How do you preserve leather?? Any good conditioners available? This is maddening!

[typepatrick]

So it seems everyone has there favorite leather conditioners..... Here's my frustrations......  Firstly: I'm looking for a more natural product to put on footwear. I don't want petroleum based. Secondly: It seems hardly anyone is willing to list ingredients. (Secret family recipes........) Thirdly: there is endless debate of what substances one should put on leather. I've read don't use waxes, since they inhibit breathability and can dry out leather. Others, say don't use vegetable oil bases since they will oxidize and decay the leather. I'm so frustrated feeling left with no choices!!! Any one know of good science that addresses appropriate preservation ingredients? Any help is appreciated!

[Alaisiagae]

What kinds of leather goods are you wanting to treat? 

[SaddleBags]

I use Skidmore's leather conditioner for most leathers, and Ray Holes Saddle Butter for latigo - type leathers.  I buy it by the case and use it like it was free. Stay away from "conditioners"  that have alcohol and anything "gimicky".

[fredk]

1 hour ago, typepatrick said:

So it seems everyone has there favorite leather conditioners..... Here's my frustrations......  Firstly: I'm looking for a more natural product to put on footwear. I don't want petroleum based. 

neetsfoot oil, aka nfo, = oil made from the feet and lower legs of cattle. Neet is an old English word for cattle. Use pure  nfo, not compound. NFO keeps the leather fed with necessary oils

beeswax = bee processed honey. A bee is fed honey which it turns into wax. Its water soluble at high temperatures but at normal temperatures its a solid. Beeswax helps waterproof (slightly) and keeps the nfo in the leather

carnauba wax = from the palm tree, helps add hardness to the soft beeswax

 

1 hour ago, typepatrick said:

So it seems everyone has there favorite leather conditioners.....

It seems hardly anyone is willing to list ingredients. (Secret family recipes........) 

Mix the three together. Beeswax & nfo in almost equal amounts and about a teaspoon full  (about 5 ml) of carnauba wax to 4 oz of beeswax

 

1 hour ago, typepatrick said:

. . . . Thirdly: there is endless debate of what substances one should put on leather. I've read don't use waxes, since they inhibit breathability and can dry out leather. Others, say don't use vegetable oil bases since they will oxidize and decay the leather.

yup, there is a lot of that. Tales told but these are all tales told over and over again with no proof of their truth or not . . . . 'oh, I was told by my wife that her cousin was told that the friend of one of her workfriend's brother's bowling team said that putting olive oil on his leather gloves rotted them away in a week'

Vegetable oils may be detrimental to linen thread but today almost everything is sewn using nylon or polyester which are not affected by these oils. I have experienced leather that someone was treating with olive oil and after a period the oil was going rancid.

Edited August 20, 2020 by fredk

[ScottWolf]

On 8/20/2020 at 8:17 AM, typepatrick said:

So it seems everyone has there favorite leather conditioners..... Here's my frustrations......  Firstly: I'm looking for a more natural product to put on footwear. I don't want petroleum based. Secondly: It seems hardly anyone is willing to list ingredients. (Secret family recipes........) Thirdly: there is endless debate of what substances one should put on leather. I've read don't use waxes, since they inhibit breathability and can dry out leather. Others, say don't use vegetable oil bases since they will oxidize and decay the leather. I'm so frustrated feeling left with no choices!!! Any one know of good science that addresses appropriate preservation ingredients? Any help is appreciated!

I just posted an actual recipe on how to make an all natural conditioner in the forum here that addresses conditioners. Here is the link to it:

 

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by ScottWolf

[jcuk]

Whats wrong with the old standard 

https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Metropolitan-Leather-Feedhttps://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Metropolitan-Leather-Feed

Hope this helps

JCUK

[fredk]

1 hour ago, jcuk said:

Whats wrong with the old standard 

https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Metropolitan-Leather-Feedhttps://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Metropolitan-Leather-Feed

Hope this helps

JCUK

I'm getting a 'THE PAGE YOU REQUESTED CANNOT BE FOUND!' with that link

Edited September 1, 2020 by fredk

[stelmackr]

https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare

 

[jcuk]

2 hours ago, stelmackr said:

https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare

 

Thanks for that

https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Metropolitan-Leather-Feed

https://www.metropolitanleather.com/buy-finishes/Buy-leathercare/Modern-Hide-care

sorry had to try again

JCUK

[Sheilajeanne]

Lanolin comes from sheep's wool. Surprised it isn't used more often in leather care products. When I was a kid, it was in the shampoo my mom used on everyone in the family!

