IHSB-BIGBUCK-BLK - Black Deerskin Western Shirt - The Big Buck

[Chap]

@Oaktavia said in IHSB-BIGBUCK-BLK - Black Deerskin Western Shirt - The Big Buck:

@louisbosco thanks dude! I have been wearing it ton since the party. It fits snugly over my Type 1, its perfect for that sort of layering.

One thing I was wondering about, it seems as the black fades away, the natural color is revealed on the outside. I don't see any brown like the photo examples of Haraki's. I am wondering if it first fades to the natural light yellow/tan and then from there darkens to brown with patina? @Giles is this correct?

The leather becomes more and more close to the undyed, natural color in areas with more wear off. The black dye becomes brown with sunlight, water, sweat, wear time.

It is nothing delicate and needs no special care or treatment, this is hard wearing workwear at its best.

Example of a well worn Austrian Lederhose from the Salzkammergut area that once was black like your shirts.

[goosehd]

@Chap beautiful

[Chap]

@goosehd said in IHSB-BIGBUCK-BLK - Black Deerskin Western Shirt - The Big Buck:

@Chap beautiful

It is, but not mine which is still black as it doesn't get much wear time.

[Oaktavia]

@WhiskeySandwich said in IHSB-BIGBUCK-BLK - Black Deerskin Western Shirt - The Big Buck:

@Oaktavia now you got me curious how its lookin, update?

Here are some photos I just took of my BB. As you can see, there is evo happening all over the place. The black is fading, spots are everywhere, and the natural color of the hide is starting to show through. The right honeycombs are much more faded than the ones ones on the left. I think this is because the texture of the hide is different- the right side has a hairy textured while the left arm is much smoother and softer. Both sides are fading, just at different rates. The contrast is more dramatic in person, the camera dulls it down a bit. The right sleeve cuff is curling quite a bit and I had to curl it back around the other way to flatten it out for one of the photos. I just brushed it gently with a soft boot brush to simply remove pet fur, dust and dander. It's coming along quite nicely I think. Does this look normal as far as evo goes to you @chap?

[Oaktavia]

@Mister_Brue thanks man! I'm just wondering if there is a way to make it look less spotty and more "clean"...part of me only sees the spots as stains and the other part of me just sees it as patina. But I suppose that is what it is.

[Chap]

Amazing @Oaktavia I think fading of that leather is a quite similar to denim and can therefore be very individual.

[indigostiff]

I think there's a difference between a patina and being trashed, and I hope to stay on the former.

[Oaktavia]

@indigostiff i think with time a trashed big buck will become quite the treasure.

[indigostiff]

@Oaktavia I just look at Haraki's BB and wonder how he kept it so clean while attaining such a patina - perhaps he had it professionally cleaned at some point? Having my Pale Rider cleaned made it look much better - with patina / character, but not dirty looking.

[Oaktavia]

@indigostiff said in IHSB-BIGBUCK-BLK - Black Deerskin Western Shirt - The Big Buck:

@Oaktavia I just look at Haraki's BB and wonder how he kept it so clean while attaining such a patina - perhaps he had it professionally cleaned at some point? Having my Pale Rider cleaned made it look much better - with patina / character, but not dirty looking.

I was wondering the same thing about Harakis. There isn't hardly a spot on there. I would love to know the story behind that.

[Jcaz6996]

@Oaktavia mate is looking unreal already, interesting to see how long it takes to look like Haraki’s.

[Jcaz6996]

And how is Haraki’s Brown ? and you can see the Natural colour fading through yours @Oaktavia

[Giles]

You can wash it gently in warm water....Which is what I would do.....I think @Chap and/or @goosehd have done so.....It's basically just Chamois, and see what we do to Chamois washing leathers.......

[Chap]

@Giles exactly but I would use cold water, hand wash, no detergents and recommend a try on and bringing it back to shape before it is completely dry. Mine was a bit out of shape after drying. If you put it on a hanger use one with broad support under the shoulder! Carefully stretch t back to shape during the drying process. No spinning!!! No dryer and no drying close to a radiator.

[Chap]

Oh and with mine the leather was bit stiff after drying and less soft and velvety, it is important to brush it. Sorry that I can't give more updates to mine, not much wear, I got one of the prototypes which is a bit tight for me.

[Chap]

There is a lot of oil (cod liver oil) in this leather (remember the hammers that tumbled the oiled hides @Giles ?) giving it the softness. Washing it with warmer water temperatures means oil will be removed and the leather gets stiff.

[Oaktavia]

@Chap @Giles OK I believe today is a good day for a handwash. I will update when dry. I'm going to reread Dennis's write up he has re: washing.

[Mizmazzle]

@Oaktavia gotta say it’s pretty rad the progress yours has made man. I always thought these would age really slowly, but it seems with a lot of wear they will come along quite nicely!!

I’m super excited to see how the hand wash turns out.

[Oaktavia]

How its going...wow. Lots of brown dye (the turquoise is the wall paint color reflection) is coming off. I was fully expecting black. This may explain why Haraki's shirt turned brown. I suspect the black dye is actually an extremely dark brown. The brown dye was in the tub after the soaking with no agitation. All I had to do was move the shirt a bit to get the dye to move as it is in the photos.

I soaked the BB for 25 minutes in my tub using cold water. I then used a soft bristle brush to super gently loosen dirt and debris. I paid close attention to the front where most of the stains and spots were. I was also careful not to pull the shirt to much out of the water while doing this. I was concerned the weight of the shirt in the water may cause it to pull and stretch. The spots may well still be there, as I was careful not to brush too much or too abrasively. I could feel the oils residing on the leather itself and was careful not to remove this. It was like a slimy film all over the shirt.

After rinsing with the shower head and removing the BB from the tub, it dripped more brown dye. This also surprised me.

Now following Dennis's technique, I have the shirt laid flat on top of several old towels. I then put a towel inside of the shirt so that less of the wet leather was laying on more wet leather. From there, I put another towel on top of the shirt after closing a towel inside the shirt. I put hand towels inside partway into the sleeves and another around the collar. It is now laying like this, sandwiched between towels and more towels. I was sure to lay the leather as flat as possible, to avoid it drying in odd shapes from unwanted folds.

So now we wait. I feel pretty confident about this wash and am optomistic about the results. I hope it all works out and will post again when it is fully dry.

[Giles]

Remember, the "black" dye is just literally painted onto the surface of the natural deerskin....