Should I do something to this one?

[tjoenn]

Hi, I purchased this G-1, MIL-J-7823 (AER) a couple of years ago, and it's a good wearer. However, I'm wondering if I should put some color back on the worn parts as you see from the picture (and if yes, how?). Also, the leather is soft, but feels a bit dry. What would you do if it was your jacket?

 

[silvio76]

Hi, I purchased this G-1, MIL-J-7823 (AER) a couple of years ago, and it's a good wearer. However, I'm wondering if I should put some color back on the worn parts as you see from the picture (and if yes, how?). Also, the leather is soft, but feels a bit dry. What would you do if it was your jacket? View attachment 10603

Try with shoe cream in corresponding colour.

 

[Pilot]

Nice G-1.
Great fit.
I would treat it with Pecard antique leather dressing.... or similar...
Good luck...

 

[Flightengineer]

Pecard

 

[Brettafett]

As above. This is the kind of thing we wait years and years for. Looks great. Enjoy it.

 

[Silver Surfer]

one or two passes with pecards, or vasiline will soften the hides, and will subdue those wear spots. unless totally fubar, and of no value, its best to not monkey around with coloring originals, imho

 

[Brettafett]

I've heard mixed things about Vaseline... I mean, if its safe to use on skin, should be fine for leather, yes? I understand that John Chapman has recommended it before...
But seem to recall other who said something different...

 

[jeremiah]

If it’s not worn down to suede and color only you can use some dye. Or leave if. I like it as is.
If colorong, get a paper towel or something else and get some dye on it and then ring it out as much as possible and then dab the area. Idea is to slowly build up the dye in the area. Too much is not good. You can always add more.

That said I agree with Victor too. The dry feeling could also be from it being pigment finished too. If it’s soft and pliable I would not add anything for conditioning.

As for vasoline or pecards or any other conditioner, I have found that a little bit of anything reasonable isn’t going to be that bad for it. I have used it all and I like anything that does not leave a oily or waxy surface. If it does it usually means it’s not sinking into the leather well. Anyway. Good luck.

 

[tjoenn]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! I think I'll stay away from any dye (I also feel it's wrong to do that to an original), but maybe test out some conditioner under a flap or something, I don't have any pecards, but I think I have an old bottle of Eastman conditioner somewhere. If I'm not happy with it, I'll buy pecards next time I'm stateside.

 

[tjoenn]

So I found an old bottle of Liquid Leather from Eastman and tried to apply it sparingly... but I felt like I was feeding a hungry baby so I probably used more than recommended, the leather was extremely dry and it was amazing to see the difference. It was like the leather just relaxed, the fairly sharp creases became softer and the light color where the leather was worn, looks much nicer. Before I didn't feel like there was any grain to speak of, but after the treatment, it looks quite nice, the paper-feel is completely gone. Here are some pictures, top ones show one sleeve treated, the other one untreated, the third one show one side of zipper treated, the other untreated. However, bad ligthing and crappy camera doesn't really show the difference that well. I'm a happy camper though...

 

[Silver Surfer]

ya dun gud. now leave it be, for a while. if you are happy with the results, then ya may consider reapplying, and perhaps doing the whole jacket at some point.

 

[tjoenn]

So I did my whole jacket twice now, probably used about a quarter of the bottle of conditioner. It felt like painting a house in the desert that hadn't been painted for 50 years, the leather just sucked up the conditioner. There were two really annoying, hard creases between the pockets that I got rid of, they're now folds... here are a few pictures of the jacket now. I am still amazed that the leather that used to feel very "papery", feels like leather now. I am now very happy with my two originals, however, I'm not doing anything to my Cable Raincoat

 

[B-Man2]

• Tjoenn
• Nothing more needs to be done to that one, it looks great!

 

[Pilot]

1000% agree...superb job.