The ads said: "Have you ever seen a bald sheep?"   

 

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Sheilajeanne

[jcuk]

32 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Lanolin comes from sheep's wool. Surprised it isn't used more often in leather care products. When I was a kid, it was in the shampoo my mom used on everyone in the family!

The ads said: "Have you ever seen a bald sheep?"   

 

 

Sorry can't resist yes one that has been sheared

JCUK

[Leather20]

On 8/20/2020 at 1:01 PM, fredk said:

beeswax = bee processed honey. A bee is fed honey which it turns into wax. Its water soluble at high temperatures but at normal temperatures its a solid. Beeswax helps waterproof (slightly) and keeps the nfo in the leather

Not to be nit-picky, but bees don't turn honey into wax. They produce wax from glands and sometimes pollen gets mixed in as well. Honey is their method of storing flower nectar as a super saturated sugar.

Also, Neatsfoot oil is my go-to for leather.

[ScottWolf]

On 9/1/2020 at 1:07 PM, Sheilajeanne said:

Lanolin comes from sheep's wool. Surprised it isn't used more often in leather care products. When I was a kid, it was in the shampoo my mom used on everyone in the family!

The ads said: "Have you ever seen a bald sheep?"   

 

 

Lanolin is actually one of the ingredients I mention in the link above to my recipe for leather conditioner. In doing research, I did find some of the more expensive commercial leather conditioner products used lanolin, and I think that is why their price was higher than other products without lanolin.  Here is what my recipe for leather conditioner with lanolin added into it looks like.

[Sheilajeanne]

Scott, that looks really good! And I don't know why lanolin should be expensive: it's a byproduct of the wool industry. It has to be removed from the wool before it can be spun into yarn!

[fredk]

21 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

. . . And I don't know why lanolin should be expensive: it's a byproduct of the wool industry. It has to be removed from the wool before it can be spun into yarn!

Its a matter of both quantity and refining costs. There is actually not a lot of lanolin on the wool fibres. This has to be washed off carefully and then go thru several refining stages to clean it and turn liquid oil to a creamy state. As an idea; imagine how greasy/oily your hair feels if you don't wash it for a few weeks, but there is actually very little grease/oil on the hairs, one wash and its off. But you cannot see it in the wash water.

[Frodo]

On 8/20/2020 at 10:17 AM, typepatrick said:

So it seems everyone has there favorite leather conditioners..... Here's my frustrations......  Firstly: I'm looking for a more natural product to put on footwear. I don't want petroleum based. Secondly: It seems hardly anyone is willing to list ingredients. (Secret family recipes........) Thirdly: there is endless debate of what substances one should put on leather. I've read don't use waxes, since they inhibit breathability and can dry out leather. Others, say don't use vegetable oil bases since they will oxidize and decay the leather. I'm so frustrated feeling left with no choices!!! Any one know of good science that addresses appropriate preservation ingredients? Any help is appreciated!

If you are looking for a one time wonder product that you apply one tome and forget it like a Ronald M. Popeil  rotisserie chicken cooker [[set it and forget it]]

It simply does not exist   go buy a bottle of neets foot oil  and some shoe polish

liberally apply neetsfoot oil and let dry, then if needed reapply, till soft

then polish/ buff 

repeat in 6 months   then again, then again..

[ScottWolf]

1 hour ago, Sheilajeanne said:

Scott, that looks really good! And I don't know why lanolin should be expensive: it's a byproduct of the wool industry. It has to be removed from the wool before it can be spun into yarn!

100% pure Anhydrous Lanolin, which is what I use in my recipe, is refined extensively and is what is used in cosmetics.  Generally it is in/around the $7+ an ounce price range.