"I do think the grain thing has gone to extremes compared to most WW2 examples"

[ausreenactor]

The assumption would be that any pre-war materiel supplied to the military would have been produced with a higher quality, from consumables without conflicting demand. Workmanship, finish and durability all would have been 'better'. When the pressure is placed on construction and delivery timelines and the drive to maintain profitability is added, then there is bound to be a lower level of output.

 

[2BM2K]

I've heard that early WW2 or pre-war A2s the hide are not so grainy, these were considered premium hide. Grainy hides were considered lower quality hide.

View attachment Brigadier General Oscar Westover, Lieutenant Colonel H. H. Arnold and Colonel John H. Howard a...jpg

In this photo from 1933 General Westover is wearing a very early Werber contract which does have some
lovely grain.

 

[taikonaut]

View attachment 22175

In this photo from 1933 General Westover is wearing a very early Werber contract which does have some
lovely grain.

That is controlled grain
There is always exception. I would also say flight jackets are considered as utilitarian work use. Hides aren't always going to be pleasing looking.

 

[jeremiah]

Most of the pictures show wrinkles not grain.
That said, most of us here classify anything with character on the leather as grain.

Think about animals. The horses for some of the war time leather would have been taken from older horses which passed out of Calvary service.
They also may have used parts of the hide which today are not used so much, hence more wrinkles on some jackets.
Being chrome tanned hides, most of the grain would probably have been pressed and would have “popped” out with use and repeated sweat, rain and wear.
Same thing with today’s ELC warhorse or that lovely jacket Ken made and rescued his dog while wearing it.

 

[mulceber]

Really good points, Jeremiah.

For my part, I tend to think that the repros are more consistently "characterful" (to use Jeremiah's term - combination of grain, wrinkles, flaws in the leather, etc.) than the originals, which probably ranged from mostly smooth to really "characterful" (like the picture Ken posted). I say this because I don't think our love of grainy jackets has much to do with the way the originals actually were. It has more to do with our percepton of vintage leather jackets: vintage leather jackets were all made with full grain leather. Top grain leather is specifically designed not to have character. So if you're a fan of vintage leather, you want to be able to know from looking at your jacket that you're wearing the good stuff (and have other aficionados know as well). The most obvious sign that your leather is full grain is for it to have character.

Put simply, none of us want a full grain leather that looks like a top grain leather, so we lean toward the more "characterful" leathers.

 

[jeremiah]

Full grain can be finished at times which would make one question if it was full grain or not.
Full grain just means it has not had the top shaved down to take out imperfections like insect bite scars or branding marks or the like. More importantly Full grain has the top fibers which are the strongest. So from full grain to top grain to genuine leather you slide down the scale in that order in terms of strength.

 

[blackrat2]

Agree with Jeremiah
It’s confusing as the generic term grain is what I would include as wrinkles, scars, jerk etc
Most patina on my jackets is on the front and upper arms with the reverse of the arms having the least and the back sitting in the middle somewhere

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Every Front Quarter has Jerky areas around the belly area, more on some skins than others.
Some tanneries, like Horween for example, and most of the really good Italian tanneries, trim this off before tanning.
Our Jerky was one of the first deliberatly leaving this area on the FQs. I cannot imagine WW2 tanneries throwing that belly area away therefore some of this will have found it's way into cut jackets, probably the underarm panels, back collar, under the pocket area etc, other makers wouldn't care, hence some very jerky areras.
We get requests for Jerky Horse with mixed grain areas, some want very jerky jackets, others prefer smoother areas allowing the grain to develop, it's all a matter of taste.
Personally I prefer what we call the "Real Deal", a jacket cut as economically as possible, no match, no waste just like in the 1940s.
OK............. if I was cutting one for myself I'd stick to as it comes other than put the grainiest, jerkiest area in the upper front and wouldn't want any matching

 

[B-Man2]

Thanks for that info Ken. Do you happen to have any close up photos of what the “Real Deal” A2 looks like up close and personal?
I’ve seen it on your website but nothing really clear. Thanks again!

 

[mulceber]

Thanks for that info Ken. Do you happen to have any close up photos of what the “Real Deal” A2 looks like up close and personal?
I’ve seen it on your website but nothing really clear. Thanks again!

Seconded! I'm always up for seeing more photos of great reproductions!

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Everyone is different
We are close to launching an upgraded website, I'll be in the factory on Monday, I'll check what pics Dom has got of the Jerky Jackets, Real Deal A-2 and/or Civvy jackets
I don't have one any more, got talked out of it years ago (1938 Aero) but one front and half a sleeve looked a dead ringer for the WW2 A-2 I posted a pic of this earlier in the thread, back was mostly as smooth as a baby's bum when new

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

I did find this...............(Blow it up to get a better idea of the grainy areas)

 

[Happy Hooligan]

Here's my son's Real Deal Jerky hide. Lightly broken in.

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Lower Fronts are coming along nicely

 

[A2 B3au]

This dudes not even worth dropping knowledge on, don’t show him your grainiest A2s his eyes don’t deserve to see such things let alone purchase one of u guys if it ever becomes available... remember the name