Show your natural leather

[Guppy]

New Daltech Bull Belt in natural, day 1 out of the box. Not at all pale, it looks like it's got some darkening already. It's a 1/4" thick, and under $40 shipped, and it arrived 2 days after ordering. They even swapped the standard hardware for brass at my request for no charge. Nice company to deal with.

I owe the Lounge a lot of updates. I've been too busy, too forgetful, and too single-handed to take good fit pics.

Here's some natural leather updates for you all.

The daltech bull belt, almost two years old. I made it my daily driver and it's darkened considerably, but not consistently. It looks fantastic.



It's gone from orange to a deep reddish brown. More dark at the wear points. It seems that rubbing burnished and deepens the color. The original buckle turned out to be a steel that was brass plated, which wore off quickly; I swapped in solid brass hardware, and it's developing antique brass patina nicely, the natural way.

Freewheelers wallet.

After I had it for 1 year...

And now after 5 years.



I've been using it for a while longer than the belt, I'm not sure how much longer. I picked it up in October 2017, so almost 5 years of daily use. It was pre-owned, but not heavily used when I acquire it. I don't think I took a "before pic" when I first got it. I added the brass chain. It's looking a few shades darker, some more scratches and scuffs, and burnishing.

I think I forgot to post about it when I got it, but here's Sheene #3, natural CXL FQHH from Thurston Bros, size 42, custom ordered with 1" shorter sleeves and heavier than standard. Thurston was selling a bunch of these and I picked one up, wasn't satisfied with the lighter weight hide, and asked for an exchange for a customized remake. This happened during covid lock down in 2020, originally ordered in late April, and the remake one was delivered mid-November. So not quite two years old, and you can find before pics of this leather in a lot of places. I don't think I took before pics of mine, but this pic from the Thurston Bros website shows a lighter, more honey-colored shade of a size 42 that might have been the first one they delivered to me.



Mine has turned very brown, pretty consistently all over, and still isn't close to broken in. I was hoping to get more orange and red tones, and more variation, but I haven't been going outside much for most of the pandemic, and that limited the UV exposure it got. I'm wondering whether future UV will result in any reddening. It looks lovely in photos but a tad flat and dull in person. Definitely needs more wear, and I might try oiling it with neats foot in another year but I'm trying to be patient and let it develop naturally.

 

[Guppy]

Guppy- UPDATES please!!!

Oh, hell I missed this somehow. Sorry!

Here's a pic from tonight, the BK is still much more orange than the CXL natural jackets. Here it is next to my SchottXContext CX1133, and my natural CXL Aero Sheene. The Schott is a bit redder than the Sheene, but has darkened to a similar degree, but with more variation. It's also a good 8 years older, I think the collaboration was done in 2012? Someone correct me on that.

 

[navetsea]

wow such uniform tanning into brown, did it come from oiling with obenauf?

 

[navetsea]

My wallet finally came, it is already colored camel and glossed a little because i picked a version with light finish to protect it a little against indigo stain, the belt clip is natural (oiled by minkoil earlier), my new belt has aged a little more becomes more russet now, and the brown belt is my very old vegleather belt from highschool, i never wore them for past 2 decades because the prong was broken just hanging behind the door of my wardrobe room, last weekend I made a DIY prong from stainless steel wire, the old leather has surface cracks allover but i have oiled it and it is supple again, it was never a natural pale, i remember it was dyed a little tan/ camel when new, the leather is rather thin, from hongkong mall brand Bossini but it hold up fine. Green bifold is my old wallet i design and made myself from white goatskin, overtime it developed green hue

Update on the wallet and belt






I used mink oil and obenauf leatheroil once, the belt has developed real curve, lately i daily wear the belt and clip. The darkest part of the belt i think is caused by the brass buckle's patination

 

[Guppy]

wow such uniform tanning into brown, did it come from oiling with obenauf?

No, I haven't applied any conditioners to these jackets. I did not own the Schott or the BK from new, so I don't know what may have been done with them before I owned them, but I haven't applied anything to them.

