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Waxing Denim Project (long, pics)

familyman

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familyman

familyman

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This is a copy of a post I originally made over at Style Forum, Minya said it was ok to post it here as well.

There’s been a few mentions on this board about waxed denim jackets, all expensive. I have some experience with Fison waxed canvas hunting gear and have become a big fan of waxed or oiled fabrics in general. A while ago I stumbled on this site http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=smalser&file=articles_368.shtml which gave a recipe for re-waxing a Filson type jacket. Well the wheels started turning and one thing led to another and I decided to attempt a waxed denim jacket on the cheap. This post is going to have a lot of pictures so be patient.

I started with a Pointer Brand raw denim chore coat. I’m a size 38 but sized down to their small which they call a 34-36 and the coat fits very well for what it is. It’s 10oz raw denim that’s not great quality but ends up rather soft when it’s broken it. The color is ok raw, but it washes to a bright blue that isn’t favored very much by people around here. At $28 plus $6 shipping it’s a great piece for a project considering I might end up ruining the coat.

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I did a 2 hour cold soak, but of salt and a brick to keep the coat under water.

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Very blue water, lots of indigo came out.

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Drip dry!

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I let I hang for a few hours and then wore it around the house for two hours to try and set some creases. Damp denim with no shirt on is not comfortable. My nipples still hurt.

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familyman

familyman

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I gathered the supplies for my project. Beeswax, raw linseed oil and turpentine.

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The wax was $11, the others $5 each, so $21 in supplies. I also needed a metal can to cook it in and a paintbrush. I used half a pint of the linseed oil and half pound of beeswax on my grill on low heat. The instructions say to use a double boiler but I didn’t have a pot I wanted to put on my grill and I wasn’t about to cook a can full of flammable materials on my stove inside. It worked quite well. After everything was melted in solution I pulled it off the grill and added half a pint of turpentine to thin the mixture out a bit. I waited until after it was off the grill because turpentine and open flame is a bad mixture. This a probably a good time to mention that not only is the solution making process a bit dangerous but when you’re done the clothing you make is a giant candle. It’s cotton and wax. Be careful.

Time to wax the jacket. Having never done this I just sort of brushed it on. In retrospect I think I would have put the can back on the heat every now and again to keep the mixture more fluid and tried to work slower. Reality was that about when I was taking the pictures it started to thunder and threaten to rain.

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I didn’t get to take as much time as I liked. The finished jacket was shiny and had little blebs of wax on it. It was ugly and really waxy and I was pretty sure I had destroyed the coat.

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familyman

familyman

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I brought the coat into the garage and spent about an hour with a heat gun slowly working the wax mixture into the fabric. This made all the difference in the world. Now it just looked like a damp jacket that reeked of turpentine.

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To do this project you NEED to let hang outside for a while. I did this on Saturday afternoon. By Sunday night the turpentine smell had gone away leaving the jacket smelling fairly pleasantly of beeswax and linseed oil. The jacket has been loosing it’s greasy feel bit by bit and now about 48 hours after the project it just feels waxy and has a really great look forming where the fabric creases. I still wouldn’t put it over anything that I couldn’t get waxy right now. The can of linseed oil says it has a drying time of 2-4 days so I think the finish on the jacket will continue to change and hopefully harden in time.

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That’s it, my waxed denim project. Sorry this was so long and my photography skills suck, but if you have any questions ask away. I had fun and even if it’s never anything more than a work coat then it was worth it to me.

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familyman

familyman

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Right now it's 95 with a heat index of 102 degrees. I'm not going to be wearing this much for a few months at least. One reason I wanted to get this project done now was because of my experiences with my Fislon gear. It seems the longer I've owned it the less greasy it's felt. Now that I've owned it for over a year I don't have any fear of it getting on anything. I'm hoping my jacket responds in a similar manner and is much less likey to make a mess of things by the time it gets cold. Well, as cold as it gets in Houston anyway. I'll put it on a few times a week and wear it when I can but I don't expect much until after Haloween.

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familyman

familyman

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I'll bet 100 years ago you could have travelled the country and picked up a ton of regional recipes for waxing garments. The fishermen on the east coast would have done it slightly different than the loggers out west and so on. Most of that information is probably gone. I'd love to be able to play with waxing fabrics and see how different mixtures would work under different conditions. Even now I'm sure that Barbour does it differently that Filson or anybody else. It's an interesting fabric treatment.

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denimdestroyedmylife

denimdestroyedmylife

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thanks, familyman. the jacket looks so much better after the wax treatment. i was just thinking that the lining for wax jackets make them so much friendlier to wear. did the wax penetrate to the other side much? i know that when you send a barbour coat for rewaxing, they tell you to expect the tartan lining to darken from the wax-----so i imagine that it does its share of seepage. stay away from open flames for a while, man.

