smelly leather.....

[calanneh]

Hey folks,

I have been asked by our local Tandy store manager to assemble some plainsmen boots for a special customer who has health problems and can not finish them himself. He has the leather cut and such so mostly just assembly work left to do.... This is his final leather project ever and I want to use HIS leather.

The problem is that his family smokes and I don't. The leather has a STRONG cigarette smoke smell. I want to do this project for him, but I am a non-smoker and the leather has this smell inbedded in it so bad I can't even bring it in the house.......

Any ideas how to get the smell out so I can use his original pieces that he cut?

cal

[HandyAndy]

Febreze?

[Luke Hatley]

go with what andy says....... and a lot of sunshine........

[calanneh]

Febreze?

I was thinking that but I was not sure if it would stain the leather or not......I will try it and let everybody know how it goes.

go with what andy says....... and a lot of sunshine........

Well, I divided it into a few mesh bags and had it hanging out on our covered back porch today. A nice storm blew thru so it got plenty of wind and fresh air, but it did not help much.

Thanks guys!

cal

Edited August 27, 2008 by calanneh

[Drac]

try an airtight bag with a box or 2 of baking soda.

[calanneh]

try an airtight bag with a box or 2 of baking soda.

Good thought!!!

I will try that if the febreeze isn't strong enough!!

Thanks!

cal

[Luke Hatley]

I was thinking that but I was not sure if it would stain the leather or not......I will try it and let everybody know how it goes.

Well, I divided it into a few mesh bags and had it hanging out on our covered back porch today. A nice storm blew thru so it got plenty of wind and fresh air, but it did not help much.

Thanks guys!

cal

NOT ON THE BACK PORCH...........IN THE YARD, IN THE SUNSHINE.

[Rawhide]

Go to Home Depot and get a charcoal filtered mask. This will allow you to work on it without smelling the ill effects. I know this doesn't remove the smoke smell, but it keeps you from gagging!

Marlon

[Bob]

I'm not convinced it's smoke you smell. Some leathers just stink, like the stuff from over seas. I've been to the store and saw some saddles made in India for example and you can smell them from twenty feet away.

Short of wearing a mask, there's not much you can do about it.

[pete]

I agree. That is a way to tell about the tanning process. If it smells like cat urine or thereabouts when you wet it, it was probably tanned in Mexico with an arsenic solution. Very common solution there and other places.

pete

[Michael Sheldon]

Believe it or not, febreeze will do it.

Dunno how it does it, but it really does instantly neutralize odors.

[celticleather]

Many years ago a friend of mine bought 500 leather hats from a manufacturer in India, at a ridiculously low price. When they arrived at his shop, they were nested one inside the next, in lots of 50, and shrink-wrapped. When he opened the packaging the smell was appalling - they had obviously been tanned using a process that involved doggie-doo!

He moved them all to a small spare room, threw in a handful of lavatory cleaning blocks, and taped up the door. The last I heard, he was opening the door every six months to throw in more lavatory blocks, and resealing the door! Don't know whether he ever sold them. . . .

Since then, I have learned that in some parts of India, small boys and girls are employed to collect what dogs (and pigeons) leave behind, for use in the tanning process.

Another friend's father worked for a removals company during the 1930s, and if they had a removal to London, they would call at Battersea Dogs' Home on the way back and collect drums of 'pure' (that's what it's called!), and sell them to tanneries in their home town. Where there's muck, there's money!