I need a little help / advise

[Monitor]

Acetone might soften leather in itself, too. Anything that eats away at the fibers will in general affect the pliability. I'm pretty sure they use some aggressive acids during tanning to create super soft leather & I don't see why this couldn't have been done afterwards.

Either way, though, I wouldn't worry too much about it because nothing you can subject the jacket to at home can even come close to what it has to go through during the process of tanning so your jacket will be just fine.

 

[TLW '90]

I am training a collar on an used shirt styled leather jacket I just got. Robust super thick leather, shirt style collar so I get the discomfort part. But they are very trainable. You can use a barrier cloth between the clip and the leather but these guys are made to last so. The bigger clips are actually softer bite so I prefer those over the smaller ones. Once the back of the collar is more rolled back it's very comfy.

View attachment 466987

I will probably get a pack of binder clips and begin training the leather after I condition it.
I could probably just use the plastic spring clamps I have in my leather working box too I suppose.

 

[TLW '90]

I did a little test to see if I could now get some conditioner into the leather and it drank a drop of warm Obenauf's right up.
That's the result I was hoping for.

 

[TLW '90]

I used my air compressor ( inflating the collar for air circulation ) and a little gentle heat from my heat gun on low to get the collar dried.

With th collar dry and ready for conditioning it basically looks no different.
It has a little less sheen than the rest of the jacket, but the finish was never particularly shiny so it's barely noticeable.

The difference is pretty subtle really.

 

[TLW '90]

I know it is going to depend on thickness and leather, but what kind of time ( generally) would I be looking at to train the collar ?

I'm just wonderinf because I would rather just work the collar with my hands while I'm watching TV aftee work than leave it clamped and wait.
I basically have zero patience , I will never be able to forget about the jacket and just let it sit.

I've conditioned the collar with as much Obenauf's as I could get the leather to take, and have just been working the collar with my hands.
Working the Obenauf's in and just working the collar in general after it dried.
I'm sure there are better conditioners for a jacket, but I have it, don't mind the smell, and it doesn't irritate my skin.

 

[TLW '90]

I have been shaping and training the collar since I last posted in this thread, and it is noticeably more comfortable now.

I just hope the work I did on it doesn't end up being for nothing if / when I can ever get ahold of a mouton collar for it.