dikman

Just finished waxing my coat (4:1 paraffin wax/beeswax). Took just over 2 hours and I suspect the coat had never been re-proofed since new! It is now noticeably heavier and stiffer and is hanging in the sun. Next thing is to buff it with a soft cloth and then crumple it up to break it in! The slow cooker worked great for keeping the wax molten. I started using a sponge, like Barbour's do in their video, but quickly learned the wax is too hot and burned my fingers! It's obvious that the stuff they use has a lower melting point than my brew. I then went to a brush (note to self, don't use synthetic bristles, they don't like hot wax or a hot air gun . Doh.) which worked ok. I made 6 blocks, using a silicone soap mold, and used 3 of them so a fair bit of wax went into the coat.

I'm not sure how you got the idea that "the real deal" isn't much more expensive than the clones. The reason the clones are so popular is because Juki's are expensive.

Pretty much what Don said. Most of these type of electronics are considered disposable these days. If the owner has some electronic skills they "may" be able to fix it if the fault is obvious. One of the biggest problems is not having cct diagrams so figuring out how they work is extremely difficult - and companies don't give out these diagrams. Simply put, they are not cost-effective to repair (unless you can do it yourself).

Thanks for the link Chuck, some interesting stuff in there. I'm reluctant to use BLO, however, on a coat. I toyed with using neatsfoot oil (or even compounded NO) but have decided to keep it simple at this stage. I don't get sub-zero temperatures where I live so using a higher paraffin wax mix shouldn't be a problem.

Your process is pretty much the approach Barbour's take - up until the blowtorch bit! My first attempt was somewhat ineffective, it was a method I saw on youtube - warm the jacket, rub the bar of wax onto the jacket then use the heat gun to melt it into the cloth. Coverage was patchy. Tomorrow I'll use a slow cooker to melt the wax and apply it like Barbour's do, using a sponge, then a heat gun to melt it into the material and wipe off the excess. As to the mix, yes, it needs to be made to suit the conditions. As you say paraffin wax by itself is pretty brittle so using a mix with mostly paraffin wax in very cold climates will cause problems. Mixing it with mineral oil, like Barbour's do, makes it softer and more flexible. This is turning into quite an interesting project.

Yeah, I know, it's not leather but some on here have used wax cotton to make things. I just bought a 5 kg block of paraffin wax to re-proof my motorcycle jacket. As we all know if you ask/search for "leather dressing" you will be bombarded with any number of concoctions, each claiming to be the best. So it is with waterproofing cotton! I've spent hours reading about what to use, trying to find the ingredients in commercial stuff and generally trying to understand the pros and cons of each one. There is, naturally, some overlap in some of the products so they will work on leather too. Bottom line is paraffin wax has been used for this job since it was invented, often mixed with various other "additives" to make it easier to apply and/or make it a "secret" formula. I recently watched a video from Barbour's showing them re-proofing one of their coats. The guy was using a white mix that had the consistency of a very stiff paste and it was melted and applied with a sponge. I suspect that it is simply paraffin wax mixed with mineral oil to soften it a little. I decided to try a paraffin wax/ beeswax mix first, approx. 4:1, as I want to keep it simple. Beeswax, by itself, can be a bit sticky, the paraffin wax acts as a stiffening agent and apparently gets into the pores of the cotton better. So I read..... If anyone has any knowledge/experience about this process please feel free to chime in.

Good point, I'll have to refrain from practicing fire-walking while I'm wearing it.

Nice job at copying it. My guess regarding the loop is that it folds around the pouch to maybe half-way underneath and then is rivetted to the skirt.

Yep, the genuine article isn't cheap, this is a Pakistani knockoff but is quite well made. So far paraffin wax is coming up as the best treatment, relatively high melting point and non-sticky when dry.

A couple of days ago I went for a ride on my bike, as I hadn't used it for a while, and I stopped in at a couple of second-hand stores to see what I could find. The first one had a few leather motorcycle jackets hanging there and one of them caught my eye, it was an English Classic style, 3/4 length with a belted waist (Belstaff style) and it actually fitted me! It was missing the zip-in liner but that didn't bother me, the price was right ($117) so I bought it as my current jacket was getting a bit tight. At the next shop I found a leather vest, which also fitted me, for $19! I couldn't come close to making one for that price, so I went home a happy chappie. Today I decided to treat my new coat to some leather dressing. While putting it on I thought "gee, this leather seems fairly thin, must be some sort of fine garment leather" but went happily on with the application. Eventually, I stopped and had a good look at the label - it was waxed cotton, not leather!!! Doh! The cotton weave is very fine and it looks just like black leather (even fooled the shop assistant). So much for me thinking I know a bit about leather!! Anyhow, it doesn't matter because I've been looking for this style of coat for quite a while, they rarely come up for sale second-hand so I'm still pleased with it. Now I have to figure out the best concoction to mix up to seal it with.

