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Hot Water Treatment

Ian C

New Member
Hiya,

I am new to the forum so apologies if this has been already covered but what exactly does hot water treatment entail and how is it done?

Thanks,
Ian
 

Persimmon

Well-Known Member
Hi Ian.
Hope you up and about soon.
Whilst I live in Nottingham I work not far from you in Shipley so welcome to the Forum.

As for the Hot water treatment try this link to a previous topic as it may give some ideas of various methods of water treatment used by the guys

vintageleatherjackets.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6650
 

Ian C

New Member
Persimmon said:
Hi Ian.
Hope you up and about soon.
Whilst I live in Nottingham I work not far from you in Shipley so welcome to the Forum.

As for the Hot water treatment try this link to a previous topic as it may give some ideas of various methods of water treatment used by the guys

vintageleatherjackets.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6650

Thanks for that, I'll take a look.
As for the leg, I'm getting about but I'm going a bit stir crazy looking for things to do. Growing a beard just to see what it looks like is about as much fun as it gets at the minute :lol:

Ian
 

Jaguar46

New Member
I recently tried to do this to some jackets mainly to try to make the jackets fit better, and to shorten the sleeve lengths. I used the hot water in a spray bottle technique on a Goodwear horsehide jacket. I hung the jacket with a very wide hanger that is used for hanging wet suits, then filled a spray bottle with the hottest tap water. I sprayed the outside of the jacket all around. Worked it into the leather. Then put the jacket with a bunch of damp towels in the dryer set at the lowest level. Every 5 minutes or so I would take the jacket out, ocassionally wearing it around while still damp. Before it completely dried, I wore it around, for an hour, then laid it down to dry out over night. It worked well, the jacket fits better, and the leather took on a more broken in appearance.

I then tried it on an Eastman Roughwear made of horsehide. No change in the size at all. Then I briefly soaked the jacket in the bath tub in hot water to see if heat would help shrink it. Again no change in the size. The leather Eastman uses is not as thick as the Goodwear leather, and for some reason is resistent to shrinking. The jacket is softer, with a more broken in appearance, but I have a feeling I will need to have the sleeves shortened manually.

I would have been afraid to do this, but John Chapman recommended it to me. He points out that the leather spends a lot of time immersed in liquids, and no permanent damage will result. I would not attempt this with a vintage jacket myself, as these jackets are relics in my mind.
 

Persimmon

Well-Known Member
Thanks David for making the link work.
Am in Germany on business (not on a bomb run) and my I Phone did not do the link as I hoped
for the topic.
 

arclight

Member
Jaguar46;

If it's just the sleeves that are too long on the ELC RW, put the jacket on and using your spray bottle with very warm water, spray the heck out of the inside elbow area of the sleeves getting them very wet. Crack open 2 beers and alternate bending each arm to gulp some brew. Repeat many times. After every 2 beers are consumed, do as many pushups as you can until total muscle failure. Do the misting, beer and pushup routines as needed to get the creases set into the sleeves thus shortening the length of said sleeves.

If you want the entire jacket reduced in size, crank on some more heat in the dryer but be extremely cautious and check the progress every couple of minutes.

I have done CBIs excellent tutorial a couple of times with great success. His jackets fit great and look absolutely enviable!

Good luck!

arclight out
 

jimbo

New Member
Greetings. I'm new here on the forum, and recently discovered this site while looking into some info on my Navy-issue (Brill contract/1974) G-1 jacket. For the record it was issued to me during my tour as a VP-45 squadron photographer (1972-1976).

It's still in pretty good shape with the exception of the waist knit fraying pretty badly (which doesn't bother me, actually).

Anyway, I also noticed this thread concerning 'hot water treatment' and wanted to comment...

