mold & mildew

[Ronny]

Leaving the dry state of Idaho (low humidity) I never had to deal with mold and mildew on saddles and tack. We have been so wet this year in Oklahoma that the mold is out of control. If I don't use a saddle one day it has mold on it the next day. I'm almost afraid to oil a new saddle. Bruce, (from Fl) what kind of oil do you use? Thanks, Ronny

[Art]

Hi Ronny,

You need an oil with a fungicide in it, natural or otherwise. Bee natural has a saddle oil with fungicide that works well for me, it gets pretty humid here in Summer. Montana Pitchblend is made with pine pitch and beeswax, both antibacterial, but not sure if antifungal.

Art

Leaving the dry state of Idaho (low humidity) I never had to deal with mold and mildew on saddles and tack. We have been so wet this year in Oklahoma that the mold is out of control. If I don't use a saddle one day it has mold on it the next day. I'm almost afraid to oil a new saddle. Bruce, (from Fl) what kind of oil do you use? Thanks, Ronny

[barra]

I used to live in Darwin NT which is the north west of Australia and not far from Indonesia so it was definately tropical. Mould was a major problem and I used a couple of methods. I would spray my leather with undiluted vinegar as part of the cleaning process. Let it sit for a bit and wipe off. I then oiled with neatsfoot with either a little tea tree oil or eucalyptus oil in it.

Barra

P.S. The vinegar smell soon dissipates so people will not mistake your leather shop for a fish and chippery

Edited July 13, 2007 by barra

[Go2Tex]

HA HA, no more mold for me! I'm moving to south Texas. Only problem I'm gonna have is.... FLASH FLOODS!!!

[barra]

HA HA, no more mold for me! I'm moving to south Texas. Only problem I'm gonna have is.... FLASH FLOODS!!!

Sorry to put a dampener (pun intended) on the grand plan Go2tex but post flash flood mould.

Sorry.

Barra

[Go2Tex]

Well, we'll see....if it ever stops RAINING!

[greg gomersall]

Barra is correct plain old household white vineger works excellant for killing mold and its spores on your saddles and tack. Greg

[Lee Jr]

Barra is correct plain old household white vineger works excellant for killing mold and its spores on your saddles and tack. Greg

How long will the vinegar work, will it last a few months? Does the the acid hurt the leather?

[bruce johnson]

As Barra said, eucalyptus is supposed to be a natural fungicide, as I know vinegar is. I have been told that eucalyptus is the fungicide in ProCarve casing concentrate. I was referred to a Cajun (when not partying) and a guy in Mississippi both that they have had little or no problem with mold during stamping, and even with the finished products in use just by casing with ProCarve. One thinks there is probably enough of that good stuff left in the leather that it inhibits mold. Where I live we don't get wet in the summer, unless you have a wreck in the clover. We mold in the winter fog, and it usually that white powdery stuff, not the cool green fuzz.

When I was going a bit (back in the day of two horse trailers with the tack compartment under the manger), we put a rag soaked with Lysol in an open coffee can in the tack compartment to inhibit mold. Road heat and wet saddleblankets made those closed up areas just right to grow a green saddle. Like Greg, we used vinegar if it grew. I never saw any real problems from the acid, but we were not real easy on equipment either. We were using enough saddle soap, it probably balanced out the pH deal.

[anne newkold]

From the many saddle makers that come into the store what I hear repeatly is to take a product like lysol and spray down the whole thing let it dry this process may take a couple times as you have to kill the emzymes that cause the mold first before oiling it. If you just use an oil with Fungisides in it that will prevent new mold, but with out killing the old mold first the mold will return time and time again.