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I was referring to some monks I know who can't find sandals that fit them. I'm not sure if these sandals I'm making, with this design, will help them. I think they will be painful to break in. Without a strap between the two big toes, the straps have to be snug to keep the foot centered. One person had surgery on the bones of his foot to straighten his foot, and my sandals will be too hard for him to break in. The only positive is that the sole and straps will be in the right places, but it seems break in will be painful and arduous. I used to build or insert arches, but now I believe that our feet are well designed for walking and the soles are for protecting them from stones we might step on. We actually have arches in our feet so I don't presume to think I can build arches. Our natural arches are self supporting. If we have flat feet, using shoes with built in arches will hurt our feet. So I make my sandals totally flat. The heel I use is only 1/8" thicker than the 3/4 sole, which is 1/8" thick. I'm considering a softer and thinner leather - a 6.5 ounce luxury vegetable tan side - for the straps. Because my straps are wider, it might be strong enough to resist stretching.

Since linen is a natural product, it will dry out and/or rot. Shoemakers (cordwainers) would use hand wax (coad) on the threads. They had two different types, hard for summer (hard enough not to be a mess in the heat) and soft (so it would work into the threads) for winter. There are few threads on coad. Sorrell Notions was the one place I knew of to find it, but it looks like Lisa isn't carrying it any longer. You'll might have to make your own. JCUK is spot on about using the correct size hole with the correct size thread. You want a hole that will get plugged if you will with the wax on the thread. While sewing with the thread, once and done won't work. With each pull through a hole, the wax is scrapped off a bit, so you will need to rewax the thread as you sew. If your hole/thread size is correct, back stitching will hold it. And if you waxed your thread enough, no glue will work. It can't get to the thread because its coated with wax.

Thats good to know, might be a mission getting it in NZ haha, also Ive been hand dyeing and finishing all my belts so buying natural stuff is always preferable for me, will need to get a glass slicker, what wax do you use?

It burns when I put a lighter to it. Burns down the length of the piece that I cut. No. That is wrong. I think it melts and leaves a small amount of firm black residue which would not happen with natural fibre. Natural fibre would leave ash. This thread burns up so fast, initially I thought it burnt up but now when I look, it has left a firm black residue. So synthetic fibre.

I also have a 8500 Kw portable I bought years ago to run my well in the woods when I just had a camper there. Then I converted it to run on natural gas and had a hose connected to my meter at the house in the city, to the back yard where my electrical panal was and back fed the panal thru a 50 amp breaker. One time it ran for two days non stop

Ok, I forgot you were in Canada so the price would be higher. I also didn’t take into account the propane tank or piping, at the time of my install I worked for a natural gas utility that also did LP and I got the tank, piping and fittings from there at a good price. I did all the installation of the tank, underground piping and final connections myself so I saved a lot there.

My son has a Generac 2200 kW on natural gas with auto transfer. He has 2 sump pumps in the basement and one in a well just outside the basement. His house is in an area close to a creek, and only has about 6" of top soil on gravel, the ground water level gets pretty high during mountain snow melt and rain in June each year. When they coincide, there is water from the creek across the road into his acreage. Power poles in his area have fallen over during these rains and floods knocking out power in the area. While we were putting in the generator, we got the heavy rain and huge mountain run off due to rain in the mountains. He had a 2" trash pump running continuous to keep the basement dry. The gas fitter wouldn't come out in the rain to make the last hook up, so we switched the generator to propane and brought in multiple propane bottles. Was a really stressful few days. Now it's all automated and fewer problems, but the gasoline trash pumps and hose are on standby just in case!

@dikman yes and along with mineral oil, other petroleum based products appear as additional ingredients as well. About mineral oils, it is purely organic (versus inorganic) from the point of view of Chemistry. I think of it as natural as well - the result of refining of crude oil - sources of fossil fuels. I suspect people think it is not organic because of the name - they associate the term 'mineral' with, I suppose metals and nonmetals, essentially inorganic material. I wonder if there is another name for mineral oil.

SUP, I suspect you're right, the common denominator I found, when looking at the MSDS for various leather treatments, is mineral oil. It generally forms the major component in order to make the beeswax soft enough to spread as a paste. Most of the other additives are in quite small quantities, perhaps to add a pleasant smell and make people feel good because it has "natural ingredients" - although many companies consider mineral oil to be a natural product for the purpose of advertising. Plus it's probably relatively cheap to use as a commercial component.

