Lost Worlds’ founder Stuart interviewed

[Seb Lucas]

There are some images from Meridian like the snake bit horse and swinging the babies by the ankles and smashing their heads against rocks that will be forever etched in my brain.
I didn’t check how this turned to McCarthy but The Road is the second greatest love story of all time.

Hmm, that particular babies trope has been recycled in most wartime propaganda since the Crimean. It's in the Bible too. The Road was readable but I wouldn't recommend it myself. What's is the greatest love story of all time?

I'm actually curious about Lost Worlds goatskin - is it super thick and inflexible? I have never seen it or heard it described by anyone.

 

[oneterrifichog]

I have owned 2 LW Goatskins. One was the Suburban and the other was a J-23. The Goatskin was a decent medium thickness and maleable from the first. They were both rain resistant and the J-23 actually was used going across country twice. I had the black quilted lining in both which uses thick satin nylon with medium padding which was comfortable and tough but not overly warm which is exactly what I needed for normal use on the bike or in the case of the Suburban for business. Eventually I moved away from the 2 jackets in favor of horsehide simply because I wanted Lost Worlds Horsehide.
I would recommend their goatskin for someone looking for LW quality in a comfortable leather. Be aware goat does not seem to gain patina like horsehide. Here's a shot in Carson City, Nevada after riding across country from Tennessee a couple of years ago.

 

[El Marro]

I'm actually curious about Lost Worlds goatskin - is it super thick and inflexible? I have never seen it or heard it described by anyone.

I have an LW G-1 that I picked up off the bay. It is the thickest of all of my goat skin jackets but it is buttery soft and quite flexible. I do not expect it will show any patina nor aging for many decades to come if ever.

 

[Bfd70]

Hmm, that particular babies trope has been recycled in most wartime propaganda since the Crimean. It's in the Bible too. The Road was readable but I wouldn't recommend it myself. What's is the greatest love story of all time?

I'm actually curious about Lost Worlds goatskin - is it super thick and inflexible? I have never seen it or heard it described by anyone.

Haven’t read the bible, not on my list. Love in the time of cholera.
If I may ask, do you have kids? I found The Road a brilliant description of parenthood.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Haven’t read the bible, not on my list. Love in the time of cholera.
If I may ask, do you have kids? I found The Road a brilliant description of parenthood.

'Blood Meridian' utilizes the Biblical form and imagery of the King James Bible. Melville's Moby Dick does also. Yes I do. Interesting comment about parenthood.

 

[zebedee]

McCarthy's source text may well have been Samuel Chamberlain's 'My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue'. It's mostly a laborious read, but contains the occasional scenes of brutality that so frequently occur in BM (my view of the text is that it's a studied and crafted narrative and a remarkable achievement, but I'm a 'Suttree' advocate for being his greatest work):

Little or no resistance was offered to our advance. The Guerillars contented themselves in hanging around our flanks and rear and they served to keep our column well closed up. Woe to the unfortunate soldier who straggled behind. He was lassoed, stripped naked, and dragged through clumps of cactus until his body was full of needle-like thorns; then, his ... cut and crammed into his mouth, he was left to die in the solitude of the chapperal or to be eaten alive by vultures and coyotes. Such were the daily acts of the Guerillars.

Chamberlain's account is available online and is in the public domain - it is supposedly of questionable historical accuracy, but makes mention of Judge Holden. I've edited out the major unpleasantness:

The second in command, now left in charge of the camp, was a man of gigantic size called 'Judge' Holden of Texas. Who or what he was no one knew but a cooler blooded villain never went unhung; he stood six feet six in his moccasins, had a large fleshy frame, a dull tallow colored face destitute of hair and all expression. His desires was blood and women, and terrible stories were circulated in camp of horrid crimes committed by him when bearing another name, in the Cherokee nation and Texas; and before we left Frontreras a little girl of ten years was found in the chapperal, .... The mark of a huge hand on her little throat pointed him out ... as no other man had such a hand, but though all suspected, no one charged him with the crime.

Holden was by far the best educated man in northern Mexico; he conversed with all in their own language, spoke in several Indian lingos, at a fandango would take the Harp or Guitar from the hands of the musicians and charm all with his wonderful performance, and out-waltz any poblana of the ball. He was 'plum centre' with rifle or revolver, a daring horseman, acquainted with the nature of all the strange plants and their botanical names, great in Geology and Mineralogy, in short another Admirable Crichton, and with all an arrant coward. Not but that he possessed enough courage to fight Indians and Mexicans or anyone where he had the advantage in strength, skill and weapons, but where the combat would be equal, he would avoid it if possible. I hated him at first sight, and he knew it, yet nothing could be more gentle and kind than his deportment towards me; he would often seek conversation with me and speak of Massachusetts and to my astonishment I found he knew more about Boston than I did.

...

Judge Holden mounted a rock for a rostrum and gave us a scientific lecture on Geology. The Scalp Hunters, grouped in easy attitudes, listened to the “Literati” with marked attention. The whole formed an assemblage worthy of the pencil of Salvator Rosa. Holden's lecture no doubt was very learned, but hardly true, for one statement he made was “that millions of years had witnessed the operation producing the result around us,” which Glanton with recollections of the Bible teaching his young mind had undergone said “was a d — d lie.”