 

[Guppy]

Here's an update. My freewheelers wallet got wet when I got caught in a heavy rain. I let it air dry and then applied Pecard to the outside. The veg tanned leather got stiff when dry so it definitely needed it. It's nice now, and darkened, contrast with the inside to see what it was like before conditioning. I posted images of it when new a few years ago in this thread as well.

When new:

 

[navetsea]

My current leather wristband i've been wearing since april


The wide wristband is from 2020
I wish leather jacket evolve in this pace, but it is a promise of future potential.

 

[Canuck Panda]

cool evolution. my small wallet also patina fast. I think the constant friction of taking it in and out of my pocket helped. Let me try to find an original photo to compare it to. It’s natural shell too I never thought they change color but they do.

 

[Canuck Panda]

Shell cordovan card holder. I didn't know these had patina potentials. My darker shells shoes or wallet stays more or less the same. But this natural shell does darken. Makes me wonder, is the thin layer of deposit that is actually changing the color or is it reactive from the inside out.

The edge burnishes like regular leather too, from repeated taking and putting back the cards, and rubbing inside the pocket. Also when brand new it just looks like plastic, no dark spots or anything. Now it has those old dark spots.

Anyone has natural shell shoes/boots that can share some evolution pics? Thanks.

 

[navetsea]

Update on the wallet and belt
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I used mink oil and obenauf leatheroil once, the belt has developed real curve, lately i daily wear the belt and clip. The darkest part of the belt i think is caused by the brass buckle's patination

Update on the belt again
I love how the brass buckle browns with patina
I rubbed beewax bar over it and buff it with tshirt to protect the patina and to give it some sheen, i love how it looks now and try to maintain it from going green with verdigris by waxing it from time to time sometime i use beewax bar sometime i use clear shoepolish (carnauba+parafin) wax, just a little bit applied by finger and then buffing it with the back of my tshirt.

 

[navetsea]

My patina on wirstband i made and daily worn 24/7 from april 2023, and almost5yrs old wallet, and comparing them to few decades old magnifiying glass sleeve cover belonged to my grandpa that's been sitting on my desk for years without me realizing it was made from real vegtan leather and from the otherside it looks like it was a natural vegtan (i just polish it and buff it just before taking the pic)

I love leather patina, i remember we used to light up those gasoline lamps in the 80s since we had long powerbreaks every few days especially at night.

 

[cbez]

Maryam horsebutt

 

[navetsea]

April vs Sept vs Nov
Patina growth

 

[jchance]

Kenton Sorenson duffle bag, with Filson strap. It has been sitting in my closet in the last decade, but would start seeing more use this year.

 

[torfjord]

Colour evolution of bone badalassi from early October til now. No dramatic changes but it has gotten darker. Haven't been able to wear it much lately, it's been way too cold for leather.

 

[torfjord]

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Colour evolution of bone badalassi from early October til now. No dramatic changes but it has gotten darker. Haven't been able to wear it much lately, it's been way too cold for leather.

Evolution update on the Thedi.

 

[cbez]

 

[joezam713]

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Colour evolution of bone badalassi from early October til now. No dramatic changes but it has gotten darker. Haven't been able to wear it much lately, it's been way too cold for leather.

Nice patina! So the bone badalassi is completely natural with no dye? I was under the impression it had some pigmented finish.

 

[torfjord]

Nice patina! So the bone badalassi is completely natural with no dye? I was under the impression it had some pigmented finish.

Yep, it’s a natural leather. I’m not completely sure of the details but it has been treated in a way so it doesn’t stain from water or rain. Once it dries the marks from the water disappear.

 

[navetsea]

I think this is the end game of natural leather evolution 1,5 year daily wear 24hrs per day on the skin, no particular care, I didn't sun tan it first just direct wearing maybe thats why it doesn't develop reddish patina

Comparison with similar leather but suntanned and less worn despite made into wristband more than 2 yrs ago