Evolution of Leather Goods: Before and After Pictures

[braid]

first of all, emaze and superstar, i am super jealous of your peacemakers. i don't think i can rock that thing to work but maybe someday when i'm old and gray i'll have one too ;-)

i felt left out of the big bulge in my back pocket so i decided to join in...

Red Moon 2000-S

This is after oiling with obenaufs.

[braid]

Here's a question to ponder....

This is the "evolution" of leather goods, however, i don't see any evolution in here. Most people, including myself, have at least oiled their wallets/belts/etc if not sun tanned them.

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of wabi-sabi? Certainly sun tanning does, but what about oil? I applied it to protect and prolong it's life but had no idea i'd be breaking the wabi-sabi code.

thoughts?

[wingnutsglory]

I've also been reading a lot of the pages of this thread and thought the same. My feeling is that if the oiling is done as a protectant, then the color change is just a (probably happy) by-product. However, if it's done to achieve an out-of-the-box "vintage" look, it seems contradictory to most of the ideas in these threads, especially this one (evolution). Most people here, myself included, seem to strive to obtain raw denim and break it in themselves in a very precise way. So why slap on the oil and throw it in the sun?

I'm all for the natural leather and raw denim and letting them become whatever they will without any special help.

[rome1]

^^ big ups Braid nice wallet.

might I ask how you went about getting your hands on one?

or just Pm me about it.

[James Vincent]

Phrases like 'untanned' and 'raw' are used to describe these leathers, but they must have some stage of preserving? Is there a more technical name for the unfinished/sealed surface? Or is it just a light coloured leather that shows wear faster?

[ang_kangkong]

Here's a question to ponder....

This is the "evolution" of leather goods, however, i don't see any evolution in here. Most people, including myself, have at least oiled their wallets/belts/etc if not sun tanned them.

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of wabi-sabi? Certainly sun tanning does, but what about oil? I applied it to protect and prolong it's life but had no idea i'd be breaking the wabi-sabi code.

So why slap on the oil and throw it in the sun?

I'm all for the natural leather and raw denim and letting them become whatever they will without any special help.

It's recommended by the folks who make the wallets. Also, although it darkens them up, the tanning and oiling don't give them that vintage look. Only long use does that. I think that the reason there's not too much evolution going on is that over the last few pages, it's been people's recent purchases that have been going up. If you look at the beginning of the thread, there are excellent pics of months old wallets. Naoto took his down, but his Silverman was a year and a half old, and was way darker than any of the recent ones.

Phrases like 'untanned' and 'raw' are used to describe these leathers, but they must have some stage of preserving? Is there a more technical name for the unfinished/sealed surface? Or is it just a light coloured leather that shows wear faster?

Unstained, maybe?

[Chicken]

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of wabi-sabi? Certainly sun tanning does, but what about oil? I applied it to protect and prolong it's life but had no idea i'd be breaking the wabi-sabi code.

thoughts?

if you are thinking wabi sabi is some kind of a code, rule or law that will make you cool if you followed it or uncool if you broke it, you might be missing a lot of its principles.

perhaps one of the ideas of wabi sabi is to appreciate nature, but if it's all about nature, then we should be sitting around being pure observers. we should just watch an animal die, rot and become part of the earth without producing things like leather goods from it.

but since we're humans, we put our hands in manipulating nature. and hopefully, we could do so in ways that we celebrate nature, and not get lost in the illusion as if we have created anything that wasn't already there.

so where do we draw the line? how much "hand" could we put into a work without spoiling its original nature? perhaps there is no one answer.

[emaze]

u r one wise Chicken...

[wingnutsglory]

Phrases like 'untanned' and 'raw' are used to describe these leathers, but they must have some stage of preserving? Is there a more technical name for the unfinished/sealed surface? Or is it just a light coloured leather that shows wear faster?

I haven't seen the raw, and untanned is kind of a misnomer. In leather-making, tanning is a big part of the process of converting skin to leather (soaked in tannins, not sun-tanned; the latter is what a lot of people do to initially darken their leather).

I don't have one of the wallets, but of the belts I've purchased (one from leathergoodsconnection and a SC Garrison), they seem to be treated and I haven't found any instructions on necessary after-care. I think it's a good idea to treat leather with conditioner occasionally, but all out-of-the-box leather I've seen has been ready to go as is. Incidentally, sun-tanning actually breaks leather down (UV rays are no good).

It's recommended by the folks who make the wallets. Also, although it darkens them up, the tanning and oiling don't give them that vintage look. Only long use does that. I think that the reason there's not too much evolution going on is that over the last few pages, it's been people's recent purchases that have been going up. If you look at the beginning of the thread, there are excellent pics of months old wallets. Naoto took his down, but his Silverman was a year and a half old, and was way darker than any of the recent ones.