For my use case, it's partially about water proofing knife sheaths, but also about conditioning/nourishing the leather, as some sheaths and pouches are a bit dry. But given that the product I'm looking at seems like a soft wax/oil mix, I think/hope it might have enough conditioning potential to not have to bother with really liquid oils first. I'd like to avoid having to get multiple products. Not sure if linking is allowed/frowned upon, so just sharing a picture of how it looks, makes me think it's the typical soft waxy conditioner that could even be applied without adding heat: ("Avocado and other high quality plant based oils, high quality vaseline, natural beeswax, subtle fragrance")

Interesting experiment! I ended up here when Googling for more information about whether or not vaseline would be bad as a component of a specific leather balm I had my eye on (Urban Forest Premium Leather Balsam, which I wanted to get as alternative to Obenauf Heavy Duty LP which isn't available here). I had already looked for what were 'good' products vs 'bad', with anything petroleum based (including vaseline) most often being chucked into the 'bad' pile. But that balm also has beeswax, avocado oil and other natural oils in it, besides vaseline. Reviews on it are excellent, as is 'picture proof', but still I was concerned. While not conclusive/100% scientific yet, the rational debate and testing in this thread has at least given me a bit more peace of mind about potentially using that product; since it's not pure vaseline and contains natural oils and beeswax as well, there's a good chance it's a 'healthy' balance between them all and it might not long term deteriorate the leather (at least that's what I'm telling myself, since I couldn't find another product here that guaranteed only mixes only natural oils and beeswax, and making my own is not an option). It's also not like I'm planning to treat heirloom pieces with it, just some knife sheaths and revive/condition a few leather belt satchels. But when there's doubt, my mind tends to go down rabbit holes. So thanks for your efforts, adding actual valuable info to the interwebs rather than just echoing/parroting (unfounded) hearsay.

I've never come across powdered dye for leather. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, though. Try Google. It might not be called "leather dye", though, perhaps something like "pigment". Customizing your dye should be an exercise in experimentation until you develop your own formulas. Fiebings Pro dye is great stuff, but it ain't the only dye brand. There is Angelus and others. You don't need to rely on "Leather Dye" as your only choice, either. I've seen people get good results from fabric dyes, like Rit. Or maybe powder. Another choice, I use good ol' homemade vinegaroon for a dark gray to black finish. My results vary in intensity and tone, depending on the particular piece of leather, but usually comes out a dark charcoal, almost black, which might be close to what you're looking for. For an aged tan look I use very strong black tea, or very strong black coffee to get a good brown color. Walnut husks and other natural make a great dyes, too. Play around with things and have fun!

Since you've refrained from using conditioners or substances, it's possible that the leather has lost some of its natural oils, leading to the peeling you're experiencing. In this case, using a high-quality leather conditioner could help replenish the oils and restore moisture to the leather, potentially preventing further peeling. If the issue persists or worsens despite your efforts, it might be worth contacting the manufacturer or the retailer again to discuss possible warranty coverage or further troubleshooting steps.

One hide left of the same Deerborn in sapphire $4: This is the kind of distressed, feeling leather from Horween called roadmaster. It’s around 6 ounces thick $4 per foot: I have this, just one hide of Horween football print leather $3 per foot: Horween aniline latigo in Heather Gray, natural and tan$5 per foot:

The link didn't work so I couldn't see the defect, but it sounds like lifting of the grain. There is a natural junction between the grain and the underlying flesh layer (corium) that is rather weak and open in structure. It is vunerable to breaking and more so in low quality leather, a defect referred to as "looseness." The "break" of the leather refers to the ripples created when the grain is sharply flexed (concavity). Good quality leather makes fine ripples (fine break) and low quality leather makes coarse ripples with more separation of grain and flesh layers. Blistering caused by uneven wetting of the leather is the same phenomenon. If you're interested in the structure and chemistry of leather the book "Tanning Chemistry. The Science of Leather" by Covington and Wise is a very detailed (685 pp) reference.

