Oils & Finishes On Veg Tanned Purse

[AZsaguaro]

Howdy folks--apologies in advance but I did a pretty thorough search of the forums & couldn't find *exactly* this topic/question. I'm very new/inexperienced at this, though I have repeatedly applied mineral oil to my old (30 yrs) tooled belts to good effect. I did read a number of posts about using olive oil--mostly on saddles--conditioners.

So: I bought a partially hand-tooled purse. It's 1/8 in thick, rough unfinished edges & interior. Outside smooth matte finish light tan, very slight grain, very stiff, molded bottom, floppier foldover top. (Cannot determine how this variation in stiffness was accomplished as leather looks identical on both parts.) Single row 1/4 inch white thread stitching holds it together, same stitching along top (though not holding parts together). It looks somewhat like this file, only not whip-stitched, less tooling & lighter.

So I think it may be veg tanned but unsure of extent it's actually finished. I don't mind at all if it darkens (was looking for dark brown anyway). Will let it "suntan" if the finish doesn't do that.

Questions:

A): should I apply a light coat of olive oil, let it soak in, then use a leather conditioner? Or just the conditioner?

while I read the post about finishing the raw edges beautifully, that entire process is beyond me, though I'd like to seal the edge--and the interior. Read about using gum traganth on raw leather, which I am willing to do (with anxiousness)...

'Preciate any advice!Thanks in advance.

[barehandcustoms]

You could try a few light coats of Neatsfoot oil but I would stay away from applying heavy coats of oil and sun drying it. Without knowledge on how to properly do that you could end up with a big old oil soaked purse that leaves oil streaks on everything for months.

I would recommend applying very light coats of Neatsfoot oil or olive oil once a day until you get the leather conditioned how you want it. In my experience people end up over doing this process so proceed slowly and apply thin coats.

Edited July 23, 2014 by barehandcustoms