Stone Oil Leather Care.

[Austyn]

Hey everyone.

So I like to use Stone Oil Cowhide Leather Sides to make wallets and all sorts of leather goods! Now this leather is tanned with wax and oils and I was wondering what I need to do to just take care of the leather. Sometimes I don't get to my studio to work for weeks and the leather just sits there. What can I do to keep the the leather fresh? If theres even anything that needs to be done?

https://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/search/searchresults/9070-313.aspx

This is the link to the leather I use^^^^

Any info would be awesome!

thanks!

[Geneva]

I had never heard of Stone oil leather until I looked at your link. Tandy stuck the "Stone" on there to intice more buyers. This is just oil tanned leather nothing fancy. You will not like this leather for your intended projects. The oil bleeds onto what ever it is in contact with. I would suggest English Bridle or vegetable tan and you dye it the color you want to.

As far as doing anything to keep it fesh. Nothing.

[benlilly1]

Austyn, I also love the look and feel of the oil tanned leather. I don't know if there's any need to keep it fresh. I've had a side for over a year and just used some. I've not had any problem with oil bleeding out of it.

[veedub3]

The stone oil tanned leather will bleed onto vegetable tanned leather. I made the mistake of leaving a piece sitting on a project overnight and when I walked in the shop the next morning, I was in for a surprise. I ended up having to dye that project black to cover it up but since then, all veg tan leather is stored on the opposite side of the shop to prevent this from happening again. Here is a link where I posted what happened http://leatherworker...showtopic=47410

After that happened I performed an experiment. I left a piece of the oil tanned leather on a few items for a week to see what would happen. I used a baby onesie, business cards, a sheet of notebook paper, veg tan leather that had been sealed/finished, unfinished veg tan, and money. The only thing that stained was the unfinished veg tan. I was really glad of that because I made a friend a cross body bag from that leather, and if it would have stained her clothes or the items she carried inside, she would have been upset.

I happen to like this leather, and ever since I have been buying it, it has been called "Stone Oiled". I liked it better when I got it for $69 a side back before Tandy changed the pricing structure from sq.ft to one price, but this leather works well for my projects which is mostly bags.

As for what I do to keep it fresh, nothing special! I still have a few sides I got back in early 2013 and all I did was roll it up and put it on the shelf.

Karina

[WScott]

I have some "Mustang" oiled leather from Tandy purchased about three years ago now. Made this bag, a guitar strap and a belt.

It is lovely stuff and has not bled out, though I do heed warnings and store oiled leathers away from all others. Some oiled leathers will bleed more than others. For example, my prized Horween leathers get their own shelf space as they have a bleed out potential and are my precious. If you have seen a really old piece of leather, like say a veg tan baseball glove, it can dry out after long time and that when it needs to be re-fed.

Keep your oil tanned rolled, covered and out of sunlight. If you think it has dried out, just re feed it with whatever oil based product is available to you...there are lots!!

Tandy takes such a bad rap one here, but if you are careful in selection, go to the store, feel/pick the leather yourself and buy stuff on sale you can do just fine!!

[KandB]

I pretty much work only with the stone oiled and the kodiaks from tandy - the "stone" refers to the finish, you'll notice that there is no grain on the stone oiled, versus the kodiak that has the grain visible - it's buffed out, that's why they call it stone.

Having worked with it for several years I can tell you that there's nothing I've ever had to do to it to keep it' fresh' - it's pretty much always its beautiful, waxy self. To darken it if you find that it's lighter than you like, you just use a bit of oil (your preference, I like the beeswax stuff). You can dye it even with feibings or ecoflo, it doesn't change the finish, just the colour. I use it for everything from purses to wallets, and it wears beautifully, getting a lovely, shiny patina after years of use. It distresses wonderfully too.

Definitely don't have it touch veg-tan - vegtan will get dirty if you so much as look at it the wrong way, so nothing with oil on the veg tan unless you want it to stain.