I have always washed my jacket in a washing machine whenever I feel it was getting excessively dirty. Yes, MACHINE-wash (gentle cycle)! Believe it or not, it appears to have not negatively affected it at all. Once, I even machine-dried it, and noticed very little affect, except for the zipper line looking a tad 'wavy'. Usually I air-dry the jacket for a few days - even a day or so outside, if the sun is out.

I have a few patches sewn onto the jacket (my old VP-squadron patch, my Atlantic Fleet-Imaging patch, and my Navy photo-school patch) with only mild fading on those, if at all.

The leather itself has held up quite nicely, and while indeed I've noticed some dye release in the (soapy) water while washing, the jacket is still nice, showing a rich, warm, brown, and even retains a bit of the ol' shine.

I just wanted you guys to know these things are pretty darn durable, and while I'd probably never actually was a WW2-vintage collectible, I don't see the real harm in these more contemporary models being machine washed.

Just thought you'd be interested, as I'm sure many folks are reluctant to try something radical like this, and now you can hear from someone who's actually done it - at least six times or so...!

Jim
 

a2jacketpatches

Active Member
I just put a G1 in the wash last week, it's the cowhide type with synthetic collar so I wasn't really too worried about it. It came out a little stiff, but I'm sure a little wear will bring back some flexibility.
 

jimbo

New Member
a2jacketpatches said:
I just put a G1 in the wash last week, it's the cowhide type with synthetic collar so I wasn't really too worried about it. It came out a little stiff, but I'm sure a little wear will bring back some flexibility.


I know what you mean about stiffness. What I do in that case (after a wash/line dry) is put it in the dryer on air only - no heat.

After about 20 or 30 minutes tumbling in there, it feels great!

Jim
 

a2jacketpatches

Active Member
Threw it in the dryer no heat for a while, worked like a charm. I gonna put a coat of leather conditioner on it and sew on a couple of patches. Thanks for the tip!
 

jimbo

New Member
a2jacketpatches said:
Threw it in the dryer no heat for a while, worked like a charm. I gonna put a coat of leather conditioner on it and sew on a couple of patches. Thanks for the tip!


You bet!
 

Estancia

Member
could someone please post before and after pictures of the old 'hot water treatment'??

thinking a long walk in the rain could be safer... :D
 

tonyb

New Member
Reminds me of the huaraches we used to get way back when I still had hair on top of my head. I’m talkin’ the real thick jobs with car tire soles, which are not much at all like the ones you might find at the mall these days.

When new those sandals bit like a mad dog, even if the size was close to right, unless you first soaked them in water and then wore them until they dried. Then they were quite comfortable. I’d heard that some people went to far as to soak them in old motor oil. Me, I was never quite that hardcore.

I recently purchased a (1950s?) vintage horsehide Californian, knowing that it would probably be at least a little bit tight on me. But the price was right, and I figured that even if there was no reasonable way it could be made to fit, at least it might make for good barter material, or a nice gift.

It arrived this morning, and yep, it was more than a tad snug. The fit is good in the shoulders, and the length is close, but it was noticeably too small in the chest and belly. Indeed, zipping it shut was a bit of a struggle. So into the shower it went (I just put it on the shower floor while I did the scrub-a-dub-dub on my decrepit old carcass; I didn’t let the soap residue fall on the jacket.) Got that leather good and waterlogged and then dressed myself in old duds and put on the jacket. Zipped right up. Been wearing for several hours now.

I think it’ll work.
 

442RCT

New Member
I recently picked up a goat Cooper A-2 from eBay. When I received it, it was crumpled and badly wrinkled. I tried hanging it for a week to see if the wrinkles would unwrinkle from the weight, no luck. I only paid $ 38 for the jacket, (none else wanted a wrinkled leather jacket), so I didn't feel bad about tossing it in the washer for a hot water treatment. Ran it through 2 cycles and let it air dry on a hanger for a couple of days. It turned out pretty nice, wrinkles are gone, and the once stiff leather has become supple with wearing. :p
I'm going to patch it and use if for my models to wear for photo shoots. :D
 
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