Seal jerky horse -- what is it?

[Sir Jacket]

I am thinking of getting my next Aero -- a 50s halfbelt -- in brown seal jerky horsehide. I like the look of it; I just don't know quite what it is. Can anybody enlighten me? Why 'seal'? Why 'jerky'? And how does it differ in look and so on from normal horsehide?

Also pics of any jackets made from this interesting hide would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Sir J

 

[Navin323i]

I always assumed that seal jerky horsehide is just regular horsehide but with a color that resembles the color of seal jerky.

 

[scotrace]

Seal = color. "Seal" is one of the colors one normally associates with an A2 jacket, as it is one of the two generally available - seal, and russet. Seal is a very dark brown.

Horse = It's made from the skin of a horse (obviously)

Jerky = The name for a more ruggedly textured hide. I believe this is an Aero Leather term.

So you have dark brown, richly textured horsehide.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Aero's jerky(grainy) HH is/was lighter weight than their regular much heavier FQHH. Normally closer to A2 thickness hides. "Vintage" FQHH is their grainy version of the hvy FQHH. Seal refers to the darker brown shades.
HD

 

[Edward]

I understood 'jerky' to referr to the less smoothe, grainier, visually "imperfect" hides that Aero use on their Real Deal A2s, intended to simulate genuine war era issue jackets, when materials were at a premium and no hide was wasted (per the marketing blurb, anyhow). It definitely does look good, though, and if you want a jacket that's softer, less rigid than FQHH, it looks to be a good option.

 

[Sir Jacket]

Thanks guys. So, in other words, you can't get seal or jerky FHQQ?

Sir J

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Thanks guys. So, in other words, you can't get seal or jerky FHQQ?

Sir J

Actually..you can. Aero's "Vintage" FQHH is quite grainy(jerky). Their recent hides have been quite dark...or chocolately seal in color. Amanda at Aero or Mark Moye at Aero USA can advise you....
HD

 

[tonypaj]

Actually..you can. Aero's "Vintage" FQHH is quite grainy(jerky). Their recent hides have been quite dark...or chocolately seal in color. Amanda at Aero or Mark Moye at Aero USA can advise you....
HD

I would sort of agree, apart from the color. The seal A-2s that I've had are quite dark, and I specifically asked Amanda about getting a thinner jacket in the FQHH brown. She figured that russet is way lighter, and seal darker. As far as "grainy" goes, both of my present FQHH jackets and ones I've had before have gotten grainy within a few months of wear, vintage or not.

Interestingly enough I ordered a while back a Stuart in seal jerky unmatched HH, with A-2 lining. That's for the summer, if the result is like the A-2s in weight, I'm happy.

 

[Corky]

From what I know of leather...

From what I know of leather, the best parts are the back and the front quarter.

The reason for that is the strongest, thickest part of the epidermis is on the back, protecting the animal's spine. Also, remember that as the animal eats and drinks during its life, the skin over the belly tends to expand and contract.

So the belly leather tends to be thinner and stretches more easily (and not in a good way). On most natural cowhide leathers, one can tell what part of the animal the leather originated by looking at how the leather absorbs water - the better parts absorb it evenly and get a little thicker and the poorer parts (like the belly) expand faster and tend to stretch easily. Also belly leather sometimes has a distinctive acid odor when it gets wet (this is the smell one might associate with a cheap leather jacket when it gets soaked in the rain).

When shoes used to be made in the USA, higher quality shoes would be made out of better back leather and lower quality shoes would be made on the same assembly line out of the lower quality belly leather.

I love the blurb on the jacket manufacturer's website which talks about how in about in wartime, they used every part of the horse hide. That's a great marketing gimmick as I suspect it possibly allows them to use a lower or less costly quality leather and label it "jerky" to make it seem more desirable.

This brings to mind the 1960's marketing device of Indian plaid Madras fabric. The problem was that they couldn't get the stuff to stop bleeding one color into another, so they turned a negative into a positive and created a marketing campaign that put a tag on each item that said the Madras cloth was "Guaranteed To Bleed".

 

[tonypaj]

I love the blurb on the jacket manufacturer's website which talks about how in about in wartime, they used every part of the horse hide. That's a great marketing gimmick as I suspect it possibly allows them to use a lower or less costly quality leather and label it "jerky" to make it seem more desirable.

One could of course add that there's a price difference between the hides for the customer, as well. There's a price difference even between different A-2 hides, let alone FQHH and "jerky"...

 

[Sir Jacket]

Thanks for the very informative reply, Corky. So, in other words, jerky is of lesser quality than FHQQ?

Sir J

 

[Baron Kurtz]

sounds like the title of a rather unsavoury film in the beastiality line.

bk

 

[tonypaj]

Thanks for the very informative reply, Corky. So, in other words, jerky is of lesser quality than FHQQ?

Sir J

I'm bumping in again, sorry about that. I do not think you should frame the question like that, really. It all depends on the purposes of the jacket. Take e.g. Aero's regular A-2s and compare "the quality" with a FQHH LHB. Which is of lesser quality? They have different characteristics, sure, different uses, sure, but quality, hmmm...

Anyway, I expect my Aeros to last way beyond the period I'm willing or able to wear them. And they will all look nicer with that process. That's enough for me.

 

[Edward]

sounds like the title of a rather unsavoury film in the beastiality line.

bk

lol. Made me think of the sort of snack foods South Africans seem to favour.