ELC Star - attempting hot water treatment

[Marv]

I have an ELC Star which is about 3 years old and I have decided that I want to give it the hot water treatment to see if I can bring out more grain in the HH and give it that worn look as it still looks new.
So before I do this I thought I would ask this fountain of knowledge for the does and dont's before I take the plunge (no pun intended) and hopefully not ruin a perfectly great jacket.

So my questions are as follows -

1) How hot should the bath water be, the hotter the better or just very warm.

2) How long should I leave the jacket in the water for and do I need to manipulate the leather whilst it is in the bath.

3) I don't own a dryer so I was just going ring out the access water and leave to dry naturally for a while then wear it until nearly dry - or should I do something else.

4) Does this process affect the cuffs and waistband or should they retain their normality once dry

5) What results should the finished product give,eg. better, more defined grain - lighter pigmentation in certain areas of the jacket/leather etc.

As you can imagine I am a bit apprehensive so any info/help would be greatly appreciated.....

 

[deeb7]

CBI details his methods if you search back through his posts. Here's a little stolen from the John Chapman CD ...

For the hot water technique, I simply let the leather sit under running hot water for about 30 seconds, and then dry it off (not letting the non-leather elements get wet). I then wrinkle the leather and try to get natural texture to come out, sometimes with very vigorous mashing of the leather with my hands.

 

[bob capa]

I got this crazy idea for all you guys and your hot water treatments and stretching leather ideas...


Just wear your jacket alot

 

[CBI]

Bob - well that's no fun. Actually, I only have maybe 3-4 months jacket wearing weather a year. Multiply that time a gazillion jackets and I think you get the picture.

 

[CBI]

I have an ELC Star which is about 3 years old and I have decided that I want to give it the hot water treatment to see if I can bring out more grain in the HH and give it that worn look as it still looks new.
So before I do this I thought I would ask this fountain of knowledge for the does and dont's before I take the plunge (no pun intended) and hopefully not ruin a perfectly great jacket.

So my questions are as follows -

1) How hot should the bath water be, the hotter the better or just very warm. Warm water is fine
2) How long should I leave the jacket in the water for and do I need to manipulate the leather whilst it is in the bath. About 5 minutes while you play with it with your hands. You will begin to see some of the dye coming off in the water, this is OK.
3) I don't own a dryer so I was just going ring out the access water and leave to dry naturally for a while then wear it until nearly dry - or should I do something else. Justr leave it out to dry. Start wearing it about halfway dry.

4) Does this process affect the cuffs and waistband or should they retain their normality once dry This depends on the jacket maker. You should be OK with Eastman as the jacket will probably not shrink much at all not in the dryer. The knits stay in good shape sometime becoming a bit fuzzier
5) What results should the finished product give,eg. better, more defined grain - lighter pigmentation in certain areas of the jacket/leather etc. Better grain, more uneven pigmentation
As you can imagine I am a bit apprehensive so any info/help would be greatly appreciated.....

 

[Marv]

well it's done, just have wait for the jacket to dry out and give it some wear.....hopefully will get the result I looking for.
post pics once complete....

 

[Marv]

Not had a chance to take any pics as of yet, jacket is now dry and has shown a little more wear, grain and creasing but not as much as I had expected though.
Maybe because I let the jacket dry naturally and not used a dryer or maybe I didn't leave the jacket in the tub long enough or manipulate the leather enough who knows.
Not sure whether to give it another go or if this will cause any problems with the jacket or it's just the type of HH ELC had used at the time.

Anyway I'll post pics of it's current state before deciding whether to have another go hoping for better results. :?

 

[blackrat2]

Marv##

Is it possible that the leather used by ELC has the grain imprinted (possibly not the correct word) into it, rather than the leather that GW is using which is using leather with the grain left in a more natural state.I am aware that leather used for alot of modern jackets is smoother as this is what is seemingly prefered. That said i dont know what the tannery do at both ELC and GW when they have the leather, prior to it being made into a jacket.
Does anyone know that if the leather starts with little or no grain can any amount of treatment create any grain.

john

 

[CBI]

yes, it TOTALLY depends on the leather and in many cases ELC's leather is pretty smooth. The best hot water results come with the best leather.