Furrowson
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 179
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
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
