Help Concoct a Leather Conditioner Recipe

[alpha2]

My "new" beekeeper is my brother and sister in law. Their beeswax is a thing of beauty...at least compared to the tandy "stuff". As far as vitamin E is concerned...well, let me just say that I'm not ingesting the stuff, just applying it to leather. BTW, the leather seems to like it!

Edited May 25, 2017 by alpha2

[cjartist]

I have been using Belvoir Leather Balsam.  The jar is just about empty and that is the reason I am considering making my own.  That stuff has lanolin and beeswax and who knows what else.  It smells pretty potent of lanolin (I think).  Every commercially available product uses some form of chemicals.  What I don't know is the reason ... is it for penetration and drying, or to keep it from going rancid?

What I really want is something that is good for the leather, easy to apply, and gives it a shine with simple hand buffing.  I also don't want to have to heat it with a hair dryer or heat gun.

Does the simple neatsfoot and beeswax melt meet these criteria?

[YinTx]

4 hours 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

Kinda like Segdwick's leather has a bit of that smell 'o fish...

I had heard that beeswax keeps leather from "breathing" by creating a bit of a seal, and thus it can not absorb moisture, and thus dries out faster than if it did not have beeswax coating.  Anyone know if this is so or not?

YinTx

[cjartist]

51 minutes ago, YinTx said:

 Anyone know if this is so or not?

Did you read the article I linked to in the first post?  Funny how they determined that leather will survive just fine without any treatment whatsoever.

[YinTx]

Quite the interesting article.  It would appear that most of the leather dressings might be detrimental long term, as I had mentioned I had read elsewhere.  But the effect on the feel and smell of the leather is not mentioned, which I think is a pretty important topic for the buyer...I tend to think most of what I make is destined to be used and abused, not stored in a museum, and I have to attract a buyer first!  Veg tan leather looks pretty dull with just a dye finish, the dressings bring out the beauty..

YinTx

[fredk]

Different rules in the EU for bee products to be 'organic'. The hive has to be 5 kilometers from any major road thoroughfare. Impossible to do in Northern Ireland

Bees will fly up to 3.5 miles to collect nectar to make honey and pollen for food. Pollen is pure protein. Nectar is sugars. Bees process the nectar in a honey stomach to turn it into a thick pure sugar solution. Then some chosen worker bees are fed honey by their sisters and these bees turn the consumed honey into wax. It takes 5 to 7 pounds weight to make one pound of wax

Because of recent infections and pests beekeepers feed their bees antibiotics and other chemicals - during the winter, when there is no honey collection going on, so that these medicines do not enter the human food chain. However these chemicals remain in the wax as we are not supposed, or expected, to eat that - but many people do

Ask your beekeeper what chemicals/medicines he/she/they use. Normal use is usually low amounts, too much is very bad

BTW; I use my own beeswax from when I was a beekeeper. I still have several pounds of it.

 

[cjartist]

6 hours ago, YinTx said:

It would appear that most of the leather dressings might be detrimental long term, as I had mentioned I had read elsewhere.  But the effect on the feel and smell of the leather is not mentioned, which I think is a pretty important topic for the buyer...I tend to think most of what I make is destined to be used and abused, not stored in a museum, and I have to attract a buyer first!  Veg tan leather looks pretty dull with just a dye finish, the dressings bring out the beauty..

I agree.  The benefits do outweigh the risks.  On your previous comment about breath-ability, resolene or super sheen would have the same effect of sealing the leather and therefore drying it out.  Since we generally don't seal the flesh side, this may not be an issue.  Wood has the same potential problem.  Wood that is used out in the weather is usually also only sealed on three sides (picnic tables, decks, etc.).

[Rockoboy]

I have read somewhere previously (but I cannot remember where) that the main thing to remember when thinking about preserving leather is " when leather is tanned, what does it lose? It loses fats, not oils"

By this information, one would assume that using neatsfoot oil might not be the best thing to preserve, protect or rejuvenate leather.

The best thing would be the fats which were removed in tanning and which may continue to be lost to the atmosphere as the leather continues to dry out and degrade with the passing of time.

On the other hand, maybe using neatsfoot oil, beeswax, carnauba etc might do some good, but not as good as the best coating, sealing, rejuvenating option available.

Personally, I have no idea, these are just an idea of something that I read, that seemed to make some sense to me. Comments, ideas?

I just found the thread discussing the use of fats (tallow or similar) to preserve leather. "Using Tallow To Condition Leather."

Edited May 27, 2017 by Rockoboy
more information came to hand after posting

[cjartist]

Yes, it seems that folks here swear that neatsfoot oil is the conditioner that has always been used.  Yet I think across the pond, in the UK, they use more tallow.  That is precisely why that is in the list.  Some suggest that tallow will go rancid.  Will vitamin e or eucalyptus be enough to prevent or slow that process?  I don't know.

At this point, I am thinking that the recipe will look something like

50% NFO, 25% beeswax, 20% tallow, 5% carnauba, and a few drops of vitamin e

Still open for debate and suggestions

[fredk]

my soft wax is sort of about 45% NFO, 45% beeswax, 10% olive oil

My hard wax is roughly the same but about 10% carnuba added

I don't measure precisely, its, umm, sort of dumped into a bowl, warmed up and mixed