 

[Logician]

Hmm, that particular babies trope has been recycled in most wartime propaganda since the Crimean. It's in the Bible too. The Road was readable but I wouldn't recommend it myself. What's is the greatest love story of all time?

I'm actually curious about Lost Worlds goatskin - is it super thick and inflexible? I have never seen it or heard it described by anyone.

I have a LW Courier Pea Coat made from Goatskin. My first LW GS ever and perhaps my last. Don't get me wrong : The GS is of superb quality and the workmanship of the PC is flawless. The design of the PC is a little blousy;---I ordered a 42R, but the 40R would probably have been too small for me. Thus there is plenty of room for layering. I choose a satin lining, so its not very warm. In winter, I wear a CWU (i.e., Cold Weather Uniform) and a jumper under the coat to act as a layering system. Personally, I find the LW GS a tad too thin, for a PC at least. LW claims it's 3-3.5 oz, but I think it's more like 2.75-3.0 oz. I'm used (perhaps addicted would be a better word) to 4.0+ oz leather. If I had to do it all over again I would go for the HH 4.0+ oz. I found LW GS to be too delicate for my liking.

To sum up: LW GS not thick, yet extremely flexible compared to HH or Steerhide. Waterproof but presumably will not develop any patina! Although I must say that the GS had character before I even started wearing the PC, and after less than a year of wear, it shows plenty of creases, which surprised me a lot.

 

[Will Zach]

I have owned 2 LW Goatskins. One was the Suburban and the other was a J-23. The Goatskin was a decent medium thickness and maleable from the first. They were both rain resistant and the J-23 actually was used going across country twice. I had the black quilted lining in both which uses thick satin nylon with medium padding which was comfortable and tough but not overly warm which is exactly what I needed for normal use on the bike or in the case of the Suburban for business. Eventually I moved away from the 2 jackets in favor of horsehide simply because I wanted Lost Worlds Horsehide.
I would recommend their goatskin for someone looking for LW quality in a comfortable leather. Be aware goat does not seem to gain patina like horsehide. Here's a shot in Carson City, Nevada after riding across country from Tennessee a couple of years ago.

View attachment 253647

Great style!

 

[dinomartino1]

Well after all these years I get to see the mysterious Stu.
I don't have the benefit of his college education and superior intellect nor do I have the ability like him to drop French phrases into my vocabulary so I had to look this up.
Ta tête est coincée dans le cul.

 

[red devil]

Well after all these years I get to see the mysterious Stu.
I don't have the benefit of his college education and superior intellect nor do I have the ability like him to drop French phrases into my vocabulary so I had to look this up.
Ta tête est coincée dans le cul.

What were you trying to say?
La tête dans le cul is an expression meaning that you are very tired?

 

[ton312]

What were you trying to say?
La tête dans le cul is an expression meaning that you are very tired?

Sums up the thread for all parties I suspect.

 

[Fonzie]

Well after all these years I get to see the mysterious Stu.
I don't have the benefit of his college education and superior intellect nor do I have the ability like him to drop French phrases into my vocabulary so I had to look this up.
Ta tête est coincée dans le cul.

LOL! Nailed it @dinomartino1

What were you trying to say?
La tête dans le cul is an expression meaning that you are very tired?

It’s a direct translation to French from a common Aussie expression.

 

[jonesy86]

Lol
Now we know what each of us were doing in 1971, Jonesy, and is wasn’t leather jackets. Lost World’s progenitor must have skipped that class.
B

In your eyes, Lieutenant Bradshaw.

 

[red devil]

It’s a direct translation to French from a common Aussie expression.

Ah ok, when he said he had to look it up, I thought he meant a genuine expression lol

 

[Fonzie]

Ah ok, when he said he had to look it up, I thought he meant a genuine expression lol

Basically means that he is “full of himself” (narcissistic, egocentric, ego-tripping, etc).

 

[Seb Lucas]

Basically means that he is “full of himself” (narcissistic, egocentric, ego-tripping, etc).

Sorry, I am missing the reference - what's the Aussie expression?

 

[Fonzie]

Sorry, I am missing the reference - what's the Aussie expression?

Ta tête est coincée dans le cul = Your head is up your arse.

 

[Logician]

What were you trying to say?
La tête dans le cul is an expression meaning that you are very tired?

It means waking up with a hangover! This expression is very recent. It is believed to have appeared at the end of the last century although its source is unclear. Maybe this expression only refers to those animals which, when they are asleep, are in a ball, with their head in their ass? Which is impossible for most humans unless one is a contortionist.

The expression La tête dans le cul is not used often in Quebec! We'd rather say: Je suis magané de la veille or J’ai une (la) gueule de bois.

 

[navetsea]

that white cat is an accident going to happen.

 

[dinomartino1]

The problem with lost worlds is the world of jacket making has moved on but like his dated website he has not.
In all fairness they are well made quality jackets but things are not the same now as back then when most of us wanted the heaviest weight horsehide we could get. I get that some want MC jackets in particular that are heavyweight but I will confine myself to flight jackets.

You can buy a capeskin A-1 from headwind for $ 650
You can buy a Platon Dubow for $532
And you would have spent $43 less the buying the less authentic Lost Worlds Dubow or A-1 both of which are $1225