Aero leather samples comparison

[Furrowson]

Greetings Loungers,

Having been told that a new batch of samples were sent out today, the first batch arrived. Bloody typical, but I'm not complaining.

I decided to test and compare them. To do this I dragged them across the length of one brick on the wall of my balcony with my thumb pressed firmly into the back. I tried to do this consistently but obviously can't ensure that I did. I repeated the test with the dark seal Vicenza as I thought I was too soft first time.

I also received 3 lining samples: what I think is Melton wool, tartan wool (Riever I'm assuming) and cotton tartan. I tested these in exactly the same way. I accidentally didn't upload the pics of the results except for the melton swatch, but if anyone really wants them i'll provide them. The two tartan samples ripped clean through and performed pretty much identically. A less severe test may show differences, but after trying to rip them by hand they seem very similar. The cotton is marginally more resistant to scissors. The Melton laughed in the face of the brick work as only the felty outer layer was scuffed up and the twill base remains completely intact. Impressive. The tartans left me with a sore thumb. It shall not be forgotten.

Regarding the leathers, after scratching I did my best to repair them with the thumb that smote them (and a bit of saliva). Jerky performed worst, oil pull best and dark seal along with black VIcenza a surprisingly close joint 2nd.
The oil pull barely shows any mark at all now. It's amazing. The regular CXL showed off its pull up qualities too and just about shows a visible scratch, but nothing I'd worry about. The tumbled CXL still shows a pretty clear mark that I would be a little miffed about. Seal Vicenza also performed very well and I couldn't be bothered with russet as light was fading and I wanted to get some pics.

Jerky came last across the board for me. Don't like the feel, the look or the durability. I would be obsessing over finding a perfectly matching polish or something to fix my jacket with if that happened to a jerky jacket of mine. I can see how it would suit A2 style jackets though, it's just not for me.

I was surprised by a few things. One was the difference between the tumbled and regular CXL. Tumbled is so much softer while regular is as rigid and uforgiving as a couple of my ex's, but at least it has character. I thought the tumbled sample was mid weight at first. The colour is darker and deeper, though this is probably due to batch difference. To all those who say that it's lighter or thinner than regular CXL, it isn't. Even Aero say it's exactly the same stuff, but it's been tumbled. The structure (cross-section) looks less packed, like it's expanded a bit as the leather's been worked, which is what I'd expect. This might be why the healing pull up effect is reduced.

The colour and pretty much everything about the oil pull is really, really nice. It's marginally thicker than Vicenza and feels more substantial in the hand. It wants to bounce back more when you scrunch it up. It's not a really strong pull up; the regular CXL shows a lot more pull up when creased, which is where the renowned character somes from I think. You can actually see the wax surface coming off when you scratch the CXL. The tumbled doesn't do this as much at all. If it's lots of creasy character you're after go with regular CXL, or maybe battered horse but I don't have samples of that.

Another surprise was the performance of Vicenza in the test. The black and dark seal show almost no mark and with black you'd have boot polish to cover up anything really major. I was disappointed by dark seal. It lacks depth. Black is awesome, russet is very pretty and will show the best patina I reckon, while seal is a very nice nutty brown, but also lacks the depth of CXL and oil pull. I expected them to be stiffer and they do feel a little insubstantial to me, but still very nice. Quite a bit of variability in grain, but all very nice.

I could prattle on about this all day, but I'll leave that to the rest of you. Later I will be performing water/spillage tests, the results of which I will post here.

Oh and the smell! They all smell frankly intoxicating, the jerky less intensely but still nice.

Best

Furrowson

Leather Post Test

• Furrowson
• Dec 7, 2016

Leather Post Test Colour 2

• Furrowson
• Dec 7, 2016

Oil Pull Post Test

• Furrowson
• Dec 7, 2016

CXL Post Test

• Furrowson
• Dec 7, 2016

Leather Post Repair

• Furrowson
• Dec 7, 2016

Post Repair Flash

• Furrowson
• Dec 7, 2016

Leather Back Sides

• Furrowson
• Dec 7, 2016

Linings Post Test

• Furrowson
• Dec 7, 2016

 

[Harris HTM]

What I did with the swatches I received, except for a similar abrasion test, I also put them under the shower. First for a while with light flow (as the typical dutch rain) to see how water slips off. And then I got them totally wet and let dry naturally.

