Does leather burn?

[Twit]

Where on earth did this take place? I know a far few iffy places across london as I work there every day, but I have never heard anything like that!! Really strange!!

 

[Mike K.]

Return to store.
Ask salesperson to extend bare arm.
Hold lighter underneath arm.
Wait for charring and exclamation.
Proceed to correct dumb salesperson on the flammability of leather.

 

[Wil Tam]

?????

I can always claim it's a bullet hole to show how tough I am. It was rude but that was not the worst experience I had in London (came accross a drug den where I ignored the temtation to question and frighten the people faking being a PI).

not to be rude ... but how old are you?!

----------------
Now playing: Curtis Mayfield - Pusherman
via FoxyTunes

 

[PuLpO]

Strange title, but let me explain.

Last week I was in Oxford Street in London. I was wearing a grey Stetson Chatham with a brown leather jacket in the same vague shape as an A2. I was trying to look smart enough for the concert I was attending later, trying to copy an old look and not look like Indy, hence grey rather than brown fedora.

I walked past a shop with fedoras on sale. As I rarely see hat shops I went in. The hats were all cheap wool ones but the shop also had many leather jackets.

I was looking at one when a shop assisstant came up to me. He claimed that my jacket was fake leather and that he could prove it (I knew 100% that mine was real leather). He touched it with his lighter and it went black where he touched it. He claimed that real leather doesn't burn. He touched his leather jackets with his lighter and there was no result, possibly because his were black and soot wouldn't show up. I looked at his jacket and came to the conclusion that it was plastic and mine was real leather. I then knew that the he was a scammer and not to be trusted. I then asked if he had an A2 jacket. After I described what that was he showed me lots of jackets, none of which were anything like an A2. I then left.

So is it true that real leather does not burn or is that a lie?

And also, where my jacket was heated, it went black and shrank a bit. I stretched it back with my hands but how do I get rid of the black mark?

All on Earth is able to burn it is only a question how high is the temperature.

I had made a Test for you.

no i didnt .


20 Yers ago i had let say not enough or tooooo much pints, so i well sleep near by a fire with my leather jacket out, some one kicked my jacket into or near by the fire the result you will see in the pic



Stephan

 

[avedwards]

not to be rude ... but how old are you?!

I'm sixteen (OK a bit young for vintage styles but I like them anyway). I was not going around the seedy parts of London, the place happened to be right by a public car park so I couldn't help noticing it. And I did not go in or anything, I avoid these sort of places.

 

[avedwards]

Where on earth did this take place? I know a far few iffy places across london as I work there every day, but I have never heard anything like that!! Really strange!!

Strangely enough a shop in Oxford Street, which I though would have been a more respectable area.

 

[Madcap72]

I'm sixteen

Well that explains why you didn't pop the guy.

Though I know plenty of 16 year olds that would have stove in the dudes jaw.

Consider this, if your jacket HAD been fake, and his lighter too hot, it could have melted to your skin and burned you pretty bad.

Turn about's fair play you should have held a lighter to his jackets.

 

[Creeping Past]

You need to contact the trading standards people at your local authority at least. If he's done this to you he'll have done it to others and he can't be allowed to do it again.

He also needs to pay compensation for causing damage to your jacket.

 

[Macheath]

I'm sixteen (OK a bit young for vintage styles but I like them anyway). I was not going around the seedy parts of London, the place happened to be right by a public car park so I couldn't help noticing it. And I did not go in or anything, I avoid these sort of places.

C'mon, you well know that it's never too early to be a discerning dresser.

I'm with the others here, though, on somehow reporting this schmuck. Do it anonymously if you can and you think it would help, but in any case, that rube needs to learn respect for others' property.

 

[bobbyball]

I have a M422a (G1 style) jacket by Edmund Church and there is scarring from a burn on one of the pockets. Whilst not severe it may have come into contact with a very hot metal surface and become scorched. Goatskin is very hardy stuff but it is a skin all the same so will react like any natural material. The results on the goat is that the burned area is a little stiff – almost like scar tissue.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

AV I hadn't realized you were 16. Maybe a little perspective is in order. This could be a learning experience; for example listen to your instincts. It appears you had a sense that this place was seedy. You went in anyway. You got a hot foot(er jacket). Next time don't be such a pinhead.

