Using Tallow To Condition Leather.

[YinTx]

On 5/22/2015 at 10:47 AM, MudBugWill said:

I have been using a concoction of 50% tallow, 25% lard, and 25% beeswax for some time now and it is amazing.

Wait, I just read that tallow is Lard!  (see product description here:  http://grasslandbeef.com/beef-tallow-5-gallon-bucket-ships-separately).  Then I read you are mixing tallow with lard! So what the heck is it if it is not lard???  And where would you buy it in the states?  

Thanks for clearing up my confusion!

YinTx

[YinTx]

hah. Wiki to the rescue... I think Lard is from Pig, and Tallow from cow.  Now, where to buy?

[Troy I]

You can get both from a butcher shop...i have even seen Lard in Wal-Mart. 

You might have to melt the beef fat down, if it comes as hunks of fat.

Edited May 19, 2017 by Troy I

[YinTx]

Troy,

Thanks for that.  And after 15 minutes of internet searching.... how to make your own Tallow!

http://www.paleoplan.com/2011/12-02/make-your-own-tallow/

huh.  so simple.  why buy?

YinTx

[Mhicks]

I bought tallow and lard from a natural food store close by, they were on sale for ~5.00 for 16oz jars.  Doubt it will make much or any difference but for the next batch I'm going to try duck fat instead of pork lard and see how it does. 

[YinTx]

Awesome, let us know!

YinTx

[fredk]

Shurly tallow is just another form of unrefined neetsfoot? Both being the fats from cattle

[gary]

54 minutes ago, fredk said:

Shurly tallow is just another form of unrefined neetsfoot? Both being the fats from cattle

Neatsfoot is made from extracting the fats/oils/gelatine and so on from cows' feet only and the elements are, presumably, in historically accepted proportions.  AFAIK, tallow is made from refining suet (the fat from around the kidneys) of cows and sheep.  If a whole cow was boiled down there would be all the other fats and in, presumably, different proportions from just the feet.

[coolactual]

On 5/19/2017 at 10:16 PM, NoHillForAHighStepper said:

Old whip builders were notoriously innovative.  The conditioner that has been passed down for generations in Australia is:

Equal parts of beef tallow, 30 weight motor oil and kerosene.

Hi, does anyone have any experience with recipes like this that contain synthetics/petroleum derivatives?  Ever since I ruined a good pair of shoes with kiwi shoe polish back in grade school I've always loathed all synthetics/petroleum derivatives.  But now I'm starting to think otherwise.

The reason I started using tallow - and stumbled on this thread - in the first place is because pretty much ALL other oils/fats go rancid.  From an oxidation point of view, motor oil & kerosene are hard to beat as they're basically rancid-proof.  This makes them the best oils to soften tallow with, as opposed to other natural oils.

For the record I've experimented with chicken oil, boiled linseed oil, linseed oil, castor oil, any vegetable cooking oil from the kitchen, etc.  Either applied directly, or incorporated into shoe creme (admittedly, it's kiwi shoe creme but hey at least it looked buttery white not like the coal tar leather destroyer from hell)  All to no satisfaction at all.

(looking back I now recoil at the sadistic experiments I did on my school shoes but well, all in the name of science!)

Tallow has been a lifesaver but I'm getting tired of the hair drier routine.   Please share whatever you know or have heard about synthetics/petroleum derivatives.  And if petroleum products like mineral oil or petrolatum do turn out to be suitable for leather, can someone explain why kiwi shoe polish which reeks of paraffin turned my shoes into a drought-blasted cracked-mud picture of desolation?

[dikman]

 

Have you read this? It may be of some interest to you.