Leather Heresies #1: Does Neatsfoot Oil Go Rancid?

[Norton Custom Leather]

Spectre6000, well I'm supposed to learn something everyday, if not I consider myself lazy.

Thanks for the lesson, do you craft leather also?

Oh yea, welcome to the site also.

[spectre6000]

Thanks!

I guess that depends on whether or not 'craft' has any special meaning within the leatherworking vernacular (I honestly don't know). I have used leather in the past to make things, I'm currently engaged in a leather project, and I have tools and supplies for doing so, but it's neither my primary vocation nor avocation. I used to work in the biodiesel industry (experimental feedstocks), which is where my knowledge of this sort of thing originates.

Edited November 23, 2015 by spectre6000

[Norton Custom Leather]

Leather crafting is also not my primary. Railroad Conductor first.

If you have tools & make things out of leather, your crafting.

So I would say yes for you.

A true crafter can always find a flaw in their own work, I think that is why many of us may be on here.

More so to help each other rather than find fault. Ideas outside the box.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

"On that note - Anyone actually bought that much Neatsfoot oil at once?"

Several times. Dipping harness uses a lot of oil.

[Sceaden]

So it's normal for the a new bottle of neatsfoot oil to smell kind of rancid? I'm tempted to go to the local tandy and smell all their oil. :-P

[byggyns]

On 11/6/2015 at 1:03 PM, LeatherNerd said:

He recommended that I go with Aussie Conditioner because it was a beeswax-based conditioner; no mention if the oils in it were natural or not. (For all I know I could be rubbing beeswax and 10W40 motor oil into my leather goods.)

I looked up the MSDS for Aussie Conditioner a while ago. It is primarily petrolatum (petroleum jelly) with beeswax and other oils. It's been a while, so I can't remember what the smaller percentage ingredients were.

[Wulfing]

My grandfather gave me a recipe for a leather cream he used. Bees wax, Boiled linseed oil, Neetsfoot oil, eucalyptus oil and vodka. When warmed up and mixed together it sets as a creamy substance. I rub it in to the leather with an old tshirt after dying  then wave a hairdryer over it and buff the leather with a horse hair brush. I leave it for 24 hrs, buff again and then put resolene on top to finish.

I'm a beginner and have come up with this process through research and based on what my grandfather said. It seems to work so far but obviously I dont know what it will be like in the future. I also use it to burnish my edges. Be grateful for anyone's opinion on this method / recipe?

[SolarLeatherMachines]

http://www.livescience.com/55267-why-does-oil-go-rancid.html

[OLDNSLOW]

I think as long as you keep the bottle closed it will prolong the life of the oil, I have bought some from a local guy who gets it in 55 gallon containers and it is ok.  Now what I realized here lately is that there is 2 different types so to speak of Neats foot oil, one is the oil the other I think is called neats foot oil compound, the compound I found out gives the leather a very nice buttery look after 2 light coats.