybody would say how obvious it is that my jacket is a fake. [emoji1]

Blind tests is the way to go for real comparisons

 

[Logician]

So I decided to do something different today. I wanted to experiment on aging a FQHH jacket. I decided to use my newish black FQHH Aero Highwayman as a test subject.

Disclaimer: if you feel that the only way to brake in and age a jacket is by wearing it, you might find following text and images disturbing.

What you need for this:

A Highwayman:

A tumble dryer and some tennis balls:

Steel rubbing bad meant for pots and pans:

First place the jacket in dryer with the balls. Make sure the heat is not on! Let it tumble for about 20 hours until the jacket is nice and soft. By now also the grain should start popping up.

Result should look like this:

As you can see the black coating on the leather has already been worn by the dryer on some places like for example seams.

Next step, take rubbing pad and a deep breath and start rubbing the coating of the seams without any mercy!

Wear the jacket for treating the greases on the sleaves:

When done with seams and sleeve greases, start gently working on the whole jacket. Remember not to sand the large panels too hard, because the effect will not work if the whole coating is gone:

What I should have taken into consideration is, that the inside chest pockets started showing through after I sanded the front of the jacket.

All in all I am quite pleased with the result. I am sure many of you disagree and think that I destroyed the jacket. But hey, it is my jacket after all!

OMG viewer discretion is indeed advised! Not for the faint-hearted. LOL

 

[HoosierDaddy]

If that were my jacket, Jejupe, I would add one more coat of oil and then hand buff and polish it with a piece of sheep's wool.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I'd like point out again, that I didn't try to create a real "timeworn" look. I just tried to change my jacket's appearance in a way that I find pleasing. For example sanding all seams of the jacket is obviously something that creates a different look than real wear. I did it anyway, because I thought that it looked good to me.

It would be an interesting challenge to try to create a real timeworn look on a jacket. If I ever do that, I will first set here in forum a quizz with pictures of my creation and real worn jackets and let everybody guess which is which.

If I would just put out my "masterpiece" and tell everybody how I did it, almost everybody would say how obvious it is that my jacket is a fake. [emoji1]

Sounds a bit like you're just trying to protect yourself from adverse criticism. Why not own the distressing artificial wear effort for what it is? I don't think it looks awful at all and after a treatment as per HD's advice, most people will assume you are wearing a vintage jacket. Job done. The movies couldn't do it any better.

 

[Jejupe]

Sounds a bit like you're just trying to protect yourself from adverse criticism. Why not own the distressing artificial wear effort for what it is? I don't think it looks awful at all and after a treatment as per HD's advice, most people will assume you are wearing a vintage jacket. Job done. The movies couldn't do it any better.

. Idon’t know, Maybe you’re right about me being protective, but then it must be more of a subconscious reaction to defend my own creation and work.

Actually I was not waiting to get any positive feedback at all when I started this thread. I am surprised that there is not more criticism, because I think that TFL can be quite a single minded forum on certain subjects. I was expecting that this distressing and aging of a leather jacket is simply a no-no here.

I just honestly think that there is a difference between making an item to look old, and distressing it to look more interesting. I don’t think that many jacket manufacturers who make distressed fashion pieces want to make their jacket look really old and worn.

 

[Carlos840]

. Idon’t know, Maybe you’re right about me being protective, but then it must be more of a subconscious reaction to defend my own creation and work.

Actually I was not waiting to get any positive feedback at all when I started this thread. I am surprised that there is not more criticism, because I think that TFL can be quite a single minded forum on certain subjects. I was expecting that this distressing and aging of a leather jacket is simply a no-no here.

I just honestly think that there is a difference between making an item to look old, and distressing it to look more interesting. I don’t think that many jacket manufacturers who make distressed fashion pieces want to make their jacket look really old and worn.

I think there is a certain amount of "if you don't have anything nice to say, shut up" going on.

The point of distressing is to make something look used, your jacket doesn't look used, it look likes someone had a horrible accident in a sandpaper factory!
The reason why most manufacturers screw up distressing, whether on guitars, jackets, jeans, you name it, is because it takes time, skill and knowledge to create something that looks good.
Taking the time to do something right, and paying the price for skilled employees isn't a priority nowadays, especially when the end buyer has no knowledge on the subject.

Manufacturers know people don't know any better!
Take the average pre washed pair of jeans for example. The wear lines on either side of the front zip look nothing like what actual wear looks like.
Most people have never worn a pair of jeans long enough to have them appear naturally, so they won't see the difference.
To me they look garbage!

Most fake "roadworn" guitars don't look like they were played, they look like they were thrown down stairs, sanded down, beat up with chains and bags of nails!
If you have handled a lot of old instruments it become very obvious.

The same thing can be said about jackets.
Someone who has never seen a worn leather jacket might think what you have done looks like real wear.
Anyone who has spent time looking at old jackets will spot that the seam wear is far too even, and that you have rubbed areas that would never rub in real life.
It just doesn't happen like that naturally.

There is a big disconnect between natural wear, and fake wear nowadays, probably because no one uses anything long enough to wear it naturally anymore...

Edit: (re reading this, i can sound harsh, I didn't mean to, sorry. I really admire your effort, but think you should have stopped sooner!)

 

[Jejupe]

I think there is a certain amount of "if you don't have anything nice to say, shut up" going on.

The point of distressing is to make something look used, your jacket doesn't look used, it look likes someone had a horrible accident in a sandpaper factory!
The reason why most manufacturers screw up distressing, whether on guitars, jackets, jeans, you name it, is because it takes time, skill and knowledge to create something that looks good.
Taking the time to do something right, and paying the price for skilled employees isn't a priority nowadays, especially when the end buyer has no knowledge on the subject.