 

[Furrowson]

I'll bare that in mind Harris. I've been pondering the wet test and think I have come up with something informative. We shall see.

I forgot to mention that I added the photo of the back sides to show how the top coat differs from the body of the leather and how this might affect wear.

 

[kronos77]

How dark is your oil pull sample? I was a little disappointed that mine was so dark. I really would like a mid-brown. I am told the batches can differ and that you can request darker or lighter hides, but I wonder wha is typical.

 

[Furrowson]

It's almost the same colour as the seal vicenza; slightly lighter. I would call it chocolate brown and I was also surprised at how dark it is, but I love the colour and that it isn't totally matte.

I'm sure if you asked for lighter hides you'd get what you're after. Alternatively, go for russet Vicenza. I'm not a fan of light brown leather, but that one is very nice and would darken with age.

 

[Fanch]

Well that was an interesting torture test. My two linings of choice are cotton drill and moleskin, both durable with a nice hand. I am very partial to seal brown and black Vicenzas, less so dark brown Vicenza. No experience with oil pull although your sample sounds nice. Batches of CXL HH will vary in thickness and flexibility. I had a black tumbled FQHH HWM that was beyond stiff and inflexible. My brown FQHH Teamster is flexible and has a nice drape. You pay your money and hope for the best.

 

[Furrowson]

Well that was an interesting torture test. My two linings of choice are cotton drill and moleskin, both durable with a nice hand. I am very partial to seal brown and black Vicenzas, less so dark brown Vicenza. No experience with oil pull although your sample sounds nice. Batches of CXL HH will vary in thickness and flexibility. I had a black tumbled FQHH HWM that was beyond stiff and inflexible. My brown FQHH Teamster is flexible and has a nice drape. You pay your money and hope for the best.

Glad you found it interesting Fanch.

The cotton tartan seems quite thin to me, so I don't think it's made of the same cotton drill, is it? I've been interested in moleskin too, but hear it is rather warm. Wonder if it's warmer than Melton wool... Melton is pretty resistant to water too. I ran it under a tap and it takes a lot of water to soak through to the other side.

I just did a '5-seconds-under-tap-test' (5SUTT) to test the different leathers' water repellence, followed by soaking and (now) drying. Oil pull did almost comically badly at the 5SUTT by eagerly absorbing water, the others were excellent, especially regular CXL.
At the end of the soak both CXL types were less water logged, particularly regular CXL. Of the others, oil pull seemed like it had taken on more water, but both were pretty drenched. I didn't test jerky. I soaked them all weighted down together until they ceased to float upon removing the weight.

Looking at them now the reg CXL is nearly dry while the Vicenza and oil pull are cold and wet.

So, already it seems you really can't have it all with one leather. So you must prioritise what you want or just take the one you least want to part with. I'm considering a Melton lining to keep me dry(ish) in an oil pull Maxwell.

Cheers

Furrowson

 

[rocketeer]

My personal view here. I just bought an Aero jacket in Vicenza. Though I never had a sample I did see a jacket at the factory made using Vicenza(The Blizzard) Having had a Front quarter horse Highwayman I knew roughly what that skin was like wet, dry, warm or cold, and knew it would be too heavy with the linings I chose.
Anyway, with so many hides, heavy horse mid weight horse, Vicenza and all the cow hides as well I chose the Vicenza due to it's lighter than front quarter properties. I did not even bother to take samples home.
The only hide I would be wary of is the oil pull. It has such a funny name even I had to decide on that, someone at Aero explained the properties long before I ordered anything so I knew this was not for me. In fact I had some similar boots that were semi shiny, Grease look was what they were called and acted exactly the same.
Be careful with all these skins available, I think it may spoil your enjoyment if all the tests you make do not meet your expectations. No need to do water tests in my opinion and I never will. Why?
My advice is look at them, feel them and decide your style and leave it at that. There is far to much information available these days, it just gets folks asking these questions again and again. Were there no forums to ask, you may very well get the samples, order the jacket and enjoy it for 20-30 years just as I have.
Whatever you do, enjoy your jacket
JTee

 

[kronos77]

Furrowson, I don't know where you live, but if really cold weather is a concern, put the samples in the freezer for half an hour and see how they react. CXL stiffens more than most.

