Mineral oil bad for leather? Or good? Or neutral?

[SUP]

Here too, there are plenty of us not making saddles and tacks. It is just that the people consistently active on this site are hardcore leatherworkers, who work with veg-tanned leathers and make saddlery, sheaths etc. or even bags, again with veg tanned leathers.  

I for one, don't make saddles or tack or anything even remotely horsey or weapon-y, since I neither ride not have weapons. So bags, shoes, caps, sheaths and sundry items it is, for me. If you find any excellent conditioners and cleaners for chrome and oil tanned leathers, please put it up here. I love to try new things.

[SUP]

Coming back to the rancidity question and the leather bag that I treated with D-Limonene.

The section that I treated first and the one that I treated 2 days later,  now 8 and 6 days ago, are still smelling of the D-Limonene and the rancid smell has not re-appeared. I live in hope. I have not cleaned the whole bag with D-Limonene as yet because I want to preserve that for comparison. The untreated part smells clearly rancid, and then the cleaned part is a relief to sniff at!

I live in hope that it has worked.

[dikman]

Just caught up on this thread again. As Sup has said, many of the commercial treatment products contain mineral oil for the bulk of the product and then add small amounts of beeswax or similar. The mineral oil is  relatively cheap for them to use and it obviously works but adding the wax thickens it up and sounds better in their advertising! 

As for using cooked chicken fat good luck with it!! I can tell you that the chicken fat from chicken cooked on my Weber definitely goes rancid and stinks to high heaven!

[SUP]

I've been checking the rancid smelling bag. The parts cleaned with D-Limonene are dry now and do not smell rancid. It appears that  D-Limonene really helps in removing the smell of rancidity. I am cleaning the rest of the bag today and once dry, conditioning it with a water based conditioner, probably the one by Chemical Guys. I like their conditioner. 

Not started the rancidity test yet. Probably this week-end or next week.

[SUP]

I conditioned the bag with the conditioner from Chemical guys. I used that because it is not oil based. So it does not add more oil to leather that has already been over-oiled. It is conditioned now and looks a little better and smells loads better.

I would not recommend D-Limonene for all leathers which smell rancid. This is pretty sturdy veg-tanned leather and while it did get some creases as it dried after the repeated washing and God knows what else was done earlier, the D-Limonene itself did not do much damage, as far as I can see. But it is still a solvent and other leathers might not respond as well. So I would decide on  case-by-case basis.

I have found a couple of small metal boxes in which to keep the over oiled leather pieces.

[fredk]

I'm actually having difficulty getting chicken fat/grease. All our chicken is extra lean and don't provide as much as a couple of grams

[SUP]

I could try the chicken fat thing. Exactly how do you use it? Just render it in a pan and use that?

[fredk]

More basic than that. My intention is to replicate what my friend had and did.

A medium sized draw-string bag of thin veg tan and a leather lace

The chicken fat/grease was taken from a cooked chicken. The cold fat was liberally applied to the bag and excess wiped off

The bag was kept in with his other kit, so it was warm and dry

I'm not sure how long between applying the fat/grease and it started to go rancid and how long until he brought it to me

My friend did this as the 'expert', who taught him to make the bag, told him to as it would water-proof it and 'thats what they would have used' (in medieval times)

[SUP]

God save us from experts!😅

I think i can replicate that. Makes it easier for me. I make my dog's food every few weeks with chicken. She dislikes all other meats. So when I cook the chicken, the fat of course floats on top and I can use that. 

The boxes I have will be nearly airtight which might not replicate either your friend's experience or that of the woman whose bag I worked on. Maybe I should keep several pieces inside bags in dry, dark areas, enclosed but not air tight. Maybe thick brown paper bags. I think I will try both, in the tins and in bags. Let's see which stinks more.

I will also test some vegetable oils known for going rancid. 

[dikman]

Fred, I just threw away a litre container full of chicken fat - how do you reckon I would go sending it to you in the mail? 

Seriously, I wouldn't ever consider using chicken fat on leather unless you have no sense of smell!! It stinks to high heaven and is a sickening smell!