Manufacturers know people don't know any better!
Take the average pre washed pair of jeans for example. The wear lines on either side of the front zip look nothing like what actual wear looks like.
Most people have never worn a pair of jeans long enough to have them appear naturally, so they won't see the difference.
To me they look garbage!

Most fake "roadworn" guitars don't look like they were played, they look like they were thrown down stairs, sanded down, beat up with chains and bags of nails!
If you have handled a lot of old instruments it become very obvious.

The same thing can be said about jackets.
Someone who has never seen a worn leather jacket might think what you have done looks like real wear.
Anyone who has spent time looking at old jackets will spot that the seam wear is far too even, and that you have rubbed areas that would never rub in real life.
It just doesn't happen like that naturally.

There is a big disconnect between natural wear, and fake wear nowadays, probably because no one uses anything long enough to wear it anymore...

Edit: (re reading this, i sound very harsh, I didn't mean to, sorry. I really admire your effort, but think you should have stopped sooner!)

Well, now I think you’re just being rude for no good reason. Do you often think that definition of an idiot and fool is anyone who has a different opinion than you?

 

[Carlos840]

Well, now I think you’re just being rude for no good reason. Do you often think that definition of an idiot and fool is anyone who has a different opinion than you?

I'm confused, i never called you a fool or an idiot!

 

[Carlos840]

You ask "I am surprised that there is not more criticism" i told you it was probably because people didn't want to come and pile on your thread, which isn't the style of the lounge.
I then tried to explain why i thought most "distressing" didn't look great compared to real wear.
At no point did i call you a fool or an idiot, or even attack your work, other than saying it didn't look natural to my eyes, which is meaningless since i will never wear that jacket.
If you like it everyone concerned is happy! That's what counts!

 

[Jejupe]

I'm confused, i never called you a fool or an idiot!

Ok, no problem. My bad. Ididn’t mean that you called me that. English being my second language sometimes makes it hard for me to write my thoughts out so that they are understood correctly.

 

[Carlos840]

Ok, no problem. My bad. Ididn’t mean that you called me that. English being my second language sometimes makes it hard for me to write my thoughts out so that they are understood correctly.

No worries, i know where you are coming from, English isn't my first language either. Apologies if i offended you, it wasn't my intention.

 

[bobjones]

Well, now I think you’re just being rude for no good reason. Do you often think that definition of an idiot and fool is anyone who has a different opinion than you?

The reality is that artificial aging of the jackets is going to be a controversial subject, with the "traditionalists", for lack of a better term, preferring to age their jackets purely or primarily through wearing them, and they will feel that any efforts to "manufacture" that wear is apostasy. On the other end of the spectrum would be the "experimentalists" like yourself, willing to take a rather expensive jacket and test out what kind of look they can achieve on it through artificial means.

It would be akin to a poll in a political forum asking for opinions on capital punishment, guns, Trump etc., all hot button subjects so there will be strong reactions generated.

The tone here skews on the diplomatic side and the mods do a nice job keeping a lid on the amount of "heat", but there will still be some instances where more divisive topics like this will lead to stronger feelings, its just to be expected.

That said, I'll give you credit; as they might say in the business: "you have brass balls" for taking an expensive jacket beloved by so many and applying your modification techniques LOL.

For me, the most I'd do in this vein is order the rolled horsehide pre-distressed by Aero to soften the leather which I imagine they still offer, but its been almost ten years since I ordered my last one. I'd also order a lighter weight horsehide than previously but I digress...

 

[Jejupe]

On unrelated topic, I just picked up my new car from the dealer. Now I have to take it home and give it good sanding and maybe hit some dents on it to look it nice, old and worn... [emoji6]

 

[bobjones]

On unrelated topic, I just picked up my new car from the dealer. Now I have to take it home and give it good sanding and maybe hit some dents on it to look it nice, old and worn...

Will it fit in your dryer?

If so, you might need to toss in bricks instead of tennis balls to give it that "south side of chicago worn-in look"...

 

[Jejupe]

Will it fit in your dryer?

If so, you might need to toss in bricks instead of tennis balls to give it that "south side of chicago worn-in look"...

I wish it did, cars are much more comfortable when they all broken in and soft. I guess I just have go the puritan way and just drive it a lot.

Fortunately I can enhance the look easily for more street cred. Speaking of Chicago, I've never been in windy city so I don't where is the limit of authencity with cars. Would bullet holes be too much? I wonder if it will look too fake I paint rust on it...

 

[Peter Bowden]

I wish it did, cars are much more comfortable when they all broken in and soft. I guess I just have go the puritan way and just drive it a lot.

Fortunately I can enhance the look easily for more street cred. Speaking of Chicago, I've never been in windy city so I don't where is the limit of authencity with cars. Would bullet holes be too much? I wonder if it will look too fake I paint rust on it...

 

[Jejupe]

HD gave me a good tip that I should polish the jacket with sheep wool.

His good tip combined with my creativity (read: laziness) led to this:

Stage 3: the powertool

For this stage we need a polishing machine with a woolen pad:

Definately a worthwhile stage! Its hard to capture it with photos, but the leather has regained lost shine and it isn’t so matte and nubuck-like anymore.

I will continue polishing tomorrow and see if I can make it even better!

The leather is starting to be really really soft and buttery at this point.

 

[Angel]

After reading for two years I had to sign up because this is another really entertaining thread!
Makes me think of trying to protect my 30's half belt with my bare hands and my knees when I accidentally fell of my bicycle. So now I just call it "faster aging process" and relax.

Keep on posting your progress!