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familyman

familyman

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Familyman. May I ask why you did not use the waxing formula made by Filson, Barbour or Belstaff?

$

Filson re-waxing cream is $8.25 for 3 3/4 oz of the stuff. I think barbour is even more expensive. I made over a pint of mix for $10.50 which was enough to wax my jacket and have 4 or 5 oz left over in container for a rainy day. I don't think you'd want to wax a whole raw garment with any of the commercially available stuff.

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familyman

familyman

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thanks, familyman. the jacket looks so much better after the wax treatment. i was just thinking that the lining for wax jackets make them so much friendlier to wear. did the wax penetrate to the other side much? i know that when you send a barbour coat for rewaxing, they tell you to expect the tartan lining to darken from the wax-----so i imagine that it does its share of seepage. stay away from open flames for a while, man.

I'll try to take a picture for you tomorrow. The was soaked through the whole coat where it is a single layer thick. It soaked through about half of the area covered by pockets. I was also thinking that a lining would make the jacket nicer to wear. Maybe an AA hoodie worn permanently as the layer under the jacket? As it is I think I'm going to get a cheap long sleeved shirt to wear for the first few times I really wear the coat around just to act as a catch all for whatever may leak onto my clothes. Maybe in little while the finish will harden and I won't get any staining. I don't really know.

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familyman

familyman

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Just had a thought: If you do it again, you may want to try using white beeswax next time? it's used in cosmetics as it's purer and softer and melts/spreads more easily. I envision it soaking into the material more evenly, somehow.

They actually had white beeswax where I got mine but I decided to go with the more natural variety. I'm not sure if a softer or a harder wax would be better. My first thought is that I might actually like a harder wax that would be less likely to rub off on things. After you melt the wax in the linseed oil and hit the whole thing with a heat gun it soaks right in, that's not as problem. I think my uneven application is an issue as well, if I could apply a layer just thick enough to soak in then it would be perfect, pretty diddicult to do in the garment stage though, easier before it's sewn I'd think.

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chromesquared

chromesquared

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I did a 2 hour cold soak, but of salt and a brick to keep the coat under water.

I let I hang for a few hours and then wore it around the house for two hours to try and set some creases. Damp denim with no shirt on is not comfortable. My nipples still hurt.

FamMan,

Very nice I love DIY stuff with clothes. I was just curious if the only reason you soaked the jacket prior to waxing was to set the creases? Any reason not to do it with a truly raw piece?

Also, if you have any update pics I'd (as well as others I assume) love to see them.

Thanks

N.

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familyman

familyman

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FamMan,

Very nice I love DIY stuff with clothes. I was just curious if the only reason you soaked the jacket prior to waxing was to set the creases? Any reason not to do it with a truly raw piece?

Also, if you have any update pics I'd (as well as others I assume) love to see them.

Thanks

N.

First off, sorry I haven't updated since the beginning.

I've been wearing the jacket on and off all winter. There's not really any update pics to show. It turns out I added too much beeswax and the coat is really soft. It's good I suppose but it doesn't display any of the cracking look that makes waxed cloth so cool looking. It just looks like slightly damp denim. Smells very nice though. :)

I soaked it mostly because I was worried that I'd get stuck with the factory folds as creases. Turns out not to be an issue and I don't think I'd soak it if I did it again. I may recoat the jacket using 1/2 or even 1/4 the beeswax. If I was up north and using the coat in sub freezing conditions I think it would look totally different. Waxing fabric certainly has a bit of art to it.

It does repel water though it isn't waterproof. It will keep you dry from the car to the store, water does bead up on most of it. I think a harder treatment will repel water better as well. Even the Filson stuff isn't completely waterproof.

It was and continues to be a worthwhile project. I'm going to wait for warm weather when I can't wear it any more to redo it.

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metaabuse

metaabuse

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...as long as you plug the aluminum eyelets near the arch :)

I'm thinking about doing this to a pair of the monochrome ones

I'll probably have to wait until my mom goes on vacation in a few months time though

I don't think she would appreciate this kind of shit going on in her house.

at any rate, there will be pictures

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gius

gius

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hi familyman

that's a great job you did

the only thing i'm concerned with is, it's very flammable isn't it? the wax, the turpentine, everything you used it seems... i always thought they would use 'synthetics' to create this look nowadays

i do remember reading about oilskin and 'waxed' cotton --i don't know if they still do that the same way nowadays, probably still called the same only switched to synthetic ingredients

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