Restoring Old Leather

[Tinkerton]

Hey all,

I inherited what I'm pretty sure are two rolled unfinished sole bends. They are 30+ years old and very stiff and dry, but as far as I can tell, there aren't any cracks in them. Is there any way of restoring them to a useable condition without effecting how well they'll dye, or are they lost?

Cheers

Tinkerton

[johnv474]

If it is not cracked then you can make quite a lot of difference with very few products.

I would recommend first cleaning with saddle soap or Lexol cleaner. Cleaning twice wouldn't hurt, as either of these will impart some moisture, which is what you are after.

Then I would recommend applying either Lexol Conditioner or any of the oils you have read about on this forum--in other words, just about any plant or animal oil. Common ones include neatsfoot oil, extra virgin olive oil, almond oil, flax oil, cod liver oil, etc.

oiling the leather will tend to make it softer, darker (moisture), and much more flexible. Leat each light coat soak in for an hour or overnight. A few light coats beat one heavy coat.

Lastly, getting some waxes in/on it will help also. Beeswax is very common, and found in many of the conditioners.

Lanolin or pine tar pitch will aid in future weather-resistance.

Many, many products exist, and I would probably use a combination of them. I recommend avoiding petroleum products, though I know some people will use baby oil in a pinch, but olive oil is cheap enough.

Since leather is animal skin, about anything you can apply to your own hands to moisturize them will work on leather as well. Oil, wax, glycerin, Vitamin E, lanolin, etc.

I have even tried lard, coconut oil, and about anything I could find, as experiments. They all worked well enough.

Don't over oil, and be gentle with it until those products have soaked in. I bet 2-3 light coats of saddle soap, and of an oil, and of a wax (Fiebing's Atom Wax is quite easy to use and looks nice), will get you some usable leather.

Feel free to post pictures before/after in case someone finds this thread while searching.

[Tinkerton]

Thanks! I'll give it a shot and post the results

[oltoot]

Myself, I would first immerse them in warm water and leave them until no more bubbles, then roll them out flat, check out the wrinkle theory. if there were a few, smooth them out with a glass or hardwood slicker then start with the light oiling. You can skip the saddle soap, Don't wait for them to get dry before starting with the oiling. Go easy with oiling as for sole bends you want the result to still be quite stiff and flexible but not pliable. From all the products listed above i would use Lexol nf, reason being it is deep penetrating without darkening and it has worked well for me with wet leather.