Aero jacket anomaly

[bumphrey hogart]

Just a quick question to see if anyone has any ideas. I've just been given a used highwayman for my birthday, my brother bought it me for a song but it had a couple of very easily fixed problems which are now solved. The only thing is it seems to be leaving black on whatever it touches, I gave it a coat of neetsfoot and then a coat of Obenaufs just because it seemed very dry, not a huge amount but enough to solve the dryness, it's now a really well worn in great bit of HH. The only thing I can think is that the people my brother got it from thought they'd give it a bit of boot polish or something like that, unless there's another explanation I've not thought of, if it is boot polish how on earth do I remove it without damaging the leather? Any ideas chaps?

 

[Splitcoil]

I'm afraid that's not an anomaly. It's quite normal with their chromium-tanned front quarter horsehide. Eventually the color transfer will be reduced (once a lot of it's already rubbed off on everything else), but it's unlikely ever to go away completely. To slow it down somewhat you can give it a nice buffing all over with a cotton rag, by hand. But that's just the way it is. I have the 'cordovan' fqhh and it's even worse than the black. Much, much worse.

Their mid-weight 'jerky' horsehide, by the way, doesn't have that problem at all. Completely different tanning process. It's lighter, more pliable, less showy, extremely tough, and doesn't suffer from color transfer. My fqhh jacket stays in the closet now, and my mid-weight horse jacket stays in constant rotation.

 

[JanSolo]

Actually too much leather conditioner can increase the colour loss/transfer because some formulas seem to force the dye out of the leather.
As mentioned above, give the jacket a good rub with a soft flanel or cotton t-shirt. Make sure to spare the top stitching.