Having spent a good deal of time researching and reading forums, to include this one, I have found that there are plenty of threads on making leather conditioners , but not many actual recipes. People act like it's a secret or are elusive in what ingredients and ratios they use. It's not a secret, I never understood why people act like its some kind of proprietary info on how they make conditioner. It's not like most/any of them are trying to sell it to make a living or anything. Plus its not rocket science. If one looks at most commercial products Material Safety Data Sheets ( MSDS), you can find out what the ingredients are and sometimes even the % of each. A little bit of tinkering and one can figure out what the ratios are. So I've decided to post up an actual recipe for making your own all natural leather conditioner. I also use this for a sealer/finish after dyeing with good success, although it takes more time and hand rubbing/buffing than say applying resolene, etc. The intent is to make an all natural product, using all natural and 100% organic ingredients. I intentionally avoided things like Mineral oil, cheap oils, lards/tallows and other petroleum products found in some commercial products used for leather conditioning. I also avoided using things like kerosene, turpentine or other similar products often mentioned in threads like these, that are used for their solvent properties and ability to penetrate leather. Having looked at ingredients used back as far as the 1800's, it is clear some of those ingredients were used out of necessity and or availability and really aren't that great for leather pH or otherwise in conditioning, but are still held onto and used by some. Likewise, I've seen mention about the concern of rancidity when using some vegetable and or animal products. While I do not doubt that things can go rancid given the right circumstances, I have yet to see anyone actually have this issue, it's always been someones sisters brothers cousin twice removed or a case of gross over saturation. Same goes with attracting of vermin/animals. There just isn't anything concrete to factually point to it as a big enough concern and reason to avoid using any of those ingredients. I chalk the rancidity concern up to an old wives/urban myth that keeps getting repeated in forums like these (I'm sure this last sentence will no doubt bring out someone who claims otherwise, it is the internet after all.). So like any kind of recipe, it is a baseline to start from. You may have to adjust some of the ratios of the ingredients you use from this recipe, as your ingredients might be slightly different from mine and your results different. So if it's too tacky, too hard, too soft, to your liking, you will have to make small adjustments. Likewise, the recipe below is an example of ingredients that can be used. There are many others that are still all natural that can be used in lieu of and or added to the mixture( coconut oil, castor oil, Cod fish oil, jojoba, shea butter, etc). I give an example of that in the recipe below with the addition of two additional ingredients. While some may or may not consider it "natural", neatsfoot oil could also be added to the recipe below if you wanted to add that.Just remember that with neatsfoot oil, less is more. As an example Lexol only uses 5-10% neatsfoot oil and 80% is water and other ingredients in its leather conditioner per their MSDS sheet on their website ( Yes, Lexol IS neatsfoot oil, just like soylent green is people. A shocker , I know) If you have a favorite commercial product, do a duck duck go search on it using "MSDS" or "SDS" to pull up the data sheet on it, and you'll likely find out what ingredients are used in it, that you can replicate yourself or use in your product. Here is something to keep in mind while doing this though. The more oil(s) you add to the mix, the softer the final product will be unless you increase the ratio of the other materials like beeswax and Carnauba wax that help to firm the final product up. So if your batch isn't coming out like you want it, you know where to look at correcting it. Likewise, do a small test batch/run of a given ratio (write this down as you're doing it) if you haven't done it before, so you're not over committing to a final product that you aren't happy with. Once you arrive at the right ratios for the small batch that make you happy, increase them proportionality as needed for larger batches. Basically, if you can make ramen noodles on the stove, you can make your own Leather conditioner in about an hour and in as large a quantity as you want for slightly more than you'd pay for a store bought 4 oz tin.($20) of leather conditioner The ingredients are simple( most/all are for sale on Amazon or locally in stores): 100% organic coca butter- about $15 a pound 100% organic Beeswax- about $14 a pound 100% pure sweet almond oil (or similar non greasy scented oil)- 16oz $8 ( this will make approx 8 batches of 4 ozs tins) Total investment cost: $38-45 if you allow for taxes, shipping, etc Now, the recipe : It’s a simple recipe, mix the three ingredients at a ratio of 1:1:2 (beeswax, cocoa butter, and liquid oil) , this ratio gives the balm a slightly softer texture as opposed to being a very solid bar. This is still a balm, though; if you want more of a cream, use a 1:1:3 ratio. If you add the two optional ingredients you are adding more conditioner( lanolin) and a hardener (Carnauba wax) that result in a more solid final product. The ratio with the other two ingredients would be: 1:1:2: .5: .25 You can increase the Lanolin from .5 to 1 if you choose but it does increase the overall cost. If you need a harder product, increase the carnauba wax, as too much beeswax can result in a tacky feel to the product. Homemade Leather Balm 25g | 0.88oz beeswax 25g | 0.88oz cocoa butter 50g | 1.76oz sweet almond oil (or other not-too-greasy liquid oil) *2 teaspoons of Anhydrous Lanolin *1 teaspoon of T1grade organic Carnauba wax *Optional Ingredients that can be added to this recipe but it will increase the overall price for the materials* Melt everything together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Pour into a 125mL/4oz mason jar and let cool until solid, 20–30 minutes. Obviously you can make this in larger quantities by increasing the recipe above and make several 4 oz jars at once, or a few larger ones. Either way, for a few dollars more than store bought and a little bit of time, you can make your own leather conditioner in larger quantities for a lot less. * Disclaimer* My math might be a tad off, I did this in my head as I was typing so the total batches you get for your initial investment in materials may be less or more than the 8 batches I mentioned above. Here are a few details and amplifying information on how to do this. Actual investment in items ( all products shown and the jars) worked out to be $63 when all was said and done As you can see, my initial estimate of 8 batches of 4 ozs. was off. All said and done, using all the shown products at one time resulted in a total of 19ea at 4 ozs ( the larger mason jars are 8 ozs each) for a total of 76 ozs of leather balm. Breakdown of price per 4 oz works out to $4.80 total Total time from start to finish: 30mins The process: 1ea large metal pot 1ea wooden spoon to stir 1ea laddle 1ea Funnel Like I said earlier, if you can make Ramen, you can do this.It's caveman easy. So, this is how it went and the pictures will give you an idea of what to expect if I can get them to load on this forum. Step 1: Pot on the stove, low heat. Drop entire 1lb block of coca butter into the pot and let melt, stirring/moving it around. It melts like a stick of normal butter would melt. Just be sure to keep the heat low, so you don't burn it. After a 2-3 minutes it is all liquid. Step 2: Add in the Beeswax. The beeswax melts slower than the coca butter so it was poured in a 1/3 of the bag at a time and constantly stirred and broken up before adding more. This was done until the entire bag had been poured into the pot and it was all liquified. Stirring it the whole time and monitoring the heat is important , as you might have to turn the heat up a tad to get the beeswax to melt quicker, but you want to be careful not to burn it. If your beeswax is a solid bar, grate it up and or Chunk it up in small pieces so it melts faster. Step 3: Once it was all liquid and mixed together, the pot was removed from the flame/burner. Both bottles of almond oil were poured into the pot and stirred into the mix. At this point, everything is hot liquid, so you have to move fairly quick, as it will begin to set up. We had the 4ozs jars all set up and ready to go before hand so we lost no time going from the stove into the jars. Step 4: Using a laddle, the liquid was poured into a funnel to aid in filing the jars. If you use tins or another container, you may be able to pour it direct, but to reduce mess and loss, the funnel worked best. The liquid starts to cool pretty quick, so have everything prepped and on hand before you get to this stage. Once you've poured it in to all of your containers, allow it to cool and harden up. Step 5: Clean up of pot and funnel,laddle. Do that right after finishing, as it will be semi hardened but hot tap water and some soap and it comes right off. Step 6: Sniff your fingers/hands. As it cools down, this stuff smells pretty awesome and feels great on your skin. Don't be surprised if your woman makes off with a few jars of this stuff for herself. As long as you haven't put any petroleum products or other harsh chemicals in the mix, you can use this on your own skin safely.

