DIY leather conditioner

[deboardp]

On 1/1/2024 at 10:04 AM, chuck123wapati said:

Thanks for the link i look forward to reading it. 

lol in the last 50,000 years or so of people using leather I'll bet almost every thing has been tried once or twice times a hundred thousand. Conditioning leather isn't a new science, its a forgotten science maybe for sake of a better definition. Done by every race and society on earth each with their own ways of tanning, their own oils and their own greases and their own environments that the leather has to survive.

Here is how you reduce the smell of your tallow, its good for making soap also so dont just throw it out.https://www.faithfulcarnivore.com/post/howtorenderandpurifyodorlessbeeftallow

I don't usually make my own conditioners for the above reason unless it for my black powder grip which I use fats and greases that a fur trapper may have access to. There is nothing I could make any better or unique enough to waste the time and most of my clients don't care either. I don't use it as an advertising ploy which seems to be the norm lately after all its gotta have those "new age" buzz words to sell to some groups. I really don't think Monks would be that petty would they? lol.  

 I apply neets foot oil then use a product from feibings called golden mink oil. I can tell it has a base of petroleum jelly, smells great and works great i have no idea what ratios it is made from. then a sealer if needed a good deal of the time I use clear shoe polish. It is highly used and has been around for many many years, used personally by me so I know it works, pretty well for at least 30 years. If were to make my own i would do just as you are doing and find an old recipe to start with.

Now that is for veg tanned leather. I also brain tan my deer and Elk hides and i use an emulsion of ivory hand soap neets foot oil and water to help tan and condition the hides before smoking them.

 

I see two Golden Mink Oil products by Fiebing, on tandyleather.com: GMO Preserver and GMO Liquid.  Since you mentioned the base being petroleum jelly, it must be the Preserver that you use. I thought I would pick up a jar of it, just in case.

[chuck123wapati]

16 hours ago, deboardp said:

I see two Golden Mink Oil products by Fiebing, on tandyleather.com: GMO Preserver and GMO Liquid.  Since you mentioned the base being petroleum jelly, it must be the Preserver that you use. I thought I would pick up a jar of it, just in case.

https://www.amazon.com/Fiebings-Golden-Mink-Leather-Preserver/dp/B000HHQ42Y

[deboardp]

47 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

https://www.amazon.com/Fiebings-Golden-Mink-Leather-Preserver/dp/B000HHQ42Y

Yeah, that one.

 

[deboardp]

On 12/31/2023 at 10:07 PM, bladegrinder said:

Lard definitely goes rancid.I have a corn feeder out in the woods for deer and squirrel's were climbing up and nawing at the feeder, first I smeared the legs with bearing grease, that worked for the coons but not the squirrels. then I top coated that with vasoline, they still managed to get up there. then I smeared lard on them, that didn't work either. then I put bird spike ribbons on them, that slowed them down but a few use them like a stairway. now, two weeks later when I walk up to it I can smell the lard. it's gone rancid for sure.

I read somewhere that oils and fats go rancid when they are exposed to air. But if they are inside a piece of leather, there's no air in there. Also historically, FOR CENTURIES, fats in the form of tallow and lard have been stuffed into leather used by saddlers. If their saddles stank of dead meat, for sure the ladies would have said something, if the men didn't. One saddler said that cod liver oil rubbed onto fat- stuffed leather restores the smell of leather. 

I had quoted that a fellow said his leather stank after he used lard, but he had made a false statement about something else, so I no longer believe anything he has to say, about anything. Therfore I'm inclined to use the pork leaf fat that was delivered just now. I think I have to render it myself. I'll investigate that situation later, while it thaws. 

Edited January 5, 2024 by deboardp
Correcting my phone's typing errors

[SUP]

@deboardp That is why people wax eloquent about olive oil being discovered from thousands(?) of years ago, not gone rancid. Of course not, they were in air tight bottles! 

I also wonder at the personal hygiene of the people centuries ago.  No running water, toilet paper or equivalents being used, no air conditioners in the heat...   where did BO end and smelly leather begin or vice versa? Would the ladies even notice, since they would be in the same boat? Must have been a smelly world -Just saying...

[chuck123wapati]

i have elk tallow that is over ten years old and still not rancid.

leather shoes wo socks/ sandals will smell like the feet that wear them in just a few weeks more or less. They take up human oil s from the body as well

[deboardp]

I've been thawing the pork leaf fat and smelled it. It has almost no smell at all, maybe only a couple molecules that remind me of smoked pig hocks. It's pure white, rough textured. The plastic 2 lb  container says it is "pork leaf fat, refined", whatever that means. I think it needs to be melted in order to be rendered, but that's a guess. 

The second delivery is Wagyu Beef Tallow from South Chicago Packing. It is white and looks super saturated, dense looking. Like the pork leaf fat it has maybe one molecule per inhalation that suggests beef source, but neuter of these very slight smells was unpleasant. In fact I had to inhale deep and concentrate and think, is that a smell? This particular tallow reminds me of Crisco. The first one I bought, in a14 oz glass jar is Fatworks  Pure Tallow, Organic Cooking Oil, a yellow solid that smells like hamburger run off. I question whether this one is derived from leaf fat of the animal. I don't plan to use it. 

I'm making progress on a pair of sandals for myself. I'm using some processes I didn't use 50 years ago, so despite having a list of ten people who want a pair, I'm making mine first, to make sure I've got a handle on those processes. Burnishing, 45 degree slots rather than straight through at 90, middle with channels cut out, machine stitching, stuffing with fats, lanolin and wax, gluing the gum rubber on the bottom without stitches or tacks...

The third product that came is the Norwegian cod liver oil, processes to remind impurities and the smell. It has maybe one molecule of fish smell, and that's debatable. Essentially free of smell. The three of them actually. I had to be really nosey to smell anything. Just stick my nose in it, practically. 

OK, I'm off to update my sandal progress in that other thread in the Show Off forum. Check it out!

I'll make a list of who sells these odor free products when I find one of the three invoices. 

[dikman]

To my thinking if it's called tallow then that means it has been rendered down, if they call it "refined" then who knows what that means? Personally, I would render that pork fat before I'd consider using it on leather, I wouldn't use any animal fat unless it was rendered to make tallow.

[deboardp]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

To my thinking if it's called tallow then that means it has been rendered down, if they call it "refined" then who knows what that means? Personally, I would render that pork fat before I'd consider using it on leather, I wouldn't use any animal fat unless it was rendered to make tallow.

I read somewhere that leaf fat is the fat surrounding the kidneys, and it's creamier and smoother than fats found on other parts of the body. I do intend to render it. It's not in a usable form. Here's a procedure how to do it, With amounts to use and equipment. Here

[deboardp]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

To my thinking if it's called tallow then that means it has been rendered down, if they call it "refined" then who knows what that means? Personally, I would render that pork fat before I'd consider using it on leather, I wouldn't use any animal fat unless it was rendered to make tallow.

I read somewhere that leaf fat is the fat surrounding the kidneys, and it's creamier and smoother than fats found on other parts of the body.