Old Leather that was in storage

[jnovosel96706]

I just pulled some old leather sides/quarters out of the storage bin.  I need to know if there is any issues with the leather and how to solve the issues.

I am saying this because I am mostly blind.  My wife is concerned with mold and mildew.  What should we be looking for?

 

John Novosel

 

 

[AEBL]

I'd imagine that your leather would smell bad if it had potential mold issues. Mold would present as dark gray patches. There are other things that can cause dark gray patches in leather, but isolating the blotchy leather from the rest of your good leather is probably a good first step. If you do find any, all hope may not be lost. There are a few threads here that talk about how to clean up moldy leather ... but you may not always be able to save it.

Also note that sunlight can change the color of leather - not all blotches are a bad thing. Blotches caused by sunlight will likely be wider, and more leather-colored. Mold blotches are small to medium sized patches - often pinpoints of dark gray.

Edited Sunday at 03:26 AM by AEBL

[jnovosel96706]

thanks for the information, my late dad told me to treat the leather with clorox water solution and lay it under the sun to dry.  I was also advised to use leather cleaner/conditioner.  None of the leather has dark grey areas, there are some what smells like mildew.  I think I might break it down into small sheets.

 

John Novosel

[AEBL]

@jnovosel96706, I'm not sure I'd use clorox ... maybe white vinegar ... but if you get some leather conditioner, that would be my first step. You might also try saddle soap, then the conditioner. Clorox might also make your leather brittle. If you try it, try it on a small sample first.

 

[SUP]

I usually use dilute vinegar first and allow it to dry. That gets rid of mold and mildew.  Then the cleanser and conditioner to replace the oils and normalize pH.

Clorox is not meant for leather and might well damage it. 

Edited yesterday at 02:02 AM by SUP

[jnovosel96706]

I will try the vinegar, when I used the Clorox it was less than 10% solution.  I will use the saddle soap, that did even come to me.  Thanks again.

[SUP]

In the thread  on preventing mold, a very recent thread, you will find, @Northmount and @Johanna have explained how to use vinegar or Listerine to clean and preserve leather. They are much more knowledgeable and experienced than I am. 

[fredk]

If clorox is bleach; the one and only time I had mould on a piece of leather, a cased piece which I'd stored between working on, the bleach only removed the oils from the leather. It may have killed the mould spores but left the leather with the mould stains