Or like Rocketeer said, don't worry about it.

 

[Fanch]

CXL leather which is chrome tanned and packed with waxes will always have far greater water resistance than veg tanned oil pull, jerky, or Vicenza. I suspect any jacket lined with melton wool will be exceptionally warm. Personally I wouldn't want anything quite that heavy for a lining as I live in Texas.

I have a brown brown jerky Mulligan and black goatskin Maxwell, both lined with cotton drill. I actually prefer my Mulligan over my Maxwell because of the large cargo pockets on the Mulligan, although I left off the chest pocket on both. I much prefer Vicenza over jerky; I chose jerky at the time since Vicenza was not available for me then.

Cotton tartan is nothing like cotton drill. It is my understanding that cotton tartan has a tendency to show wear fairly quickly, whereas both cotton drill and moleskin are tough and durable. I suspect melton wool would be durable too.

If I didn't already have a Mulligan, I would probably order one with seal Vicenza lined with brown or olive cotton drill. Nothing drapes quite like Vicenza. If i lived in a cold wet climate, maybe brown FQHH lined with either moleskin or melton?

 

[Furrowson]

My personal view here. I just bought an Aero jacket in Vicenza. Though I never had a sample I did see a jacket at the factory made using Vicenza(The Blizzard) Having had a Front quarter horse Highwayman I knew roughly what that skin was like wet, dry, warm or cold, and knew it would be too heavy with the linings I chose.
Anyway, with so many hides, heavy horse mid weight horse, Vicenza and all the cow hides as well I chose the Vicenza due to it's lighter than front quarter properties. I did not even bother to take samples home.
The only hide I would be wary of is the oil pull. It has such a funny name even I had to decide on that, someone at Aero explained the properties long before I ordered anything so I knew this was not for me. In fact I had some similar boots that were semi shiny, Grease look was what they were called and acted exactly the same.
Be careful with all these skins available, I think it may spoil your enjoyment if all the tests you make do not meet your expectations. No need to do water tests in my opinion and I never will. Why?
My advice is look at them, feel them and decide your style and leave it at that. There is far to much information available these days, it just gets folks asking these questions again and again. Were there no forums to ask, you may very well get the samples, order the jacket and enjoy it for 20-30 years just as I have.
Whatever you do, enjoy your jacket
JTee

A very good point you highlight there, Rocketeer. Indeed it isn't good to get obsessive and overly scrutinise all the choices we have here. For me doing these tests is fun and I like to communicate it to others who might be interested. I suppose my way of doing things is also partly a result of my scientific background, but I won't go on about that
Also, for me it is important that the jacket is fairly water resistant, i.e. will keep me pretty dry in the rain and not suffer damage. I would have been disappointed if I'd ordered it in oil pull, worn it in the rain and got drenched. I had failed to find a reliable description of oil pull in this regard, so for me the test was useful and I hope it will be to others. It's also nice to know that the other leathers are fine in this regard.

But you're right in that, when all's said and done, they're all great leathers and simply choosing the one you like the look/feel of will leave you with a great jacket that will look even better with age. There is no need to get stressed out over making sure you get the perfect one.

I see your point with oil pull. You need to know what it is before choosing it. It won't keep you dry and it will pick up marks and blemishes (I wouldn't say stains, or scratches; I don't have a word for it) seemingly from nowhere, but this is clearly part of the intended look and I think it looks great, but it wouldn't suit a classic jacket like a Maxwell/30s half belt IMO. I think a Plainsman in oil pull would have a cool, roguish vibe about it and flight jackets obviously suit it well. Like I've said, it's pretty much impervious to abrasion, great colour, smell and feel, so it's got a lot going for it. I need to move somewhere drier obviously.

