Barbour jacket, repairing and re-waxing, for the third time

 

It was in 2016 that I last did this - you can read about it here. I have to admit that I don't like doing it, but it most definitely needed doing. As the jacket is now pretty old (I bought it in 2011) I didn't bother following Barbour's instructions to clean it by sponging it in cold water. Instead I just put it in the washing machine on a cold wash.

This is what it looked like after washing - 

Back before

Front before

After washing I did a few bits of mending on it, by hand. I also ironed it, in an attempt to get the awful creases out of it. It helped but they are so old that I think it's impossible to get them out now.

The worst thing about the whole process in the past has been trying to keep the wax liquid. Previously I have warmed it in a bowl in a saucepan of hot water, but unless you keep the water on the heat then it cools down and goes thick again very quickly using this method. But both times that I have done it have been in cold weather, so I have had to do it indoors. This time I did it on a hot day, outside, on the garden table - a much better idea! I kept the wax liquid by putting a lump of it in an enamel bowl, and rigging that up over a candle. This worked very well, and the wax stayed liquid. I think that because it was liquid all the time I used less of it, too.

It takes a long time working the wax in all over (with a sponge) and my fingers got in a greasy mess. I wiped it all over with a rag and then hung it up in the sun, to even the wax out a bit, in the same way, hopefully, that a hair dryer would do (or a heat gun which is what I have used in the past as we don't possess a hair dryer). The next day I wiped it all over again with a rag to remove any excess wax.

After waxing - (I don't know why this photo has come out with almost no background!) -

As you can see, particularly on the back, it doesn't look completely even, but I am happy with how it has turned out. It's a lot better than it was! I find myself wondering about the age of the oldest jacket that anyone, or Barbour themselves, has rewaxed, and the record number of times that one has been rewaxed. Perhaps I will write and ask them.

And I don't know what it is about rewaxing a Barbour jacket, but my post on it in 2016 has had over 10,000 views - most definitely my most popular post!!