leather conditioners

[airfrogusmc]

While I think that this is a great thread to discuss conditioning leather, I think people tend to get gung ho (sp?) when it comes to treating their very expensive leather goods. Like Airfrog said, You DO NOT want to over treat your leather.

Doing so will clog the pores that naturally makes leather breathable, and will damage the leather more than all the petrol based leather prods. You CAN dmg leather with overapplication of obenauf's/pecards.

One of the reasons they used leather back in the day, especially on the WWII flight jackets was because it was so tough, breathable and would hold up for extended periods of time without treatment.

Keep that in mind, and if you notice your leather looking dry, much like your skin, you should treat it, much like your skin.

You should only treat if the jacket becomes dry and a new jacket will take YEARS to become dry. The best way to break a jacket in is JUST WEAR IT.

[mizanation]

thanks for the info guys. lots of great stuff here.

one thing i got out of reading all this is to treat your leather as it is, the skin of an animal that does not have the mechanism to lubricate and mousturize itself. the animal provides us its skin for our use, the least we can do is take good care of it--it definitely takes care of us.

[__3xL]

Lexol is good otc stuff for sure . I used the PH cleaner and then conditioner on a lamb coat of mine .. Did it lovely !

Then I used the hide food the following week

[matrix7583]

any suggestions on Alden Indy boots? Calfskin :) Just got em today....Damn beautiful please help me out on caring these beauty

[mizanation]

numero_uno_3xl, who is that girl in your sig? she would look nice with some pecards rubbed on her. sorry, off-topic.

[Chicken]

any suggestions on Alden Indy boots? Calfskin :) Just got em today....Damn beautiful please help me out on caring these beauty

go to:

shoes that look better with age thread brought to you by mizanation and his superfriends.

then search.

[englandmj7]

numero_uno_3xl, who is that girl in your sig? she would look nice with some pecards rubbed on her. sorry, off-topic.

The question is: can she be suntanned, and how bad will she indigo-stain?

[__3xL]

Dunno her personally miz - but she looks like my 1st black girlfriend ( of 4 years ) SO MUCH that I kept it .

I always thought my ex would look hot smoking - but she didn't ..

[GregNYC]

Great post synth! I used to try to moisten my skin with olive oil while tannning, and over time it actually evaporated and dried my skin out more than just doing nothing!

Matrix - I should take pics of my Indy boots now. They are polishing up fantastic!

There are two issues, the welts and the uppers.

Welts: they are natural leather and will darken permanently if they get wet. I got caught in the rain last week and it happened to me - the welts darkened around the toe. Now I will have to match that shade all the way around the welt. What I will do to protect the rest is to heat up some Sno Seal till it's liquid and then rub two thin thin coats around the welt with a soft toothbrush. Then fully rub the rest off with a thin terry cloth. To begin with I might even put the boots into the oven at 300-degrees for a few minutes to warm them up like the baseball glove folks do for the leather's pores to open up a bit. You have to watch out for oils on natural leather. They darken it, vitually for the life of the leather, even if it dries out, it stays dark. But waxes don't do that. Sno Seal darkens leather less than any oil or other such stuff I've used. There are some carnuba-wax solutions for basaball gloves too. That stuff you can get at any sporting good store, easier to find than Sno Seal.

Then the welt is then protected from water and from darkening. You are also free to polish without being so careful.

The uppers: I want a high shine, and not a tacky hand on the surface. I don't want indigo to rub off.

1. So I first put a few thin thin coats of Meltonian Leather Lotion to fill in the pores a bit to prepare the leather for a smoother shine.

2. If the boots need darkening, the next thing to do is use Meltonian boot creme #93, Sandalwood. Here's the most famous example of Sandalwood on the Indy boot: http://indygear.com/gear/boots.shtml

Maybe he used something else too, becaue usually you don't get such a great shine from a creme.

3. So then use Kiwi brown. And if you want an extra gloss on top of that, use Meltonian #170, Delicate Creme. It's a lot of work, but you should hear the comments you get on these boots.

Miz's Greek shoe guy loved mine! Report coming later in the "Shoes better with age" thread....

[GregNYC]

I have a new unfinished leather belt that I need to break in. will oil it fastens the process?

Oil will darken the leather too. Look into baseball glove preparations at sporting good stores. They can soften and shape the leather without darkening it too much....

[viv1984viv]

I decided to put Lanolin ( lanolin is the natural skin/wool oil from sheep, I presume its basically a poor mans mink oil ) on my Osprey wallet, it really did the trick, the leather is much nicer now, much softer and slightly more matte. My dad told me alot of his welsh hiking mates use lanolin on there boots to keep em waterproof (?). Also, mink oil - are the minks harmed in anyway? How do they get the oil?

[mizanation]

mink oil is made from mink fat. so, yeah, there's no non-invasive way to rip the fat from a mink subcutaneous layer.

[viv1984viv]

Mmmm, I guess lanolin is just as "invasive" anyway. If I ever get obernaufs ill be keeping it a secret from my girl...

[No -]

Does anyone have pics of the leather after it's been treated with Obenauf's?

Preferably RM wallets..