Unstained, maybe?

I agree, but it depends on how you classify the vintage look. I'm just looking back through the history of the thread and the most recent posts seem to be all about oiling and suntanning vs. "evolution" through "natural" wear.

if you are thinking wabi sabi is some kind of a code, rule or law that will make you cool if you followed it or uncool if you broke it, you might be missing a lot of its principles.

perhaps one of the ideas of wabi sabi is to appreciate nature, but if it's all about nature, then we should be sitting around being pure observers. we should just watch an animal die, rot and become part of the earth without producing things like leather goods from it.

but since we're humans, we put our hands in manipulating nature. and hopefully, we could do so in ways that we celebrate nature, and not get lost in the illusion as if we have created anything that wasn't already there.

so where do we draw the line? how much "hand" could we put into a work without spoiling its original nature? perhaps there is no one answer.

[Cameland]

I know that RM sdSD are treated with a vegetable tannin to preserve it and stop it from rotting. So yup, the correct term is "unstained"

[fadingblue]

is there any way to someway cleans those dark stains that appear on one side of the wallet?

this is what im talking about:

this isnt mine but my wallet is barely about 2 weeks old and its starting to show this on one side

[knucks]

Ordered the cream/tan one. Excited to receive it

[Bobbejaan]

it seems everyone is upgrading their wallet to something nice leather japanese wallet..

after a couple of weeks. Still want to tan it a bit more. and get myself a bottle of obenaufs. Does anyone know if you can get this in the netherlands.

[Cameland]

Please don't use that on your RM bobbejaan. Just get it in the sun for another week. At the very least, send Naoto a PM before you add any oils to your wallet.

Oh and apprently you can clean your wallet with drbronners to remove some of the indigo stains. I guess you could try saddle soap as well.

[Chponglasia]

is there any way to someway cleans those dark stains that appear on one side of the wallet?

this is what im talking about:

this isnt mine but my wallet is barely about 2 weeks old and its starting to show this on one side

I'd start with that cleaner that Obenauf's makes, though I've never actually used it myself.

Also, I've noticed that wallets that have been well tanned and then oiled seem to stain considerably less, including my KC's, which at about a month old barely shows any sign of indigo.

[braid]

Please don't use that on your RM bobbejaan. Just get it in the sun for another week. At the very least, send Naoto a PM before you add any oils to your wallet.

why are you suggesting he do something harmful like exposure to UV light and not do something beneficial like obenauf's oil?

[the_state]

mmmm my hr-01 (rrc) is leaving japan in a few days. i can't wait.

[Chponglasia]

why are you suggesting he do something harmful like exposure to UV light and not do something beneficial like obenauf's oil?

Here are the the instructions on the KC's website about how to "complete" the leather, which includes both sun tanning and oiling. I can't imagine that they would advocate something that's harmful to their products. Right?

[Blackplatano]

I just ordered the sugarcane belt yesterday on rakuten.

How long does it usually take to arrive and how much is the shipping?

[hollaforadolla]

I just ordered the sugarcane belt yesterday on rakuten.

How long does it usually take to arrive and how much is the shipping?

shouldnt you know the shipping? shipping from japan is ridiculously fast. received my package in 3 days from the mainland. im located in california

[Dick Danger]

$28 and - it depends

[Blackplatano]

ok...i didn't know the shipping because it didn't come out in my check out statement.

[englandmj7]

This may have been discussed before, but I went to Kinokuniya today and they had this fucking amazing Japanese magazine called "Leather Work" or something similar to that. Anyway, it had thousands of pics of Red Moon, KC, etc. pics of the workshops where they are made, etc. etc. Pretty nice.

[braid]

Here are the the instructions on the KC's website about how to "complete" the leather, which includes both sun tanning and oiling. I can't imagine that they would advocate something that's harmful to their products. Right?

they also say to use mink oil which has been regarded as unwise in this thread.

to each their own, and in the end it probably doesn't make a difference whether you sun bathe or not. it does dry the leather...

to me it seems the same as sand papering your jeans...

[Cameland]

why are you suggesting he do something harmful like exposure to UV light and not do something beneficial like obenauf's oil?

I say this because on basically every Japanese leather brand website they suggest to sun-tan and then use mink oil. This includes RM, KC's and Spirit Winds. I've also had a well informed friend recommend this to many individuals on another forum.

Thats all.

[Chponglasia]

to me it seems the same as sand papering your jeans...

But Samurai, Eternal, and SDA do not RECOMMEND sand papering your jeans.

[wingnutsglory]

ok...i didn't know the shipping because it didn't come out in my check out statement.

us customs is the rub.

[Chicken]

brand new:

[Chicken]

with a little tan and oil:

[mrpenguin354]

Damn that leather looks THICK!