After drying out all the cuttings, they're all in perfectly good condition. The only one that looks a bit different is oil pull, but it wouldn't be a problem to me. It may have contracted a bit, but I'm not sure. It would easily stretch out again if so. If it was my jacket I'd still be happy with it. CXL dries out freakishly quickly, Vicenza obviously took on more water and took longer to dry as a result, but still reasonably fast especially compared to oil pull, which is essentially a leather sponge.

@kronos77 I live in the Netherlands and it's not mighty cold here and when it does get really cold I'd likely reach for my winter coat. Thanks for the tip, but I've done enough testing I think and I know the CXL will stiffen up more than the others. If anyone really wants to know what happens to all of them I'm happy to oblige.

@Fanch I think it is the chrome tanning of CXL especially that makes it so water resistant. In my limited understanding, during tanning the tannins (veg tanning) or chromium ions (chrome tanning) displace the water around the collagen fibres and stay there. Chrome does this more effectively than tannin for whatever reason (I think it's partly due to the charge and smaller size of the chromium ions) making the leather itself less able to absorb water. I'm sure the stuffing/coating with wax and oil helps too, but I think between the CXL and Vicenza it's really the tanning that makes the difference. I am no authority on this, but that's how it seems to me. They'd both keep you pretty dry in the rain anyway.

You may have swung me over to the Mulligan actually. I love the look of both and it would be jolly nice to be able to keep stuff in my pockets. The Mulligan's 'utility' look might be more me than the slick Maxwell. The fit of both is the same right? I read somewhere that the Mulligan is longer, but don't think that's the case. I did manage to find a pic of your Mulligan and it looks fantastic. If you've got any more photos of your Maxwell or Mulligan on hand I'd very much like to see them. I can't see most of the pics from old threads I'm afraid.

Is moleskin not a bit warm in Texas? If I go with the Mulligan I'd be tempted to take the herringbone tweed it comes with, which is apparently about as warm as moleskin and thinner than melton. Melton would be the ultimate winter work coat/jacket lining imo, but too warm for my purposes. VERY tough and dense, but soft and not overly thick.

Anyway, I'm still stuck in a 4-way tie between Vicenza (black or seal) and tumbled CXL (black or brown). I originally wanted a brown jacket, but a black mulligan/maxwell with brown buttons is very tempting. I wear a black flat cap with brown trim, so it might look the business with black or brown shoes and belt, not that I care much about matching shoes and belt or anything. I'd be happy with any of to be honest, so no drama.

Crumbs, sorry for the mega-post. Just noticed I've waffled tremendously.

Cheers

Furrowson

 

[rocketeer]

Crumbs, sorry for the mega-post. Just noticed I've waffled tremendously.

Cheers

Furrowson

I'm also responsible for a lot of that

 

[El Marro]

Furrowson, I found your leather torture test to be an interesting read! I never thought to do any of those things with the leather samples I received but I'm glad that somebody did and then wrote about it. Thanks.

 

[Furrowson]

Furrowson, I found your leather torture test to be an interesting read! I never thought to do any of those things with the leather samples I received but I'm glad that somebody did and then wrote about it. Thanks.

Thanks El Marro, that's nice of you to say.

 

[navetsea]

maybe a folding and crumple test, to see how they form and hold creases

 

[Furrowson]

Hi Navetsea,

I can tell you without doing any kind of test that the only one that really shows creases readily is regular CXL. I'm sure all will show creasing eventually with wear.

I've pretty much broken in the reg CXL sample by handling it so it's not like it was new. Before taking the photo I firmly creased each of those samples lengthways, by hand. Left to right: oil pull, reg CXL, tumbled CXL.

You can see a bit of a crease in the reg CXL but when new it really shows each one very clearly.

http://imgur.com/a/c8Wx2
http://imgur.com/a/c8Wx2
After all this I totally understand the appeal of reg CXL. I found myself wanting to handle it and the sample makes a good stress toy. It softens up quicker than expected and in doing so you leave your mark on it. Honestly I would be a bit sad to part with my little sample haha. Ridiculous but true.

Anyway, nuff said.

Cheers

Furrowson