Help Concoct a Leather Conditioner Recipe

[cjartist]

I have just been reading the many threads here regarding a leather conditioner recipe as I want to create my own.  A widely used one here seems to be a mix of neatsfoot oil and beeswax.  I have come up with a list of possible ingredients and would love to hear the pros and cons of each as some seem to be very controvesial.

Beeswax
Lanolin
neatsfoot oil
Tallow
Carnauba wax
turpentine
cod liver oil
Vitamin e
eucalyptus oil
tea tree oil

Then to further complicate things (or just for some interesting reading) I came upon this article from the National Park Service

Leather Dressing: To Dress or Not to Dress

Would love to hear your comments.  I have found a local source for beeswax.  As of this moment that is the only ingredient I am 100% sure that I will be using.

[billybopp]

I would probably avoid turpentine, it's pretty harsh.  I've also been told to avoid lanolin, although not sure why.  Tallow and cod liver oil are very old items to use, I gather but haven't tried.  I've used eucalyptus in small amounts, it's supposed to be a preservative and just plain smells nice.  I'd guess tea tree oil is about the same.  I've experimented a little with carnauba, and so far I've found that it is pretty hard and doesn't melt in like beeswax does.  I want to try a little carnauba mixed in with beeswax/neetsfoot to harden it up a little bit.  What I've mostly used to date is beeswax/neetsfoot with a few drops of eucalyptus.

Bill

[cjartist]

5 minutes ago, billybopp said:

I've experimented a little with carnauba, and so far I've found that it is pretty hard and doesn't melt in like beeswax does.  I want to try a little carnauba mixed in with beeswax/neetsfoot to harden it up a little bit.  What I've mostly used to date is beeswax/neetsfoot with a few drops of eucalyptus.

That is the way I am leaning myself right now, beeswax + carnauba + neatsfoot and perhaps vitamin e or eucalytptus to minimize any decaying properties.  The carnauba is supposed to add some shine.  I was curious about turpentine mostly as a carrier to help penetrate.  Seems it is made from trees?  Whatever I choose, I want it to be natural ingredients.

[johnv474]

Look up British Museum Leather Dressing.  That's a good one, I understand.

[cjartist]

5 minutes ago, johnv474 said:

Look up British Museum Leather Dressing.  That's a good one, I understand.

I did try to research that before and landed on the NPS article I linked above and got distracted.  I just looked again and found this:

• Anhydrous lanolin 7 oz.
• Ceadrwood oil 1 fl oz.
• Beeswax ½ oz
• Hexane 11 fl oz.

Hexane seems to be a petroleum product.  Plus the ratio of lanolin to beeswwax of 14:1 would make that extremely expensive IMO.

[YinTx]

Also, just fyi, a lot of people are allergic to turpentine.

Using petroleum products such as hexane might cause health hazards, especially if people are applying bare handed.  A lot of the other ingredients might be found in hand lotion, so would translate well to those not using gloves - ie any one putting product on their own leather goods that they are using at home.

Just my $0.02, free, so worth only the price of admission.

YinTx

[cjartist]

2 hours ago, YinTx said:

Also, just fyi, a lot of people are allergic to turpentine.

I did not know that.  Good.  That is just the type of info I am looking for. Thanks.

[fredk]

Are you buying the bees' wax sort of 'off the shelf'? or direct from a beekeeper?

If direct from a beekeeper ask for cappings wax; its purer and cleaner

I'd avoid cod liver oil; even the best that I know of still smells fishy - I wouldn't like a leather product smelling of fish

[cjartist]

1 hour ago, fredk said:

I'd avoid cod liver oil; even the best that I know of still smells fishy - I wouldn't like a leather product smelling of fish

Ha ha ... good point.  Thanks.  Yes I am going through a beekeeper.  I will ask.

[NVLeatherWorx]

You want to stay away from any oil that is obtained from any item within the traditional food chain (fish, etc.), anything that is petroleum based/engineered from multiple chemicals, and plant based oils are for aroma therapy type products only.  This leaves you with Neatsfoot Oil (but it must be pure, NO compounds as they are chemical heavy), Carnauba, beeswax, and tallow (but that isn't typically used as a conditioner).  If you want the best properties, from the most natural products then you stick with the NFO and beeswax combination and leave the rest behind.  Adding an already modified ingredient (Carnauba) you are tampering with the positive results from the base mixture of NFO and beeswax; it doesn't bring anything to the party that isn't already there and tends to limit the effect that you may desire.  If you want to make a firmer version of the NFO/beeswax blend just use more wax/less NFO, it is really that simple. 

And for anyone who thinks beeswax just "melts away", only if you make it do it.  I have been using my blend for about a year now and have never had it just "melt away" or melt into the leather (unless I apply direct heat from a hair dryer) and it doesn't just wear off either.  It is like every other wax based conditioner (Carnauba included), if you apply it correctly, AND THEN LET IT CURE FOR AT LEAST 12 HOURS, you will find that the finish has a long lasting effect; get impatient and try and rush the process and you will get marginal (at best) results.  Our trade is based on patience and this is how you achieve quality results when working the leather and/or finishing it.

I do recommend that you get your beeswax from an actual beekeeper and make sure that it has been filtered for purity, it makes a big difference.  Don't fall for that term of "organic" though as it is very abused within the beekeeper community.  The reality is that for anything that a bee produces to be "organic" the pollen that it collects to create the range of end products MUST come from the very land on which the source beehive is located; it CAN NOT cross property boundary for any reason.  This is based on the actual certification processes of the government; unless you have invisible walls and can prevent a bee from leaving your yard there is no way that you can use the term organic when it comes to bees and their products.