Slight correction, my hydraulic oil is approx. 95% 64742-54-7 and the remainder is "other stuff", mostly distillate. So, I mixed some up, approx. 50:50 by volume beeswax and oil. It has the same creamy colour as commercial products that I've seen and is "spreadable" - it could possibly do with just a smidge more oil but is useable as is. I've put some on a piece of scrap to see what happens, it only darkened it a slight amount when applied. I doubt if I'll use it on anything important, however, as the long term effects on leather are a complete unknown. (Thinks- "might be good for wiping on tools etc" - ends thinks).

No argument from me, leather bags do "look right" but for now at least the fabric ones will suffice (I've made a lot of trips with them and they've served me well).

Jim, I thought about it (briefly) but it would cost a bit for the leather and be a lot of work. I still have the Triumph fabric saddlebags so I've put those back on, should see out my riding years that I have left. A couple of photos of the offending leather! One shows what happened at some of the folds/bends and the other is the edge.

I agree about the marketing ploy. It could be argued that crude oil, as it comes out of the ground, is a natural product but how many would want to treat their leather with that? The simple fact is that it's heavily processed to obtain the various products we get from it, at which point I wouldn't consider it "natural". Many of those hydraulic oils I looked up appear to be close to 99% CAS 64742-54-7, and those that didn't contain it were a cocktail of chemicals! I looked up the MSDS for a few neatsfoot compound products, Tom E, because you aroused my curiosity, and yes, some have the same CAS added, or close relatives of it. Feibings, for example, use two different CAS products, a heavy and a light paraffinic distillate. So if anyone says not to use neatsfoot compound because of the added petroleum product(s) I hope they're not using Skidmore's either. I've spent some time in the past trying to make beeswax into a soft paste, like the bought ones, using only real natural ingredients. The problem is that to do that you don't have much actual beeswax in the mix or it becomes too thick. The best results were using pure olive oil (similar to a product called Bore Butter, put out as a bore/patch lube for muzzleloading rifles), I also tried using pure gum turpentine but this left a black tar-like deposit in the tin after a while, so I'm not using that on leather. Lanolin also worked but again if you add too much beeswax it becomes too thick., likewise pure NFO. I have some ISO 68 Hydraulic oil (one that the MSDS indicates is about 99% CAS 64742-54-7, I'm tempted to try mixing a small amount with some beeswax just to see what I get. As Chuck said if you're using something that works and you're happy with it that's all that matters (I guess).

A bit more searching shows that CAS 64742-54-7 is the primary ingredient (often listed as greater than 90%) in many brands of hydraulic fluid.

I'll see if I can get something useful tomorrow.

I often see Skidmore's Leather Cream mentioned as THE stuff to use on leather so got curious about it. They advertise it as all-natural ingredients, but when I went looking for the MSDS it came up with this - beeswax and Heavy paraffinic distillate 64742-54-7, which is obviously the solvent. This is made from oil and is used in many motor oils so calling it natural is, to my way of thinking, stretching things just a bit. Many leatherworkers are fussy about not using petroleum-based products on their leather but I wonder how many realise what is in Skidmore's. Food for thought.

Looking at the stuff (and picking away at the edges) it appears to be one piece, BUT if you're right and the stuff is compressed together under high pressure with a glue I guess it could turn out like that. Certainly not what I consider to be quality stuff!

I bought a used set a few years ago (genuine Triumph), they needed a bit of repair work - stitching, rivet replacement etc - but they've served me well since then. I noticed at the time that the leather looked "funny" at some of the edges but didn't worry too much. In the meantime the leather has slowly cracked and torn at some of the folds and looks a bit like thick cardboard separating at the breaks. Hard to describe but nothing I've seen before. Anyone have any ideas what sort of leather it might have been? I've just pulled them apart to salvage any useable bits as they were past being repaired.

The mice are very well done, something that's a bit different.

Very nice indeed! Looks like a lot of work went into it.

A set of carved holsters and gunbelt would look impressive as a display (most people would recognize what they are but would rarely see them in real life).

Gosut, I admire your tenacity! Me, I just got a suitable container, poured in some vinegar from the supermarket and threw in some steel wool. I did wash the steel wool in petrol first, my token effort at a "scientific" approach!! End result was a useable vinegaroon. It's now a couple of years old (and brown) so I suppose I should try it again sometime and see if it still works.

A rather strange, and vague, question. It's a pretty simple matter to look up clothing on the internet.

The saddlebags are particularly well done. Takes a lot of leather to make them. HS, due to our overly restrictive firearms regulations here in Oz the demand for holsters, rifle scabbards etc is small. Not likely to be things you could sell easily at a market stall.