Old Leather Bag

[aves]

hey all,

i have an old leather bag thats about a 100 years old, apparently its made from saddle leather.... i would love to bring it back to its full life its gone quite hard and brittle and i was wondering what the best method of rejuvenating it would be?

what would be the best products to buy?

i live in the UK so might not be able to buy the same brands but i can find products with similar ingrediants.

its a medium-light tan colour its been sat around in a dusty room for quite a while by the looks of it.

Aves

[dirtclod]

I don't think you will ever bring it back to life. At a certain point it's just done and you do more harm trying to fix it. Best thing would be to measure the one you have and make a new one.

[Mechanical Cowgirl]

I've worked with some very dry saddles before and had some success on them. I use saddle soap and water, clean it and get some water soaked in to it. Don't drench it, just let it get nicely damp, then let it set in a cool area for a few hours and check on it now and then, add a little more water as needed to get the bag evenly damp through the thickness of the leather. Just be patient and don't get too much water in there at once. After you have the leather dampened evenly (again not wet, just lightly damp) put a dubbin inside and out. I can't guarantee what result you will get but with some tinkering I've had some good results on saddle skirts.

Good Luck!

[aves]

I've worked with some very dry saddles before and had some success on them. I use saddle soap and water, clean it and get some water soaked in to it. Don't drench it, just let it get nicely damp, then let it set in a cool area for a few hours and check on it now and then, add a little more water as needed to get the bag evenly damp through the thickness of the leather. Just be patient and don't get too much water in there at once. After you have the leather dampened evenly (again not wet, just lightly damp) put a dubbin inside and out. I can't guarantee what result you will get but with some tinkering I've had some good results on saddle skirts.

Good Luck!

hey thanks for the reply. thats really helpful

i bought some 'leather rejuvenator' oil now as well so ill try that too. ill do what you said though and carefully give it a good clean first.

ill let you know how i get on with results, il take some before and after pics too.

[Mechanical Cowgirl]

Best of luck on it! And, have patience, it may take a few rounds over a few weeks to get it rejuvenated.