Does anyone have a good saddle soap receipe

[ToddW]

I know there are a lot of them out there by googling but just curious if anyone has one they used and liked.  I made the leather balm which worked out pretty good.  Now looking for a good soap cleaner.. 

[ToddW]

ok.. a bit more questions on this one.. 

Looks like KIWI saddle soap : Water, Sodium Tallowate, PEG-10, Stearic Acid, Carnauba Wax, Sodium Carbonate, Glycerin, Lanolin, Benzisothiazolinone.

Most of the recipes for Saddle Soap have only 3 ingredients which I assume is because they are just grating up a soap bar:  10 parts water , 3 parts grated soap, 1 Parts Neatsfoot Oil, 2 Part Pelleted Beeswax

Just looking for some thoughts around trying to order up the kiwi ingredients or just find a bar of soap to grate up..  Looks like they are recommending goats milk soap..

 

Thoughts?? 

 

[SUP]

 If people talk of using goat's milk soap, it is usually people making and selling the soaps as well. Most use Ivory or Castile soap or glycerin soap. In fact, some recipes say any type of soap will do, scented or unscented. After all, the only thing it does is clean and any soap can do that. The wax prevents the leather from getting too dry. It need not even be beeswax. Neatsfoot oil probably helps in penetration into the leather.

Edited March 6, 2024 by SUP

[Mulesaw]

I think that grating up soap and adding a few other ingredients might be an easy way into making your own saddle soap without having to invest in a lot of different chemicals that you might be difficult to get hold of.

I have made some regular soap as a small hobby a couple of years back, that is fairly easy and gives an old fashioned soap without different chemicals. But if it is better than modern soaps - I don't know?

The advantage of making it from scratch is that you can make sure that your soap is "over oily / greasy" meaning that you can make sure that there is more fat/oil than the sodium hydroxide can react with. So you won't get an aggressive soap. The recipe book I use has got a recipe for a milk soap as well, so you could make something like that and use for a base if you wanted to. I'm not near my recipe book at the moment, so I can't remember the ratios between different types of fat and sodium hydroxide.

But I have to admit that I have never really seen the use for a specific saddle soap. If I have to clean a saddle, I use grated soap and tepid water. The idea for me is to clean the saddle with the soap, not oil it or wax it at the same time. When the saddle is clean - I let it dry and then I ad a good conditioner or some neatsfoot oil or some leather grease (tallow). 
 

Good luck with whatever you try :-)

Brgds Jonas

[SUP]

I usually clean my leathers with a dilute solution of Dawn dishwashing liquid, dry it and then condition it. I have tried saddle soap and it was not much different anyway.

[Dwight]

Last saddle soap I used . . . 

Bought it at Tandy's . . . 

Works pretty good . . . best I remember . . . have not used it in a while.

May God bless,

Dwight

[badhatter1005]

If you happen to have a local tractor supply company store they sell fieblings saddle soap. It works really well both the bar and the spray. I find the spray more convenient.

You can also use mink oil mixed with coconut oil. Both come in solid form. Heat them up until they melt together. The mink oil will take a lot longer to melt than the coconut oil. When they are a liquid let them cool at room temperature until they become a solid again. Then you have a very excellent lubricant for your leather that works just as well as saddle soap.

[ToddW]

ok.. sorry for all the posts and questions but in my research mode.  I was watching this video on making saddle soap:  

in it he said to use Neatsfoot Oil but made the comment to use mineral oil if you don't want to soften the leather..  does Neatsfoot Oil in saddle soap really soften that much?  just thinking as my backpack and bags are not a stiff leather and didn't want something softening it even more..

Thoughts?

[Mulesaw]

3 hours ago, ToddW said:

in it he said to use Neatsfoot Oil but made the comment to use mineral oil if you don't want to soften the leather..  does Neatsfoot Oil in saddle soap really soften that much?  just thinking as my backpack and bags are not a stiff leather and didn't want something softening it even more..

In my experience neatsfoot oil doesn't soften that much. And I wouldn't worry about it in the amount used in connection with soap. (I can't see the video because of poor internet onboard), but lets say that there is used a total of 1/4 cup of NF oil in the soap batch, maybe that is 20% of the total volume. To clean your backpack or a bag you might use a tablespoon's worth of soap. and 20% of a tablespoon is probably half a teaspoon, and that is not a lot of oil :-) 

There have been some discussions in earlier threads about whether or not to use mineral oil. Working with a lot of oil in my day job (marine engineer), I just want to mention that a lot of oils have additives in them, and while pure mineral oil might be OK (think petroleum jelly), a lot of those additives aren't good for your skin. So you might want to stay away from e.g. gear oil, two stroke oil, motor oil and hydraulic oil.
But then again, in those volumes there probably won't be any problems.

Brgds Jonas