Get burned up over the situation, anybody would, but choose your battles. It is easy to listen or take advice from nameless, faceless, disembodied sages on the internet, however, seek counsel from those who love you and place your welfare above all else.

Mr. Torch is obviously a person of poor judgment. You could have suffered a much graver fate than a singed jacket had you reacted instead of thinking to seek advice. Good for you.

I am not suggesting you let this go, but, ask yourself how important this really is. If it is very important than alert those who are empowered to take action. If not just learn from the experience

 

[cloudspotter]

congrats

during my service time, a comrade of mine burnt in a car ablazed and his biker jacket (normal leather stuff from average biker store) burnt half away and injured him nearly lethal. that's why i like HFQ so much - it just takes longer to burn away.

by the way: plastic leather sometimes tend to ablaze completely in seconds depending on the quality and purpose. ever imagined how it looks to peel burnt, plastic melted flesh from raw bones?

the shopkeeper must be completely crazy - a really dangerous person

 

[Lone_Ranger]

Leather is water resistant, fire resistant, abrasion resistant & windproof.

Which is why pilots would wear leather jackets back before Nomex, and other materials were invented. It resists fire, and doesn't soak up the oil & fuel coming back from the engine, into the open cockpit. And, why it's still used, for protection for motorcycle riding.


Note: the use of "fire resistant," and not "fire proof"


cloudspotter, sorry to hear about your friend. But, I can only wonder what the part of his body that wasn't protected by the leather jacket looked like. I remember hearing a story of a UN worker that was doused with gasoline by a refugee, and was set on fire. He was saved by the leather jacket he was wearing. Then again, it's resistant. The leather can protect you in a quick flash fire, but it's not fool proof. It depends on how long the exposure is....

 

[Caity Lynn]

I'm sixteen (OK a bit young for vintage styles but I like them anyway).

Hush your mouth!!! There is no such thing as too young to dress well.
(This coming from another sixteen year old)

 

[Black Prince]

Any chance of naming and shaming the shop? It'd be good to know it to avoid it.

 

[RondoHatton]

Mr. Window, meet Mr. Brick.

 

[ABrew]

you sir have poise beyond your years. If someone tried that on me I would treat his jewels as a speed bag. At 16 I probably would have thrown a display at him.

 

[avedwards]

Just to get things into perspective, this was Oxford Street, not a seedy part of London (the earlier mentioned drug den which I did not enter was somewhere else). So I was naturally not as cautious as I would have been in Limehouse (no offence to the area but it looks dodgy in The Voice of Terror).

And secondly, the reason I am not too stressed over this is that the person used a cheap lighter for a few seconds not a flame thrower. The jacket is not ruined, there is only a mark. Unfortunately I can't remember the shop's name but I know it was on Oxford Street near where you turn the corner to get to Mayfair.

And while I'm 16, I'm not your steriotypical British "YOB" teenager (which is why I'm talking on this site). I don't resort to violence other than self defence and at no point in my encounter did I feel threatened.

 

[avedwards]

AV I hadn't realized you were 16. Maybe a little perspective is in order. This could be a learning experience; for example listen to your instincts. It appears you had a sense that this place was seedy.

This place wasn't seedy, it just looked like a shop selling cheap hats and some other cheap clothing. I didn't have a bad feeling then, I went in because I wanted to pass time while waiting for other shops to open (it was Sunday morning).

 

[blacklagoon]

Good request about naming and shaming the shop! I think we would all appreciate knowing the name of the shop,and especially a decent description of the shop assistant who did this to your jacket,so we can either avoid the shop,or,at least avoid the shop assistant if we do go in there.If i had to go in the shop,because they stocked a unique item,i would be able to keep an eye on the crazy shop assistant,and request another shop assistant deals with me.