A
Anonymous
Guest
I bought a gibson & Barnes horse hide A-2 on ebay for knocking around in size 46 condition good .The jacket had some patches on at some time that were removed .The lining was well worn similar to a real A-2 .I called G&B and asked about relining and sewing on more patches they told me the cost would be $50 for the relining and $5.00 for the patch sewing (3 patches) + shipping a good deal I thought .The jacket was to big on me so I thought I would machine wash it ,at our apt complex we have machines with the waste water pipe hooks over the sink .I stayed with the machine whilst it was washing you should seen the color of the water emptying in to the sink it was black .The jacket did not look that dirty ,I then dried the jacket in the dryer low heat .
The jacket body lost its blouseyness the arms stayed the same length and I gained some nice grain in different places .I washed the jacket again and again the came out black dried it again and picked up more grain . Then washed it again the water was much cleaner and also picked up more grain in a previously featureless grain leather .I wonder how dirty the originals were that I owned in the past with a sixty year history .I think for me my interest will be on solely repro jackets as every time I will see an original I will think of the black water coming out of the machine from my 10 year old G&B .
I though this might be of interest to you guys ,
Ps I thought the needle holes from the patches would close up a bit re the washing and drying shrinkage but did not interestingly enough .The 3rd picture shows a little of the original leather without grain by the collar tip and the arm grain shows a big contrast.The shiney patches are Pecards test areas front and back .Also I used tide washing liquid with the jacket in the washing machine because the jacket had a weird smell ,like a floral sweet smell this has now gone .Thanks for your interest it was an interesting experiment .
All the best Jeff
The jacket body lost its blouseyness the arms stayed the same length and I gained some nice grain in different places .I washed the jacket again and again the came out black dried it again and picked up more grain . Then washed it again the water was much cleaner and also picked up more grain in a previously featureless grain leather .I wonder how dirty the originals were that I owned in the past with a sixty year history .I think for me my interest will be on solely repro jackets as every time I will see an original I will think of the black water coming out of the machine from my 10 year old G&B .
I though this might be of interest to you guys ,
Ps I thought the needle holes from the patches would close up a bit re the washing and drying shrinkage but did not interestingly enough .The 3rd picture shows a little of the original leather without grain by the collar tip and the arm grain shows a big contrast.The shiney patches are Pecards test areas front and back .Also I used tide washing liquid with the jacket in the washing machine because the jacket had a weird smell ,like a floral sweet smell this has now gone .Thanks for your interest it was an interesting experiment .
All the best Jeff