Just made a small batch tonight. . . 20g Bee's Wax, 20g Shea Butter, 15g 100% Neatsfoot Oil, 15g Lanolin, 5g Carnuba Wax, 2g Vitamin E Oil Added the extra high Vitamin E oil as an antioxidant, although Shea Butter is said to contain a bunch. . . I don't see a problem with Neatsfoot Oil as it is a natural product derived from shin, and feet bones of cattle, and has been used for leather preservation, and conditioning, more or less, forever. . . All the other things are food grade, and absolutely no problem with contacting your skin (unless you're allergic) Consistency is of a soft shoe polish, rubbed it in with my hands seems to work very well. . .

ok.. I had 2 success after a bit of a science experiment.. I guy in a soap making group on Facebook found a saddle soap recipe using Glycerin and it set just fine.. I then made my recipe using Kirks Castille fragrance free bars grated and that set. I am thinking substituting glycerine soap instead of Ivory (I used Castille soap) messed my ratios up.. Both set just fine... now to find an old pair of boots using one soap on one boot and the other on the alternate boot.. I am thinking they both perform equally. Just don't know which one to make now.. Any thoughts? The Glycerin soap is just a pure soap base so should not have anything harsh in it. Kirks Castille Fragrance free soap claims to be: All Natural Hypoallergenic Skin Care with No Animal By-Products or Synthetic Detergents..Pure Botanical Coconut Oil Soap so both sound like it will be fine.. Thoughts??

I bought 2 Horween veg-tan 5oz straps from Buckleguy to make a stitched belt. My plan was to put velodon in between the 2 straps, glue, and stitch the belt together. This being my first belt I used some natural veg-tan to practice while waiting for the strapts to arrive. Once I received the straps I noticed that the leather itself feels a little more flimsy than my practice veg-tan belt. I have a few concerns; should I be worried about the belt stretching out or am I in the clear? I like the feel of the Horween essex but is it not a good idea to use it for a belt? Should I have purchased a Hermann Oak or W&C strap instead? Finally, any thoughts on using the Horween on the interior of the belt and a W&C strap for the exterior? Here's a link for the straps I bought. https://www.buckleguy.com/horween-essex-leather-strap-black-55-to-60-long-multiple-weights/ Thank you!

