Raven2k360
New in Town
- Messages
- 29
- Location
- Denver, CO
TL;DR
Super-coating jacket with Lexol didn't ruin the jacket - it's really soft and supple now, and has a decent finish to it. Read on for the full details and photos.
I finished the work on my Leatherup.com Perfecto jacket I mentioned in the conditioning thread I'd revived the other day, and I'm actually happy with the results, considering what I started with. If you keep reading, you may cringe at some of the things I did to this jacket...but it all seemed to work. Would I do any of this to a nice jacket I paid a couple notes or more on? Probably not, but like I mentioned in the other thread; I'd pretty much written this one off anyway.
As a recap, I picked up a perfecto-style jacket from Leatherup.com for under $80 shipped, brand new. I wasn't expecting much from the jacket being how cheap it was, but I couldn't pass it up...figured I could maybe sew some patches on it, and wear it as a 'beater' jacket, if you will.
When it arrived, I was a little disappointed in what I got, even with not having high expectations. The jacket was hard and stiff, the leather was thin, and it had this shiny plastic-like look and feel to it, like it had a urethane top coat. I did verify it was real leather...lol. I tried several break-in methods for a couple days - dryer (no heat) with tennis balls, wearing it around, and I even slept in it a couple times; they helped relax the leather a bit, but the jacket still felt hard and shiny - not to mention, I started noticing cracks in the leather and some of the stitching was popping (mainly along the lower edge holding the inner liner to the shell). I really wish I'd taken photos of the jacket before I started anything...would've made a nice before and after contrast.
I found the old thread here on washing/conditioning jackets in a google search, and decided to give that a try...but first, I found mention of dulling the finish of a coat with steel wool on a reputable leather shop's site (with appropriate warnings/disclaimers)...so I started with that -- super-fine steel wool over the entire jacket. That seemed to dull the shine, and also smoothed the texture down a bit (it was feeling rough, like sandpaper after my previous break-in attempts).
After the steel wool, I washed the jacket (in a mesh laundry bag) in cold water and hung it up to dry for a few days. Once the jacket was dry, I followed the rest of the procedure in the wash/conditioning thread -- heated Lexol in a bowl and painted it on the entire jacket in layers. The main differences I deviated from the procedure was that my drying times were more than 4hrs between coats - usually about a day due to either work or other stuff around the house - and before coat 3 I warmed the jacket a bit (I keep my place a bit cold) with a heat gun on low, and before coat 4 I went for broke and tossed the jacket in the dryer for 20min on medium heat. Both steps probably unnecessary, but the jacket REALLY softened after the dryer.
After coat 4 dried, I wiped the jacket down with a warm, damp cloth and tossed it back in the dryer - no heat this time - with nubbed dryer balls and racquet balls for a few hours. A final wipe after the dryer was unnecessary, so I skipped that step. I still don't know why the Lexol dried to a white film on the jacket after each layer...might have something to do with my drying times, the original thread mentioned they only waited 3-4hrs between coats. Or maybe it was the leather itself...
The jacket now is, as I said, really soft and supple - it still doesn't look or feel like a top quality jacket (wasn't expecting it to), but it is light years better than it was. The leather actually feels like real leather, rather than plastic, and the belts and epaulets are also soft (they used to feel like cardboard strips). As I said - overall, I'm happy with the results, and the cracking/scars add a bit of character. If I were to ever buy another (probably won't though), I'd probably start with this to try and avoid the leather cracking like this jacket did. I'll just attach a few photos directly, but I'll also leave the link below to a dropbox folder with the rest of them if you're interested.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mb3z6fvntafbqll/AAC9E8GixQamlY_QSUe1eJHua?dl=0
Super-coating jacket with Lexol didn't ruin the jacket - it's really soft and supple now, and has a decent finish to it. Read on for the full details and photos.
I finished the work on my Leatherup.com Perfecto jacket I mentioned in the conditioning thread I'd revived the other day, and I'm actually happy with the results, considering what I started with. If you keep reading, you may cringe at some of the things I did to this jacket...but it all seemed to work. Would I do any of this to a nice jacket I paid a couple notes or more on? Probably not, but like I mentioned in the other thread; I'd pretty much written this one off anyway.
As a recap, I picked up a perfecto-style jacket from Leatherup.com for under $80 shipped, brand new. I wasn't expecting much from the jacket being how cheap it was, but I couldn't pass it up...figured I could maybe sew some patches on it, and wear it as a 'beater' jacket, if you will.
When it arrived, I was a little disappointed in what I got, even with not having high expectations. The jacket was hard and stiff, the leather was thin, and it had this shiny plastic-like look and feel to it, like it had a urethane top coat. I did verify it was real leather...lol. I tried several break-in methods for a couple days - dryer (no heat) with tennis balls, wearing it around, and I even slept in it a couple times; they helped relax the leather a bit, but the jacket still felt hard and shiny - not to mention, I started noticing cracks in the leather and some of the stitching was popping (mainly along the lower edge holding the inner liner to the shell). I really wish I'd taken photos of the jacket before I started anything...would've made a nice before and after contrast.
I found the old thread here on washing/conditioning jackets in a google search, and decided to give that a try...but first, I found mention of dulling the finish of a coat with steel wool on a reputable leather shop's site (with appropriate warnings/disclaimers)...so I started with that -- super-fine steel wool over the entire jacket. That seemed to dull the shine, and also smoothed the texture down a bit (it was feeling rough, like sandpaper after my previous break-in attempts).
After the steel wool, I washed the jacket (in a mesh laundry bag) in cold water and hung it up to dry for a few days. Once the jacket was dry, I followed the rest of the procedure in the wash/conditioning thread -- heated Lexol in a bowl and painted it on the entire jacket in layers. The main differences I deviated from the procedure was that my drying times were more than 4hrs between coats - usually about a day due to either work or other stuff around the house - and before coat 3 I warmed the jacket a bit (I keep my place a bit cold) with a heat gun on low, and before coat 4 I went for broke and tossed the jacket in the dryer for 20min on medium heat. Both steps probably unnecessary, but the jacket REALLY softened after the dryer.
After coat 4 dried, I wiped the jacket down with a warm, damp cloth and tossed it back in the dryer - no heat this time - with nubbed dryer balls and racquet balls for a few hours. A final wipe after the dryer was unnecessary, so I skipped that step. I still don't know why the Lexol dried to a white film on the jacket after each layer...might have something to do with my drying times, the original thread mentioned they only waited 3-4hrs between coats. Or maybe it was the leather itself...
The jacket now is, as I said, really soft and supple - it still doesn't look or feel like a top quality jacket (wasn't expecting it to), but it is light years better than it was. The leather actually feels like real leather, rather than plastic, and the belts and epaulets are also soft (they used to feel like cardboard strips). As I said - overall, I'm happy with the results, and the cracking/scars add a bit of character. If I were to ever buy another (probably won't though), I'd probably start with this to try and avoid the leather cracking like this jacket did. I'll just attach a few photos directly, but I'll also leave the link below to a dropbox folder with the rest of them if you're interested.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mb3z6fvntafbqll/AAC9E8GixQamlY_QSUe1eJHua?dl=0
