When a plan goes well...
Mar 30, 2019 14:27:36 GMT
Post by Humph on Mar 30, 2019 14:27:36 GMT
I fell in a ditch a while back, while wearing one of my Barbour jackets. Don't ask about the circumstances, that's a whole other story...
Anyway, it was a particularly malevolent ditch, full of stinking slime and other elements I really didn't want to linger and identify. The rest of my clothes washed easily enough, but you're really not supposed to wash Barbours.
So, having hung it in the garage for a few weeks while it dried and I pondered on what to do with it, I took it to a Barbour stockist to ask for their advice, guidance, and I suspected, some bereavement counselling.
They confirmed that that it was indeed "Donald Ducked sir" and that there was nothing to be done other than to give it a decent funeral.
I took another week or two to steel myself to that but then last Saturday, I thought to myself that I could at least try to save it. Nothing ventured etc. So while my wife was out, ( she wouldn't have approved ) I put in the washing machine, an appliance I'm not overly familiar with, but it seemed straightforward enough, I've seen her operate it and it didn't turn out to be as complicated as I first feared.
Eventually, I took it out and hung it on a coat hanger back in the garage and left it to dry. By Sunday night it was more or less there, but had turned from its natural sludgy green colour to a sort of beige with splodges of brown, presumably residual wax here and there, it was not looking like a happy garment I'd have to concede.
While in Ireland this week, I found myself in a large department store in Dublin that sold Barbours. Idly musing as to whether just to buy a replacement, I spotted a tin of their wax on the shelves and instead of buying a new jacket, I decided on a whim, to try re-waxing my old one and bought the tin.
I had a feeling this was still not going to end well, the assistant who sold me the wax, urged me to watch a YouTube video first so that I could fully understand the magnitude and complexity of the task I'd set myself.
Nonetheless, I bought the wax.
I did watch the video last night, ( it's all rock and roll here y'know ) and one of the tips I picked up from it was that you must use a hairdryer to heat the fabric, before applying the wax which must also be heated by placing the tin in a pot of hot water.
"She" is at work today, so I thought right, lets see if I can rescue the jacket.
Found her hairdryer, took it outside, laid the jacket on a garden table and, having checked that I wasn't being observed, ( who would want to have to explain all that to a neighbour, or worse, just be seen doing it and have people think you'd lost all reason ) began to heat the jacket up.
Wel, lo and behold, and I assume, due to the heat reacting with some residual wax still embedded in the cloth, it began to return to its normal sludgy green colour. I didn't have to apply any new wax, although I suppose I could at some point, but it's looking pretty tickety flipping boo now, though I do say so myself.
Just tried it on, it feels fine, and nothing bad seems to have happened to it, although her hairdryer did overheat and switch itself off at one point which temporarily at least, caused me to think I might have to replace that too. It though, seems to be fine too now.
So, the moral of the story, if there is one, is that should you fall in a ditch in your wax jacket, all is not necessarily lost, no matter how hopeless the situation may feel at the time.
Would anyone one like to buy ( at an attractive discount ) an unopened tin of Barbour wax? Dublin is a bit far to take it back...
Anyway, it was a particularly malevolent ditch, full of stinking slime and other elements I really didn't want to linger and identify. The rest of my clothes washed easily enough, but you're really not supposed to wash Barbours.
So, having hung it in the garage for a few weeks while it dried and I pondered on what to do with it, I took it to a Barbour stockist to ask for their advice, guidance, and I suspected, some bereavement counselling.
They confirmed that that it was indeed "Donald Ducked sir" and that there was nothing to be done other than to give it a decent funeral.
I took another week or two to steel myself to that but then last Saturday, I thought to myself that I could at least try to save it. Nothing ventured etc. So while my wife was out, ( she wouldn't have approved ) I put in the washing machine, an appliance I'm not overly familiar with, but it seemed straightforward enough, I've seen her operate it and it didn't turn out to be as complicated as I first feared.
Eventually, I took it out and hung it on a coat hanger back in the garage and left it to dry. By Sunday night it was more or less there, but had turned from its natural sludgy green colour to a sort of beige with splodges of brown, presumably residual wax here and there, it was not looking like a happy garment I'd have to concede.
While in Ireland this week, I found myself in a large department store in Dublin that sold Barbours. Idly musing as to whether just to buy a replacement, I spotted a tin of their wax on the shelves and instead of buying a new jacket, I decided on a whim, to try re-waxing my old one and bought the tin.
I had a feeling this was still not going to end well, the assistant who sold me the wax, urged me to watch a YouTube video first so that I could fully understand the magnitude and complexity of the task I'd set myself.
Nonetheless, I bought the wax.
I did watch the video last night, ( it's all rock and roll here y'know ) and one of the tips I picked up from it was that you must use a hairdryer to heat the fabric, before applying the wax which must also be heated by placing the tin in a pot of hot water.
"She" is at work today, so I thought right, lets see if I can rescue the jacket.
Found her hairdryer, took it outside, laid the jacket on a garden table and, having checked that I wasn't being observed, ( who would want to have to explain all that to a neighbour, or worse, just be seen doing it and have people think you'd lost all reason ) began to heat the jacket up.
Wel, lo and behold, and I assume, due to the heat reacting with some residual wax still embedded in the cloth, it began to return to its normal sludgy green colour. I didn't have to apply any new wax, although I suppose I could at some point, but it's looking pretty tickety flipping boo now, though I do say so myself.
Just tried it on, it feels fine, and nothing bad seems to have happened to it, although her hairdryer did overheat and switch itself off at one point which temporarily at least, caused me to think I might have to replace that too. It though, seems to be fine too now.
So, the moral of the story, if there is one, is that should you fall in a ditch in your wax jacket, all is not necessarily lost, no matter how hopeless the situation may feel at the time.
Would anyone one like to buy ( at an attractive discount ) an unopened tin of Barbour wax? Dublin is a bit far to take it back...
). Luckily 1, and only 1, in stock locally.