[synthi]

Check out this post courtesy of Oldboy taken from this thread:

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=14003

For all the lazies here's a re-post of Oldboy's rather lovely images + words:

After suntanning for 10 hours on each side:

After oiling with Obenauf's:

Pics taken today, wallet is about 2 months old:

Is it wrong that that last pic makes me want to pick up that wallet and take a nice juicy bite out of it as though it were a Big Mac? Tasty doesn't come close

[viv1984viv]

I think ive seen oldboys images before, but yeah that does look yummy! For a long time Ive been thinking that a redmoon would be the perfect reward for when I get a salary job after uni!!! They do look so beautiful, great post synthi.

[synthi]

Viv seriously I don't know where they source their leather from but it is like no other, as DDML mentions in the Leather Evolution thread, it's super thirsty and then goes all dry and crackly after a few hours :confused: But after closely scrutinising it, there is just an air of superiority about it. I guess the price is for the premium raw materials and the hand stitching which is definitely the work of a patient artisan.

[No -]

So a few people mentioned using the Obenauf's LP.. but Oldboy's post says "oil"..

Which one do I get??

[Who?]

So after reading the thread it seems that most of these products are for leather preservation or restoration, I am looking for leather cleaner that will help eliminate the smell of cigarettes from a pair of shoes I bought off ebay. Any suggestions as to what product to use?

[Heartworm]

Mmmm, I guess lanolin is just as "invasive" anyway. If I ever get obernaufs ill be keeping it a secret from my girl...

Do you know how leather is made? If you own leather, why should mink oil be an issue?

[airfrogusmc]

Mink oil can rot the thread holding your leather together. If the leather is new you SHOULD NOT condition for years unless the leather becomes extremely dry.

[seatiger]

airfrog, do you have any first hand experience of mink oil damaging leather or thread? Asked because I have never heard from someone with first hand experience of it. In fact there are people who used mink oil and find them harmless So I always wondered if this comment is a marketing ploy of the companies producing leather conditioners.

[airfrogusmc]

Yes! And I have friends (I can't afford it or I would) that collect original WWII flight jackets (some worth thousands of $$$) and they would NEVER use mink oil. I've also talked with real leather experts and they have all told me NEVER use it. According to the expert you shouldn't use anything unless your leather is actually starting to dry out and if its new it takes YEARS. So they're not supporting any conditioners. In fact just the opposite.

[viv1984viv]

Do you know how leather is made? If you own leather, why should mink oil be an issue?

I dont really care, my girl does though. Ive told her leather is a by product that would only be wasted if it wasnt used! I guess rather than talking about mink oil ( remember mink are ultra cute ) ill carry on talking about selvedge instead.

Yeah im well aware leather is an animals skin - but I cant help but feel that seeing as im a human being who contemplates his own existence im better than a cow or horse or mink........ infact im better than these other creatures solely because I wear selvedge and they dont.

[seatiger]

Thanks airfrog!

[indigo_junkie]

Yes! And I have friends (I can't afford it or I would) that collect original WWII flight jackets (some worth thousands of $$$) and they would NEVER use mink oil. I've also talked with real leather experts and they have all told me NEVER use it. According to the expert you shouldn't use anything unless your leather is actually starting to dry out and if its new it takes YEARS. So they're not supporting any conditioners. In fact just the opposite.

hmm, I've always thought it was the petroleum products that get mixed with the mink oil that causes the thread to rot or damage the leather. I give my riding leathers a rub down with mink oil once a year, just after winter when I put it away in favour of some light armoured cordura jackets (summers get hot in Australia - but anyone who's fallen off a bike would know not to ride around in a t-shirt). I've recently run out of the stuff (Montana pitch blend was the recommended leather conditioner from fox creek, where I got my jacket), was going to buy some more, before I stumbled upon this thread. I've put in an order for some Obenauf's LP, just to give that a try. Never had a problem with mink oil,though, other than the smell...

[indigo_junkie]

I dont really care, my girl does though. Ive told her leather is a by product that would only be wasted if it wasnt used! I guess rather than talking about mink oil ( remember mink are ultra cute ) ill carry on talking about selvedge instead.

Yeah im well aware leather is an animals skin - but I cant help but feel that seeing as im a human being who contemplates his own existence im better than a cow or horse or mink........ infact im better than these other creatures solely because I wear selvedge and they dont.

I had an vegetarian ex-GF who would go off at me for wearing a dead cow skin on my back when I go out riding. But IMHO, nothing beats leather for breathability, flexability, comfort and protection on a motorcycle. Better the cow's skin than my own, not that the cow's going to need it once its been turned into steaks.

[superBobo]

if we´re talking boot care, when should shoe creams be used? when the leather is scuffed or just really dry? Can you (me ..hehe) over do it, and harm the leather? Im not talking mink oil, but Kiwi brown and neutral shoe shine.

[anders]

I'm trying to get to the bottom of the Pecards/Obenauf's question. Assuming they are both good products, the main difference I see between them is that Pecards Leather Dressing is wax based while Obernauf's Leather Oil is liquid/oil based. What are the advantages/disadvantages of wax vs. oil? I am comparing these two products because they were the ones recommended by the respective companies for belts and leather dress shoes. They come out be the pretty much the same price with shipping.

I'm asking this more as a generic question to clarify for myself and others, but personally I plan on using it mainly for my Samurai Garrison belt and maybe down the road on nice leather dress shoes when I buy them. If anyone from San Francisco wants to order something with me let me know.

[surfed57]

bumping this thread