Depot Re-Dye B-3... When all else fails... (attn Clark)

[fishmeok]

I have a couple days away from making jackets and can play a little. I can't say enough about the Tandy Eco-Flo waterstain dye. The below is only one coat of the stock dark brown, slightly thinned with water.

Clark, I think I have spent enough time on this thing, I declare it mine now.

Project before (I added the horsehide parts, fixed the cuffs, etc)

After

 

[Anonymous]

Eco-flo is great I use it on my patches for a little patina.

 

[B-Man2]

Mark;

That looks great. What a perfect way to breath new life into a jacket or to turn a beater into a beautiful seal color with some very rich tones. How difficult is that stuff to apply, and where can we obtain the product?


______________________
B-Man2

 

[Marv]

wow, what a difference looks fantastic Mark......

 

[jack aranda]

Nice! How did you apply the dye?

 

[fishmeok]

Tandy Leather of all places- and I used a paintbrush to apply. If I am dyeing a hide I will use a scrap piece of sheepskin.

Cheers
Mark

 

[TankBuster]

Looks really good Mark. I've seen that jacket in person before your efforts and it looks 100 times better now. Nice work!

 

[ButteMT61]

Looks awesome. I applaud you on this one. I'd love an old jacket that's been rehab'd like that.

 

[gruvi]

Beautiful work! I wonder, does this add a protective coating to the leather as well?

 

[gruvi]

I want to know, how is it okay to freshen a jacket like this but if same was done to an old A2, it gets frowned upon? Lets say I have a seal A2 with the dye worn off but leather intact and I redye it, is this okay? To me it is preserving the jacket in a same manner one would have had done near the end of WWII, right?

 

[Dr H]

Er...this isn't an old B-3 is it? It's a modern repro (WPG?) so the treatment is not to the detriment of an artefact with historical significance.

Gruvi, the issue is tinkering with old garments (jackets or otherwise) that have some history associated with them.

'Freshening' ends up destroying patina and, ultimately, the character of the jacket by destroying contextural information.
Put it another way. You come by a copy of The Scream by Edvard Munch (value what? $120M?), but feel that the face of the angst-ridden figure is a little sketchy and might be improved by filling in some of the detail more carefully with a slightly steadier hand or improving the varnish.

Does it improve the even 'look'? Possibly. Does it increase the lifetime of the painting with a new coating? Certainly. Does the art historian thank you for making the painting harder to 'read' (angle/frequency of brushstrokes)? Do you get your $120M back? :roll:

If you have a repro A-2 and want to do a depot redye, go for it - yes, interesting experiment and fun. If you have an authentic issued jacket and want to do the same, then I'd advise caution...Step back and think again. What will you get out of it other than a 'modernised' A-2 - that might appeal to the shiny leather brigade, but not the more discerning.

Before the kids came along I had a couple of classic Jaguars (Mk 2) - there was a overwhelming urge for the Yuppies during the 1990s to 'rebuild'/revamp/modernise the classic Mk2... Strip out the seating, replace with seats from an XJ, no air con? Stick it in. Only a 3.8 L engine? Rip it out and stick in a 4.2 L from an XJ. 'Tired' old veneered wood from the 1960s? Pale/worn? Rip it out and replace it... Change the transmission for a smoother unit... What? No catalytic converter? Stick one in... What do you get after spending a mint on the car? A silhouette Mk2 and an anodyne characterless vehicle.

In my view - disagree if you will, your prerogative, is that one is a custodian of an artefact (particularly one with some additional significance to e.g. family members whose relative might have fought or even died in that jacket) and one has an additional responsibility/duty of care. I sold on my mil spec jackets for that reason - I don't keep a collection, I wear a small number of jackets fairly hard (I do so with less concern now with high end repros).

Don't get me started on historical architecture (particularly Arts and Crafts/Mission and the like), unless you want a real rant...

Cheers

Ian

 

[gruvi]

I was not aware this threads jacket was a reproduction. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Clark J]

This is one of the first jacket I purchased that had a WW2 look......it was your 100 point mall jacket complete with slash pockets!!This was way before I knew there were repo jackets,,,,,I gave it to Fishmental for the first time a couple of years ago along with a gen set of belts...he did some mods on it (the before redye pics)had it back for a bit and then gave it back to him a few months ago and tried to make it clear I had no interest in getting it back again!!!He does great work!!!Now if he could just do something with that kid!!!

 

[dmar836]

I'd hit areas of it with full strength dye. It'll look fine!

 

[Dr H]

The fact that we're trawling threads to check provenance shows how well Mark has done with the refurb/ageing work.

 

[John Lever]

If the sheepskin has an acrylic base coat and clear top lacquer as originals did, how does the dye adhere ? Surely any re-dye needs a top seal coat ?

 

[jack aranda]

And, how would a re-dye do on an oil-pull finish?

 

[fishmeok]

Over the last couple years I tried a bunch of different things on this jacket- after making it look more or less like a real B-3 I first dyed it with Fiebings (not recommended) then painted it with spray on clear Lacquer (sort of worked) Finally I gave the jacket a quick scuff sanding and applied the Eco-Flo waterstain dark brown. It appears to be colorfast and does not rub off of what is left of the clear top coat, but time will tell how it holds up. I'm not going to do anything else, it's time to get back to work...

Ben- I have no idea how this will work on oil-pull, but I doubt it would adhere. Don't think you have any options with that sort of hide.

Cheers
Mark