Cleaning Leather With Oxalic Acid Crystals Or Lemon Juice

[Toolingaround]

Hello Everyone

I am a rank amature newbie of the first degree and have been glued leatherworker.net since I found it!!!

Being short on cash and long on enthusiasm I downloaded a bunch of out of copywrite books from google on leatherworking. In this book

The decoration of leather

Georges de Récy

They mention a study done in 1900 on the durability of various book binding leather techniques and concluded among other things that oxalic acid is BAD news.

I don't know what modern studies may have found but just something to keep in mind if you are doing heirloom stuff.

Anyhow can't thank you all enough for this amazing fountain of knowledge!!!

Cheers,

Toolingaround

[Bard Skye]

As I have mentioned before, do not put too much stock in what the MSDS says. The MSDSs are designed to inform people about any, all, potential, possible, might happen, might never happen effects of chemicals. While it is true that oxalic acid is more reactive and worse for your health than other compounds used to clean leather. it should not be looked at as worse for your health than other chemicals without much more experience with the compound itself. What I am saying is that it depends more on what you are reacting with, what concentration you are using, and how safe you are working with the chemical (proper protective equipment etc.).

As far as oxalic acid behing hazardous, I would say yes. Is lemon juice hazardous? Yes in the right situation. Take a look at the MSDS for table salt. Hazardous? You bet! Check it out:

You're absolutely right. I use *far* more hazardous things than oxalic acid on a daily basis.

I still prefer using things that I already have around the house, though.

You should check out this site:

http://www.dhmo.org/

Be sure to take a look at the "press kit" while you're there.

Skye

[Radthalan]

That web site is freaking hilarious. I only hope people don't take it too seriously and freak out LOL. Thanks Bard

[Bard Skye]

That web site is freaking hilarious. I only hope people don't take it too seriously and freak out LOL. Thanks Bard

I'm afraid some people do. Go into the press kit and read up on the Aliso Viejo incident. The city was about to outlaw styrofoam cups because DHMO was used in their manufacture!

BTW, "bard" is a title. As in musician / singer / entertainer. It's what I do in the SCA.

Skye

[jimmy eng]

I've used diluted vinegar and diluted dish detergent (separately) to clean bags with mold because it stops it from forming and removes a lot of it so my question is if the crystals will do the same thing.

[Northmount]

1322576491[/url]' post='222121']

I've used diluted vinegar and diluted dish detergent (separately) to clean bags with mold because it stops it from forming and removes a lot of it so my question is if the crystals will do the same thing.

Depending on how much you dilute the oxalic as to whether it is stronger or weaker than vinegar.