Someone has requested from me a leather accordion-style file folder. The part I'm pondering most over is material for the internal dividers. I don't want to use leather just from a practical standpoint. The request is for 12 folder slots, and all that leather I feel will weigh too much and/or be too cumbersome. Ideally I'd like a natural material, i.e. not plastic. I'm thinking canvas, but wondering if it will end up being too floppy. Cardboard is also off the table because it will just end up tearing at the seams. Any ideas for a natural material that is relatively thin but has a degree of stiffness?

I bought an Italian natural vegetable-tanned half-butt from Le Prevo about a week ago. The price seemed good. Other than some sole bend it is the first time I have bought leather from them. And probably the last. About two thirds of the leather has significant scarring. I initially hoped for an exchange to be arranged but this has not happened. Nor were they willing to arrange collection of the leather at their own expense. Instead, I am sending the leather back myself and will be refunded the total cost of the leather plus return postage. At no point has Le Prevo admitted the leather is inferior. Photos have been sent. Instead, they say they do not recall any significant scarring to the leather when it was picked and packed and that the scars are actually surface indentations resulting from damage during transit. They have wasted my time, and I now need to obtain replacement leather. I have returned an expensive, chrome-tanned back to Abbey England with no problems. As a first time customer too. Excellent service. I have also exchanged a chrome-tanned side from Metropolitan Leather that was damaged during transit. Again, excellent customer service. For potentially new customers of Le Prevo, especially those whose questions suggest lack of experience in buying leather as mine did, I would advise you to steer well clear. Scott

First I'd like to say both pairs of boots look fantastic. Second I'd like to apologize for reviving an old thread. Similarly like OP, I have my eyes set on Corcoran jump boots. The brown ones are next to impossible to find in my size and of decent quality. I've been doing a lot of research on how to do this project of mine, and I made a lot of progress with my knowledge. It all started with me remembering I got a black pair in storage, and how I was hoping to strip them and dye them brown. The more modern black pairs are either the 1500 or 975. The 1500 is more accurate, but is pure black leather. The 975 is just natural leather with the top layer being black. Both have through dyed tongues. It became clear to me that both would be quite the challenge to make brown, let alone impossible. I found a group focused on these jump boots and a post on taking 60s era boots and successfully stripping the dye and making them brown. Only issue is the tutorial is a Google translated paragraph, and they didn't say what they used to do it besides scratching the edges of each leather piece right at the seam with scissors and using sandpaper and steel wool on the larger surface areas. Then brown dye and reddish brown polish. No real specifics there, and the materials to strip the dye sound like it would be easy to cut into the stitching. The finished product however looked very good. Now, I was hoping that any of you in here could guide me on how to safely strip off the old coating and dye, and if when fully stripped if I could get close to the original russet brown color. I'm very much into WWII history and always wanted brown jump boots, and using vintage boots allows the closest homage possible with the highest quality build. Also, I know it isn't leather, but the eyelets I was curious on if enamel paint would be smart to use to have them not be raw metal.

You say the hide isn't great AlZilla. Let's be frank: it's awful. I've explained why I started this topic in the first place: because I suspected Le Prevo were trying to rip me off thinking me to have little or no experience of buying leather. You're wrong AlZilla in saying I didn't give David a chance to respond before starting this topic. We did correspond. And I told Le Prevo that I'd started this topic, and then resumed it. Accountability. Shouldn't leather suppliers be accountable to the folk who enable them to put food on their tables? We're buying a natural product that varies in quality. It needs to be graded. Apparently, Le Prevo grade their leather. Forum user fredk's experience of Le Prevo is this: "With Le Prevo I've bought 2nd quality, or damaged or leather with scars from them in their discounted list and I know what I'm getting. All other leathers were first rate, blemish and damage free." So why have I been sent poor quality leather on both occasions I've paid for, to use fredk's words, leather that is "first rate, blemish and damage free?" This question remains unanswered. The replacement leather that you mention? It wasn't all that great to be honest. But it was better than the first piece they sent me. Maybe it's about time leather suppliers up their game.

I'm returning my second purchase of leather from Le Prevo as it's once again of an inferior quality. As before it's natural vegetable-tanned leather. But this time a shoulder rather than a half-butt. I would like to be a regular customer of Le Prevo if possible so hope this will be the last time I'm sent leather like this.

I see you dyed it if you want a more natural on your next project. Do not dye it. Seal the undyed leather with tan kote